Dieting May Be Causing Your Weight Gain
Using the honor system, how many of you would admit to trying just about every diet out there in order to lose weight and burn fat? Did you buy into the hype and psych yourself up thinking this is going to be the diet that melts the fat right off your body—exposing that six-pack you knew you always had (but never saw)? You’re not alone my friend—that’s a fact. There are many who thought they could bring sexy back with a magical trendy diet, but all they ended up with was weight gain
Your body hates you — no, seriously.
That’s a pretty bold statement, but if your body could hold a conversation with you, it’d be pretty darn pissed. The amount of stress you put it through with all of these goofy diets is enough to make it want to kick your teeth in. And for good reason! Many of the diets out there are pretty calorie restrictive and if you find yourself working with a “guru” in the industry prepping for a contest they probably had you eating under 1,000 calories which is made up of fish and asparagus at every meal—not to mention anywhere from 2-3 hours of cardio a day. But, hey, they’re the “guru” right? Ok, that’s a joke (not really), but I don’t have much respect for said “gurus” in the industry and their bikini competitor diets that malnourish each client until their body is so messed up that their metabolism is giving them the Italian salute on a daily basis and causing their weight gain.
Enough already with the crazy diets. Last month you tried this diet. This month you’re trying that diet. Who knows what insanity you’ll be trying in the coming months (hopefully none after you read this article) to try and halt your weight gain.
If your body isn’t telling you to stop the dieting, hopefully research will on weight gain…
Let’s think about what happens to your body when you diet, especially repeatedly. When you restrict your calories, your brain thinks that you are starving (whether intentionally or unintentionally). These famines cause your body to store fat in an attempt to preserve itself should the famines continue. This is the complete opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish, right? Thought so.
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Another thing to consider (because it might have happened to you) is the fact that many people completely ruin their diet due to how mentally draining it is. No kidding, you’re cutting off the nutrients needed for your brain and body to function properly on a daily basis. When your body and brain win the battle and you end up splurging on food (not on your diet), it’s like a full-blown eating competition. All you need is Takeru Kobayashi or Furious Pete hanging out with you. You’re eating everything in sight. Afterwards the regret sets in and you can’t believe what you just did.
Research brought up a good point that I think we all can learn from. When cold weather comes, take a look at the birds around your house. They look fat, right? If you think about it, that shouldn’t make sense. There should be a shortage of worms, seeds, and food for them (especially when the snow comes falling down and covers the ground). So, why are they so large? Because their body is preparing for a famine during the cold months by storing excess body fat in an attempt to insulate itself for self-preservation. Their body knows this happens every year around this time—it’s as if it’s trained itself to store fat when the weather turns cold.
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Researchers have a model to illustrate what happens with dieters versus non-dieters during a famine or food shortage as well. The body that is constantly seeing a caloric deficit is more likely to hold onto fat quicker than someone who doesn’t restrict their food intake because it knows a restriction is coming. When researchers studied those who didn’t diet or have a caloric deficit, they found it took much longer for the body start storing fat because it had no clue that the body would be put into starvation mode.
When we look at evolution, there were times where food was plentiful, and times where food was non-existent. Therefore, the body had to adapt to those changes in conditions. These days, it’s very rare for food to not be available when we need it, which can lead to weight gain. So, our bodies should have no problem (theoretically) shedding off unwanted body fat since the body would not feel it needs to increase its fat stores. It’s the dieting we put our bodies through that are the culprit when it comes to making us fat when we go through the ups and downs of yo-yo dieting. This up and down is what causes the brain to tell the body to start storing fat regularly to preserve itself.
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