Lose Weight Permanently By Changing Your Lifestyle

Introduction

If you are like the average person, you love to eat. The very mention of the word diet is sure to conjure up visions of starvation and depriving yourself of your favorite foods.

A diet basically forces you to do something that is contrary to nature. It is completely unnatural and requires a ton of determination to see it through. What a price to pay to lose a few lousy pounds.

Diets are dreaded by most people. And most only associate it with losing weight by eliminating or cutting back on favorite foods, and substituting bland choices.

Originally the word 'diet' meant more than just losing weight. Diet comes from the Middle English word diete which was taken unchanged from the Old French. The Old French word was taken from the Latin word diaeta which means 'way of living.'

So 'diet' originally referred to the usual food a person eats daily. Of course this depends on culture and belief.

In reality one could diet to gain weight as well as lose it. But public perception, especially in light of the gobal obesity epidemic, associates diet solely with weight loss.

Weight Loss Diets Just Don't Work

Diets don't do what they are supposed to do in the long term. A recent study which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine examined diets with varying proportions of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. When the study participants reduced caloric intake, they lost weight. But after a period of two weeks, the average participant regained what they had lost.

It may be that the dieters who were successful in keeping the weight off did it by sheer will power and determination. But I can say without hesitation that these individuals are in the very small minority.

A more plausible explanation is that those who were successful, changed their lifestyles. More on that later.

Historically, dieters ride a rollercoaster. They lose weight and then fall off the diet wagon and regain it. Saddened and frustrated, they try again--possibly with another popular diet plan. This leads to the dreaded 'yo-yo' dieting.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington discovered that yo-yo dieting may have a permanent negative effect on immune system functioning. The study which was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that the more a woman dieted to lose weight, the greater the decrease in her immune system.

Immune system functioning was measured by NK cell activity. 'NK' means 'natural killer.' These are cells which attack and kill cancer cells as well as viruses such as the flu. The more the women yo-yo dieted, the greater the reduction in their immune system's NK cells.

As a friend commented to me a few years back--after losing weight through dieting--then what? A typical dieter goes on a plan to lose a certain amount of weight. They get no counselling, support, or education. They just blindly tackle a plan they see advertised on network TV, or worse yet, some magical fad diet they came across in a magazine or on the internet.

After our good-intentioned dieter reaches his or her objective, they hit a brick wall. They are at a loss of what to do next. So they then return to their old eating habits which is what got them into that situation in the first place.

The Consequences of Diets in General, And Fad Diets Specifically

The trouble with most popular diets--like Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig--is that they only talk about food. What popular diet plan have you ever heard which stated that an exercise program should go along with their particular plan? I can count them on one hand and have five fingers left over!

In truth, exercise is an integral component of weight loss. The purpose of weight loss is to lose a specific kind of weight--fat. That's it. What you don't want to lose--what you want to preserve--is muscle tissue.

Losing weight without an exercise program will guarantee that you will lose lean body mass or muscle. Yes, the scale will tell you that you have lost weight, but that loss will be predominantly muscle and water.

Fad diets are by and large based on calorie restriction. When that happens, your body will kick into survival mode. It will seek to maintain itself from its perceived period of starvation by (1) slowing down your metabolism and (2) hoarding the fat while burning the muscle.

Coupling a program of exercise with a change in eating habits will prevent muscle loss, and target only your fat stores.

Another problem with fad diets is that they promise an extraordinary amount of weight loss in a short time. Let me ask you a question? How long did it take you to put on the 10, 20, 50, or even 100 pounds? It took a certain amount of time to gain that weight. It is totally unrealistic to expect to lose it in a week or a month. Losing more than 2 to 3 pounds a week will almost guarantee that the weight you do lose will be water and lean body mass.

The third problem with fad diets is nutrient deprivation. You will almost certainly neglect certain vitamins, minerals, and fats needed for optimum health.

Some of the more popular diet plans advertised on TV with actors or sports figures as spokespersons require you to spend money for their particular food. No one needs special food to lose weight. All it takes is a little knowledge, and working along with your body--not against it.

Diets Are Useful for Making a Weight Class

There is only one time or situation when it may be useful to diet--when trying to make a certain weight for an athletic competition. This is useful is sports such as boxing and bodybuilding. I didn't mention sports like basketball, football, or baseball because I believe that a healthy weight should be maintained throughout the athlete's entire life.

That may be true for boxing too if the athlete isn't changing weight classes. Say going from middleweight to light-heavy or vice versa.

Dieting is especially important for bodybuilding competition. I used to compete on the amateur level. I would put a diet in place several months out from the date of the show. On the last day or two prior to the show, I would restrict my water intake. Bodybuilding competition is all about obtaining minimal bodyfat levels while maintaining maximum muscularity.

By nature, dieting for a bodybuilding show is unhealthy. Bodyfat levels are taken to extremely low levels which in and of itself severely compromises the athlete's health if maintained for an extended period of time.

Other than the exceptions that I mentioned, dieting as I have defined it have no place in anyone's regimen.

Losing Weight Through a Healthy Lifestyle

Lasting weight loss can only come about through embracing a healthy lifestyle. This begins in the mind. A decision must be made to dump an unhealthy lifestyle and replace it with a healthy one. Read this article about the particulars of a mind makeover.

A healthy lifestyle is composed of good nutrition plus exercise. Of course stress management and adequate sleep must be incorporated too.

With a healthy lifestyle in place, you don't have to worry about hitting a brick wall as you undoubtedly will with dieting. Once you have obtained your weight loss goal, just continue doing what you've been doing to reach it. It's just that simple.

You want to eat according to your nutritional or metabolic type. This will ensure that your body will shed and maintain weight as efficiently as possible.

The following food items should be completely eliminated from your menu:

all artificial sweeteners with an emphasis on high fructose corn syrup

monosodium glutamate (MSG)

trans fatty acids

all sodas, including diet, along with other sweetened beverages such as sports and fruit drinks

avoid all low-fat products

Most Americans are simply not getting enough omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA.) I recommend krill oil as your source. Another fat that you may want to incorporate into your supplement plan is conjugated linoleic acid or CLA. CLA has been proven to help maintain muscle while accelerating fat loss.

Vitamin D is another very important nutrient that many people have low levels of. Make certain that if you supplement vitamin D that you get D3.

Make certain that your beef and poultry is grass-fed. Conventionally raised animals are factory-farmed. These animals are sick and laden with antibiotics and hormones. If you are a fish eater, be advised that mercury contamination is widespread. I personally eat a lot of wild salmon. Stay away from farmed fish. If it is not wild, it is farmed.

As far as exercise is concerned, choose something you love doing. You are more liable to stick with it if you do. Whatever you choose, mix weight training with it.

By incorporating the principles outlined, I can guarantee a successful weight loss and maintenance journey. And it will be lasting.