Wonder why people gain weight after dieting?
Constant weight shifting up and down is a common thing seen in many people trying to lose weight. With days of starvation, weight will be lost quickly. Once the desired goal weight is met and eating is back in full swing, the weight lost and usually more will be gained even faster than the time it took to lose the weight.
Why does this yo-yo weight shift happen? A lot of the weight loss in the beginning of any diet is usually not fat loss but water loss. That is why our weight can fluctuate by 5 pounds within the same day. Once the water weight is lost and the body is in starvation mode long enough, the body’s survival mechanism is to store as much fat as possible. Meaning, as soon as you put something into your stomach instead of using it as fuel, the body will store it as fat so that it can be used in starvation. This is one of the biggest reasons for the quick and large amount of weight gain once the diet is over.
The first thing to realize is that fad diets will not work unless you incorporate it into your lifestyle. Limiting a diet to only grapefruit and water for example, will probably not work as a lifestyle change as it does become old, and many other important nutrients and vitamins will be missing. A diet should be something that you can incorporate to your lifestyle for the rest of your life. It should be balanced and proportioned with good fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Eating right every day, will gradually bring the weight down (not as fast as starving yourself) but the weight lost will be fat loss and a permanent change as long as you stick with good eating habits. This is the reason why at my personal training gym we will incorporate a diet for each individual that is balanced and reasonable to become a lifestyle change.
For more information on this subject email me at don [at] donslifestyle [dot] com or visit me at www.donslifestyle.com.
