Tricks of the dieting world
Alright, let’s get right down to business. Sadly, a lot of you are fooled into believing certain things when it comes to dieting. Words carry zero merit if they are invalid and spoken by self-proclaimed experts.And often, these aren’t experts at all.
Just because someone decides to give up an entire food group and they lose weight, they think it’s gospel and they spew wisdom across the countryside. But I’m not buying it.
Since I mentioned giving up food groups, let’s start right there.
1. Cutting out entire food groups
Sorry, but if you want fast weight loss, you do not need to take measures as drastic as abstaining from entire food groups.This is quite popular in many diet plans these days, which will remain nameless. You can easily pick them out though.
God designed this earth with all the provisions one would need for survival upon it.
This includes fruits, vegetables, potatoes, berries, nuts and seeds.
In an attempt to smelt away fat quickly, people like to rid themselves of carbs and eat a high protein/high fat diet. From a molecular level, this type of diet will keep your blood sugar levels stable, which is good news. But that’s about where the good news ends.
Depriving yourself of carbs can leave you lying in a heap, fast asleep on the weight bench with drool running down your chin like a baby.
It can also lead to constipation and irritability, which can also lead to social isolation by default.
2. Who wants to hang out with a constipated, irritable curmudgeon?
The bottom line is, your body needs carbs to function properly.But you need to grow up and learn the difference between good carbs and bad carbs.
Steer clear of the processed stuff like white bread, cookies, cakes, pastries, sweet drinks and yes, alcohol. One or two alcoholic beverages on occasion is fine, but draw the line there.
Stick with complex carbs like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, sweet potatoes, yams and legumes.
All of these carbs are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber.
3. Not eating past 6 o’clock
This is perhaps my most hated diet blunder.Why in the name of Bruce Lee’s ghost would you not want to eat past 6 o’clock? Holy heck; if this were true, I’d be severely malnourished because I often don’t even get home from the gym until well after 6.
Here’s the deal. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to survive the day. You will often hear this number referred to as resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Your body really doesn’t care when it gets fed as long as you supply it with enough calories to function.
If you’re RMR happens to be 2,200 calories, 6 o’clock rolls around and you’ve only consumed 1,500 to this point, do you really think you’ll get fat if you eat another 500 calories at say, 8 o’clock?
It’s highly unlikely. Eat the bloody food, feel good about it and move forward.
4. Eating too little calories
What happens to a fire when you stop putting logs on it? It goes out, that’s what. Think of your body the same way.People trying to lose weight often follow a severely calorie-restricted diet. Wrong move!
Much like a fireplace, your metabolism would go dormant if you eat too little.
A slower metabolism means you will not lose weight as fast.
Plus, you will hold on to existing weight like Uma Thurman holds on to a Hattori Hanzo samurai sword in Kill Bill.
Your best bet is to eat small, frequent meals spaced 2 to 3 hours apart through the course of the day. This way you’ll get plenty of calories while keeping your belly satisfied and energy levels high.
5. Low-fat/no-fat nonsense
I can’t believe after all these years, I’m still expending energy talking about the low-fat/no-fat trend. But it is still very much alive and kicking.Okay, if you buy a package of low-fat cookies, they are going to taste really good. Do you know why? Because they need to compensate for the fact that they took out fat so they load them up with sugar.
Otherwise, they would taste like a sheet of 20-grit sandpaper.
Sugar equals simple carbs and simple carbs have 4 calories per gram. The end result is a cookie that is only marginally less in calories than the original and way higher in processed carbs.
Stay away from these heartbreakers and all other low-fat-no-fat products because they will break your heart when it’s all said and done.
Speaking of said and done, I’m finished.
I have some fitness crime I need to go deal with. Keep these points in mind and you won’t have a thing to worry about.
