Starving for weight loss is neither healthy nor effective.
There have been countless instances of people having to attend a party right after Thanksgiving or Christmas. If it hasn’t already occurred to you, those are the times when we look the least fit. All that turkey, wine and roast will even leave toned gym fanatics with pants that feel a size smaller. In such circumstances, the only solution seems to be to starve yourself.
If you’re actually considering it, you should change your mind. Starving has detrimental effects on your body that outweigh the meager benefit of losing weight for a short period of time. You end up losing your muscle mass instead of fat and your body goes into emergency preservation mode which makes it harder to burn fat. The weight you do lose will eventually come back much faster when you stop fasting. This is because of the previously suppressed hormones that are released once you resume a regular diet. This causes your body to gain weight really fast since metabolism is slow as well. The most obvious danger is that of developing various issues due to starving yourself. Problems like dehydration, constipation, and headaches are frequently experienced when you starve yourself.
It may sound ironic, but your body needs food to lose weight. This makes it essential to continue a healthy intake of nutrients while trying to lose weight. So if weight loss is the way you want to go, then a healthy diet must continue. To begin, it’s important that you understand the difference between calories and nutrient value. A reason why you gain weight in the first place is that you keep eating despite not really needing the calories.
To develop better eating habits you can begin by knowing what kind of foods your body needs. Essentially, it needs all kinds of nutrients so just make sure you’re making a healthy choice when it comes to the food. Consuming more protein-rich foods on a daily basis will put you off to a good start. Proteins help in developing muscle and have a higher thermal capacity which helps burn fats.
When it comes to carbohydrates, make sure you’re eating the right kind. Refined carbohydrates do no good since their low nutrient value make them easily digestible. This means your body keeps the nutrients but still feels hungry, causing you to overeat. Foods that share a similar amount of calories need not have the same nutrient value. Stick to healthier unrefined grains as a source of carbohydrates since their whole grain nature is what makes them a little harder to digest. They allow our bodies to stay full for much longer.
Swap unhealthy packed foods for fruits and vegetables to make for a good snack. Have smaller portions more regularly rather than a few large meals. Drinking water and limiting salt and sugar contributes to the body’s hydration, which curbs hunger. Stick to a curfew to shed those extra pounds you gained by midnight snacking. However, adjusting to a new diet plan, then it doesn’t mean that it has to be boring. The thought of not being able to eat out while on a diet can really demotivate people. A helpful app like HowUdish can help improve your diet experience by suggesting what you can eat at restaurants in a certain location. These suggestions are filtered according to requirements specified by the user. This means you no longer have to eat alone at home all the time and can enjoy eating out in a healthy way with your friends.
Photo by Photographee.eu/Shutterstock.com
