Friday, January 23, 2009

Weight Loss and Some Reasons Why Diets Fail

By Ricardo d Argence

Everyday people are attempting to attain weight loss and instead they are failing. You know they are failing by the sheer number of new products that comes on to the market every day. Here we will examine just a few of the many reasons why diets might fail.

Entire food groups are off limits in the majority of today's popular diets. No, fat diets, diets with no carbs and some diets with no food at all! Surprisingly many people are unable to attain weight loss.

Our bodies are complex and require many types of nutrients to function properly. Eiminating a food group is not a healthy way to lose weight and the chances are good that your body will rebel leaving you with no weight loss at all.

Starvation diets are even less favorable as you will deprive yourself of necessary nutrients and find yourself losing little if any weight. That is because your body will go into what is known as starvation mode. Your body slows down its metabolism in order to store fat because it believes there is a food shortage and it wants to protect itself. This is to prevent you from dying under extreme circumstances. Its very risky in terms of your health but little by little your system will be able to overcome it.

A healthy balanced diet is imperative for effective weight loss. This means that you must partake of all the food groups. Portion control is the better approach, as it allows you to get the needed nutrients while reducing your caloric intake.

Fad diets have a large following because many of them claim you can lose weight without any type of exercise. This is plainly false, you must consume less than you expend and to do this while getting proper amounts of nutrients require some form of exercise. It does not have to be extreme exercise, anything that raises your heart rate and increases oxygen intake will suffice. Our bodies were not made to be sedentary they need movement.

The most effective weight loss tool is closer than you think. Your body is composed of mostly water, about 61.8%. It goes without saying that water intake plays a major role in optimizing all body functions. The standard recommendation of 64 ounces of water per day will not apply on days in which you indulge in strenuous physical activity or sweat profusely, when it would be advisable to increase your fluid consumption.

To create a healthy weight loss program you should bring all the elements above together. Eat properly, exercise regularly and drink plenty of water and you have the best weight loss plan on the planet. - 15266

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