By After countless unsuccessful attempts at dieting, women will often blame themselves for their failure to lose weight. But before you go hard on yourself, we suggest at where you went wrong. After all, with so much misinformation about dieting circulating, who can blame you for getting caught in weight-loss scams? Weight loss is not as mysterious as the weight-loss industry makes it up to be. It all boils down to consuming fewer calories than you spend combined with an exercise regimen. There are some intricate details in between that you also need to keep in minds such as hormones, metabolic adaptations, and nutrient balance. Before you start making a sustainable dieting plan, consider the three common mistakes women make when dieting and see if they speak to you.
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Crash dieting
Calorie restriction is by far the most important aspect of successful weight loss. Logically, you may think that the fewer calories you eat, the greater the weight loss. And while there is some truth to this, starving yourself won’t prove to be effective in the long run. Just think about it: for how long can you stay on say, an 800-calorie diet? Two weeks, six weeks even? But what happens after that time? Well, as research shows, severe calorie restriction only leads to a slower metabolism.
During severe calorie restriction, your body tries to preserve as much energy reserves as possible. It does so by first spending muscle tissue because muscle requires more energy to maintain than fat. Next, your body will lower your resting metabolic rate to make further weight loss difficult all with the goal of preserving energy. This becomes especially prominent when the first symptoms of menopause kick in and when your body is already struggling to maintain a healthy weight. Simply put, crash diets are completely counterproductive. And once you get back to normal eating, you’ll be gaining, even more, weight thanks to the slow metabolism and lack of fat-burning muscles.
As an alternative, make sure to reduce your calorie intake just a little bit by say around 300-500 calories less than what you usually consumer. In this way, your body will have enough energy to burn fat properly while the moderate calorie deficit is more likely to lead to fat loss.
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Not exercising the way you should
Most women seem to have a preference for aerobic exercising over other forms of workout. And while aerobics is good for overall health, fitness levels, and heart health, it doesn’t do much regarding weight loss. Yes, any exercise will result in some weight loss when paired with calorie restriction, but with aerobics, this will be only to a moderate extent. In fact, a study published in The American Journal of Medicine stated that aerobic training conducted over 6 months led to a modest reduction in waist circumference in overweight people. If you are not aiming for modest but big results, you’ll need to introduce other forms of workout.
For greater weight loss, women should not be afraid of high-intensity exercising or weight lifting. It seems that women avoid this form of workout out of fear that it will result in bulkiness. But, in reality, weight lifting, sprint cycling, and weight bearing are more likely to make you toned. Studies, such as the one published in the 2011 issue of the Journal of Obesity found that these forms of the workout were best for fat burning. Another plus of intense workout and muscle-building exercises is that they will improve your posture, firm your body, and possibly reduce the appearance of neck and chest wrinkles.
If you are not sure how to combine different forms of workout for greater fat-burning, find a personal trainer. If this seems too expensive and time-consuming, you can easily find a free weight-loss workout program online.
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Complicating things
If you overcomplicate your weight-loss plan, chances are that you’ll lose motivation pretty soon. Weight loss is not all that complicated despite what the media says. You simply need to watch what you eat, meaning eat less than you usually do and switch to healthy foods. Avoid fried foods, artificial sweeteners, packaged food, and refined carbohydrates. Instead, opt for fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean cuts of meat, seeds, nuts, and low-fat dairy. There’s no need to include any weight-loss supplements, pills, and miracle treatments as these will prove a waste of your time and money.
As far as exercising goes, current physical activity guidelines recommend 30 minutes of moderate physical activity around 5 times a week. This should be enough to result in weight loss over a period of several months. If you can exercise more than that, you can expect faster weight loss, and you’ll probably develop stronger muscles as a result. Just make sure your diet is balanced in carbs, protein, and healthy fats to get the energy requirements needed for an effective workout.
Conclusion
Dieting is not easy, and it becomes even harder when you’re bombarded with misinformation. As a result, many women struggle to achieve long-term weight loss and blame themselves for their failed attempts. But once you know which mistakes you are making, weight loss is achievable. Most women tend to take too far with calorie restriction, rely on gentle aerobics, and overcomplicate matters with their diets. Instead, women should be moderate with the calories, develop a varied exercise regimen, and keep things simple with their weight-loss plan. Also, avoid spending money on weight-loss supplements and spend that money you’ve saved on nourishing moisturizers like DermaFolia instead.
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Author Bio:
Kathy Mitchell is a writer and avid researcher on the subject of Beauty, nutrition and general wellness. She likes to go out with her friends, travel, swim and practice yoga. In her free time, you can find Kathy curled up reading her favorite novel, or writing in her journal. She is regular Contributor at Consumer Health Digest. To Know more about her follow her on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
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