subject: Avoid Sabotaging Your Metabolism With Bad Diets! [print this page] If you want to lose weight successfully, you have to do it right at the beginning. The worst thing that you can do to sabotage yourself is to go on a diet that screws up your metabolism. Unfortunately, that's exactly what most common fad diets can do these days.
What Is Metabolism?
Metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories to power actions or create body heat. So, basically, a faster metabolism means that you are going to burn fat and lose weight faster. A slower metabolism means that you not only won't lose weight, but will probably gain more of it.
Calorie Restricting Diets:
Calorie restricting diets are common, but that doesn't mean that they are right and effective. How many people do you know that have gone on one only to do the following things?
* Cheat And Binge On Junk Food
* Quit The Diet Entirely Halfway Through
* Stay On The Diet For The Required Time And Then Gain All The Lost Weight Back
The answer is probably a lot. That's because your body needs a certain amount of calories, vitamins and minerals each day. If you cut calories and starve your body, you're going to have negative side effects, such as:
* Hunger Pangs
* Loss Of Energy
* Tiredness
* Depression
* Binge Eating
* Weight Gain
Yes, you could actually gain weight. Why? Well, starving your body will cause it to enter a sort of conservation mode. So, it will start to store fat instead of burning more fat. Almost like a bear who plans to hibernate for the winter will gain weight automatically. The body prepares because it thinks that there is a food shortage now or that one is soon coming.
Willpower:
Another problem with calorie restricting diets is that they lower your willpower. They restrict you so much that you are sick of not having the foods that you like. Combine that with the tiredness, depression and hunger and it's no wonder that you might cheat or quit your diet entirely. The nice thing is that quitting such a diet is a good thing.
Healthy Eating Habits:
What you actually need to do to lose weight is to help your metabolism to work at top speed by having healthy eating habits. That means getting plenty of everything that your body needs, including healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. However, that's not the same as eating fatty and sugary snacks by any means. Those should still be avoided at all costs.
