The ‘summer’ season or as we Guyanese say the July/August holiday is here and like I stated last week, this means more outdoor activities.
Pool, creek and beach parties naturally come to mind. So naturally a lot of us are working on that ‘summer’ body.
But while you are looking to achieve that short term ‘it look’ to slay in that bikini or those board shorts, be sure to avoid these five mistakes, all of which may contribute to frustrating setbacks on the scale.
Not looking far enough ahead
Never implement any nutritional strategy that you won’t be able to maintain long term. Weight maintenance is harder than weight loss, and if you go too hardcore, you’ll never be able to keep up your routine to maintain your new, lighter weight.
Bottom line? Creating a change in lifestyle by focusing on slow weight loss and gradual change will keep you at your goal weight better than fast weight loss and drastic changes.
Detoxing
Detoxing is perhaps one of the most head-scratching diet trends of the last 20 years. Regardless of consumer perception, the scientific research is clear: detoxing has no positive, measurable effect on consumer health or weight loss. Any weight lost in a detox regime is ultimately regained, and the body doesn’t need to be detoxed of anything, regardless of how poor your diet is prior to the so-called cleanse.
The body is a complex and evolved mechanism, capable of detoxing itself through metabolic processes of the liver and kidneys.
Over-focusing on hydration
Bodybuilders, magazines, and fitness blogs espouse the metabolism-enhancing powers of water, prompting many dieters to double down on hydration. But, while you’re likely to see gym rats lugging around gallon jugs of water, think twice before you follow their lead.
Although hydration is important to overall health, water consumption alone does not play a large factor in weight loss. Replacing calorie-containing beverages like soda with water (which contains zero calories) can drastically reduce caloric intake, creating the deficit required to promote weight loss. However, increased water consumption does not necessarily increase metabolic rate to any measurable degree.
Bottom line? Focus on the issues that really matter. Stay hydrated, but don’t think that hydration alone will produce measurable weight loss.
Eating too often
So-called small-meal and snacking strategies came into vogue in recent years with preliminary research supporting the notion that regular snacking might help dieters lose more weight than a typical three-square meal pattern.
However, the bulk of research shows that dieters who eat more frequently actually consume more calories and weigh more than dieters who eat larger meals with longer periods between each meal. Regular snacking can prohibit weight loss by sneakily adding extra calories to your day. Most consumers drastically underestimate the number of calories in each meal and snack. The more times you eat each day, the more you’re likely to weigh.
Ultimately, if you find yourself regularly hungry between meals, try reducing the amount you consume at each meal by 25%. Save the leftovers to snack on if you do get hungry in between meals. This method reduces the need for any additional calories between meals, and most dieters find that they’re full even when consuming 75% of their regular food volume in one sitting.
Going low fat
While low-fat diets gained immense popularity in the 1970s, research has shown that they are not necessarily a guarantee for weight loss. Remember – total caloric intake is the ultimate determining factor in weight status. Although low fat diets could succeed in theory, by reducing the total number of calories consumed through a reduction in fat, most dieters overconsume in other areas, effectively negating any potential reduction in caloric intake.
Moreover, we now know that certain fats are beneficial and have healthy, cardio-protective effects. Although you shouldn’t go overboard, including healthy fats in your diet can help reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and dementia. Just be sure to keep serving sizes in check – healthy fats contain just as many calories as unhealthy fats.
Stay tuned, friends.
If you need help on building muscle or losing fat, shoot me an email: emmersoncampbell@gmail.com
