I’m sure you’ve read countless articles on weight loss tips and the best workouts to do for a lean body. But have you every stopped to wonder what of this advice is actually safe? Today I have a list for you of the top six things you should NOT do to lose weight. There are a lot of paths you could take on your weight loss journey, but the following is a list of things that could hurt you instead of help with reaching your goals. Sure, you might lose some weight when doing these things… but at what cost?
Go on a diet
Instead of “going on a diet” you should change your lifestyle. Diets are temporary, which means if you view your nutrition as a diet you will one day stop eating like that. You should find a way of eating that you feel comfortable sticking with forever. If you diet for a while and then stop, all the weight you lost will come right back. I’m sorry, but that is true. Diets are restrictive and they prevent you from eating certain things. Depriving yourself of X, Y, and Z will only result cravings. And if a craving gets bad enough you will find yourself in a pile of chocolate wrappers. Binging and dieting and restricting when you are allowed to eat is not a healthy way to live. And even if it results in weight loss for you, it won’t be permanent.
Skip meals
Sure, skipping meals and eating very few calories will make you to lose weight. If will also cause you to get sick and lose muscle mass and screw up your metabolism along with many other outcomes. As I said with dieting, skipping meals with also likely resulting in binging later on.
Extreme exercising
Now, I love to exercise – but there is a limit everyone should be allowed to work out. Going to the gym for four hours at a time to do counts cardio classes and weight-lifting sessions is not necessary or healthy. If you are an Olympic level athlete who is preparing for a competition, extra training makes sense. But, for a majority of the world’s population that much exercise is not necessary or safe. Also, if you are exercising, you should be eating more to balance that out. Extreme dieting paired with extreme exercising is not the way to reach your goals.
Weigh yourself daily
Becoming obsessed with the numbers on your scale is going to drive you crazy. Remember that when you are exercising or changing your eating habits your body composition will change. You may lose fat, you will likely gain some muscle and the numbers on the scale might not make sense to you. I’ve had clients gain weight but look much fitter. On the other hand, I’ve had clients lose a significant amount and look great too. There is also the possibility that you will lose weight but still not like the way you look. It’s all a balance and you should just ignore the numbers because they are a silly measurement anyway.
Diet pills
In short, diet pills do not work. Most are not going to do a thing for you. And even if one of them works and you lose weight, do you really want to be putting those dangerous chemicals into your body? Do you know what goes into the making of these pills? It’s not safe you guys… skip them!
Cleanses
Cleanses have recently become very popular. There are many type of cleanses on the market including: soup, juice, lemon, and water to name a few. I do not support these cleanses for weight loss. It’s almost like a one-week diet. Cleanses usually do result in weight loss, but most of that weight lost is water. You will gain all of that weight back after that cleanse has finished.