The 3 Fatal Flaws of A Fad DietGoodbye Belly Fat Loss ... Hello Belly Fat!A typical fad diet often comes with the promise of effortless, instant weight loss. More often than not it boasts unrealistic, non-sustainable, pie in the sky results and is backed by false claims. In reality, these types of "instant weight loss" diet plans serve only to compromise your health, age you faster, make you fatter, poorer and leave you completely discouraged. Learn to spot their common signs (and flaws) to protect yourself, your health and your sanity….and yes, your pocketbook too. 1. The first fatal flaw of a fad diet…. Did they say, “Lose 10 pounds in 48 hours?” Set your BS meter on ‘high’ and proceed with great caution...or better yet….run in the opposite direction! Experts agree that “healthy fat loss” is, on average, considered to be approximately 1-2 pounds per week. Not 10++. Anything more than that is considered water weight loss. Water weight loss can make the average 1-2 pounds per week look higher on the weight scale initially …but that’s not fat loss. It’s dehydration...which is NOT a good thing if you’re struggling with belly fat loss. Did you know that dehydration actually causes weight gain? Yes, you read the correctly. I explain it all in detail in the “Water and weight loss” section. It’s quite an eye opener! So, the first fatal flaw is that the water weight loss that fad diets claim as “instant weight loss” isn’t really fat loss. 2. The second fatal flaw of a fad diet… Healthy eating guidelines incorporate all food groups for optimal nutrition. Their may be some differences in the ratio of macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fat) but no one category falls below 20-25% of the diet as a whole or is (yikes!) left out completely. Assuming that it’s healthy and balanced, it’s also sustainable long term. A fad diet, on the other hand may completely exclude an important food group altogether. (i.e., eating nothing but bananas for a week). They promise unrealistic belly fat loss in an unrealistic time frame (i.e., lose 10 pounds in 48 hours) So…what do you eat after 48 hours? That’s certainly doesn’t sound very sustainable long term either, does it? Who can live on bananas forever? Bottom line…The second fatal flaw is that a fad diet is ALWAYS ultimately designed to fail. Fad diets promise instant weight loss or other quick and easy ‘fixes’ with little or no effort. For example, you’ve got an upcoming important function and you want to look your absolute best; a wedding, a reunion, an introduction – that sort of thing. The ad reads, “Lose 10 pounds in 48 hours effortlessly” and suddenly it becomes pretty enticing, doesn’t it? If nothing else, it certainly arouses your curiosity. I know it did mine (even though I knew better!). When we WANT to believe (usually in desperation or frustration) is when we are most vulnerable to an instant weight loss 'fix' to lose stubborn belly fat. The idea of effortless, instant weight loss is a big hook for many – and this is where most fad diets get their steam...but here’s the caveat… 3. The third fatal flaw… Fad diets are not your friend. These types of diets wreak havoc on your body and are a fast track to metabolism hell. A ‘messed up’ metabolism can take years to correct, if it ever does. If you want to speed up your metabolism there are far more effective ways of doing that that won’t involve compromising your health. Speed Up Metabolism? It’s more like Goodbye Metabolism… When the body senses a sudden and extreme drop in calorie intake, it naturally goes into survival mode (that’s fat storage mode). It does this by slowing your metabolism down to a snail’s place in order to conserve as much energy (in the form of fat) as possible. Good Bye Belly Fat Loss…Hello belly fat Furthermore the stress you’re now putting on your body also triggers cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline to be released – two hormones that encourage fat storage (and premature aging). Thus begins the cycle of producing more belly fat and storing it in the abdominal cavity and throughout your body. Once you return to something that resembles a normal calorie intake (and you eventually will), your body’s reaction now will be to store away some extra fat (on top of the fat you’ve now regained because of the increase in calories) for a rainy day (in other words, should you decide to do it again). The end result is that you’ve slowed down your metabolism so you’ll burn less fat, less efficiently. You’ve also lost precious fat-burning (metabolic) muscle tissue because your body has been forced to use muscle tissue for energy (to compensate for lack of calories). You’ve also created additional fat cells to add to those you already had. Fat cells that don’t go away – ever, unless you have them surgically removed (liposuction) from your body. Fat cells can shrink, yes…but they have a strict no return policy, so they’re with you for life. Yes, you read the correctly. Bottom line, fad diets come and go with the seasons and the ONLY people who stand to gain from them are those that promote and shamelessly sell them for profit. The unsuspecting people who buy into them, however have the most to lose – and unfortunately, more often than not, it sure isn’t losing belly fat!
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