Forget Dieting - Change From A Diet To A Healthy Lifestyle!

Forget the word DIET!

The word "diet" usually conjures up thoughts of restriction, unhappiness and worst of all, being a temporary solution to a life long issue. Just think about it for a moment. If you stick to a healthy eating plan for 6-8 weeks and then think you can switch back to your normal way of poor eating, think again. Your body gains and loses weight when you create a surplus or deficit in calories. Its really that simple. The major issue is when you go on and off diets (yo-yo). When you cut calories, your body adjusts to your new body weight (set point).

Unfortunately, most people will severely restrict their calories which causes the body to burn muscle for energy, which is a huge mistake. Muscle is the most metabolic tissue in your body and its your main "furnace" for burning calories and keeping your metabolism revved up throughout the day. As long as you adhere to this lowered caloric level, then you will stay at the normal body weight. However, if you're like most people, then you will eventually go right back to your normal way of eating which means increased calories that come from unhealthy sources. Then the really bad effects start happening. Your body will pack on adipose tissue (body fat) from the surplus of calories and now since you've probably lost your very important lean muscle tissue due to restricting calories, your body will burn less calories than it would have before you began dieting. This is a double whammy which wreaks havoc on your body's metabolism, fat stores and lean muscle mass.

So, forget dieting and try and focus on a lifestyle change. Do not lower your overall daily calories more than 500. When you cut your calories more than 500 a day, your body may tend to go into a slight "Starvation" mode where it may lower your metabolism and not want to let go of your fat stores. The best advice is to only create a 250 calorie deficit though calorie restriction and create another 250 calorie deficit though exercise. This is great because you keep fueling your body with nutritious food and you really rev up your metabolism with exercise. This is a great combination and works the best for people!

Creating a new lifestyle change to your nutritional plan will provide you with the key to permanent success. Make small changes to your diet plan and try to ingrain these changes into healthy habits.