Weight Loss Fad Diet: Why it fails!

So you want to lose weight, and you've just heard about another weight loss fad diet claiming to take off 15 pounds in only fourteen days.

Can it be true?

If you want to drop a few pounds for a short period of time, the truth is that almost any weight loss fad diet will work. Once the weight loss fad diet ends, you'll almost certainly gain back every pound plus additional fat you never had before.

As a response to the lack of calories you are offering your body, it will switch over into "survival mode" to adjust to the decreased intake of food. When in this mode, your body hangs on to every calorie that you consume in order to satisfy its nutritional needs, and as a result, your metabolic rate plummets.

Your body doesn't know there is plenty of food in the fridge and responds to the calorie deprivation as it would to a famine.

With a weight loss fad diet, you lose as much muscle as fat. Your muscle tissue helps in maintaining a high metabolic rate and, of course, keeps you strong.

Muscle is a metabolically active tissue; this means that it will burn more calories than your fat cells, so when your muscles begin wasting away, you'll lower your metabolic rate even further. Yo-yo diet plans and weight loss fad diet programs are the same thing.

You need to have a more patient and sensible dietary plan in order to really lose weight and keep it off permanently. Losing just one to two pounds of fat per week is totally acceptable; plus, it's much easier to maintain than any quick and dramatic weight loss that won't last.

Basically, when you get caught up in a weight loss fad diet, you are restricting too many calories and are physically guaranteed to fail. Try to focus on getting a lower restriction calorie-wise; 15 to 20 percent below your body's maintenance level is about right.

Your maintenance level is the number of calories your body requires each day to maintain its current weight. Typically, you'll have to lower your caloric maintenance level by 300?00 calories per day.

If you add exercise to the equation, you can plan to lose about one to two pounds of fat each week as one pound of stored fat equals 3500 calories.

Keep in mind that most weight loss fad diet programs do not say a word about additional exercise. Even though it is possible to eliminate body fat by just dieting, you will get much better results if you add both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training to what you're already doing.

With these exercises, you can maintain your body's lean muscle mass while kicking your fat burning metabolism into high gear. When trying to take off weight, increase your activity level instead of reducing your food intake; it always offers stronger results.

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