With the New Year and the indulgence of the Holidays comes the idea of restoring balance by going on a diet. And while this might sound like a sensible thing to do, in many cases, quick, restrictive diets backfire and leave you stuck in a cycle of restriction and weight gain.
The diet rollercoaster
Diets tend to be quick fixes and short-lived, and as soon as you stop, the weight comes back on, sometimes even more. In fact, recent research suggests that up to 85% of dieters regain weight within two years of starting a diet.
Diets can affect your mental well-being
A focus on calorie counting and a controlling attitude towards food and weight can cause a state of stress and mental hunger, leading to a cycle of restriction and splurge that can impact your mental well-being and relationship with food and body image.
How restrictive diets affect your body
The body is wired for survival, and may interpret food and calorie restriction as "famine", which leads to a series of hormonal and metabolic compensations aimed at your "survival".
The body can responds by increasing the hunger hormone and lowering your basal metabolic rate in an effeort to make you "save" energy, thus making it more difficult to lose weight.
Research has also shown that restrictive or low carbs diets may affect thyroid function, with a ripple effect on fertility and sex hormones.
A continuous cycle of dieting and weight gain can also "confuse" the weight centre in the brain, precisely in the hypotalamus a gland that control metabolism, hormone balance and hunger control, making more difficult for you to return to a healthy, natural weight.
These are some of the reasons why many people simply pass from one diet to another, without any consistent weight loss.
The body and the mind like predictability, consistency, and rhythms. You need to work with your body, not against it.
Small, gradual, long-term, nutritional and lifestyle changes that respect your bio-individuality are the best to recalibrate the system and get you out of the yo-yo dieting cycle.
And if lifestyle changes are difficult to sustain for you, working with a health coach, can really help you with motivation and guidance.
Work with me
I am a health coach working with people struggling with yo-yo dieting, emotional eating and sugar addiction. I offer individual coaching programs and an online course focused on "Break the Sugar Habit".
Feel free to get in touch for more info and ot schedule a FREE 30-min consultation.
I am a health coach helping clients move from emotional eating and yo-yo dieting to a more mindful…
Post articles and opinions on Dublin Professionals
to attract new clients and referrals. Feature in newsletters.
Join for free today and upload your articles for new contacts to read and enquire further.
