Many people tend to think that you have to be on a restrictive diet to lose weight. Popular diets include keto diet and intermittent fasting, to name a few. Not to mention all these “juice cleanses” that limits you to only drink juice for lunch and dinner, instead of a full meal.
Check out these reasons why diets don’t work, and how to lose weight without being on a diet:
1. Diets are short-term plans that create temporary results
Compared to if you were to make it a lifestyle change, diets only work for a short while. Once you’re off your diet, you’ll go back to eating unhealthily and ordering all the extra food that you don’t necessarily need. You’ll immediately fall back into eating junk food excessively after your diet ends due to the restriction during your diet period. Imagine only drinking just a “shake” or a special “juice” for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 4 weeks straight?! You’ll lose weight alright – but just for that 4 weeks, and you’ll go back to gaining it back within 2 days!
2. A calorie deficit would be the key to lose weight
Not many people know this unless you have done proper research on it, but ultimately, the only way to lose weight is to be on a calorie deficit. This means that you have to eat lesser calories than the total amount your body burns daily. Check out this article to calculate the number of calories needed for you to burn fat. If you’re on a diet, but you’re still eating more than what your body burns daily, you’ll just end up gaining weight, the same goes to eating too much of “healthy food”.
3. It’s not the amount of food you eat, but the type of food
First off, you don’t need to stop eating junk food completely. You can still eat processed food and McDonalds, as long as you are eating them in small portions and if they are low in calories. You can feast on a whole bunch of veggies, high-quality protein food (just like the image above) and still manage to lose weight because they are usually lower in calories. Prioritize eating protein and vegetables at every meal. Eating wholesome food tend to keep you full for a longer period.
4. Certain “healthy drinks” are high in calories
If your diet includes drinking specific healthy drinks such as fruit juices, what you don’t realize is that there are a lot of sugar in fruit juices as well. You’ll just end up with a bunch of sugar in your body. Opt for either plain water, tea or coffee (without all of the added sugar or creamer), these would be a much better choice as they are less than 50 calories.
5. Lifestyle habits will help you in the long run
In the end, what helps you to lose weight is a lifestyle change. Not a temporary fix such as crash dieting or an intensive workout plan. It’s the simple, small lifestyle choices you make in your daily life that helps you lose weight in the long term. This would be more sustainable, compared to any type of diet. You can eat the food you love and still lose weight. Ultimately, you should feel happy with your body no matter how much you weigh.
