This article is in our Keto Diet Series:
1) Four Common Mistakes that Sabotage Health and Fat Loss
2) Keto Diet 101: The Science Behind Ketogenic Diet
3) Six Reasons Why the Keto Diet is the Holy Grail for Fat Loss
Mistake #1: Failing to create a calorie deficit
According to some “experts,” controlling your food intake is the secret to losing weight and keeping it off.
In contrast to other foods that “balance” the body and promote fat removal, some meals are referred to as “fattening” because they prevent the body from burning fat and foster a hormonal state that causes people to gain weight.
While somewhat correct, that does not fully convey the situation. Entering a calorie deficit is the most important thing you can do to reduce the number on the scale.
It’s simple. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. Additionally, if you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It is an established scientific fact. [1]
Looking for proof? The significance of calorie balance has been shown by several research. [2-4] Professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University Mark Haub’s case study is one of them. [5]
He decided to do an experiment since he understood the relevance of calorie balance and the impact his increased weight was having. He maintained a daily energy deficit of 800 calories for two months by just consuming Twinkies, Oreos, Doritos, and protein beverages.
What happened? In just two months, he lost 27 pounds, reducing his body fat from 33.4% to 24.9%.
Although I wouldn’t suggest that you follow such a diet, it helps to illustrate my point. If you want to reduce weight, you must be in a calorie deficit.
Mistake #2: Extreme calorie restriction slow down your metabolism
If you need to burn more than 250 calories per day to lose weight, a deficit of 1,000 calories should yield benefits four times more quickly?
Wrong! Before I knew any better, I made this mistake, which is a common one.
The truth is that severe calorie deficits harm your physiology. Because of this, nearly everyone who follows a low-calorie diet eventually puts on all of the weight they had lost when they stop the diet—and usually much more.
You see, your body isn’t conscious of the weight loss efforts you’ve made to be in shape for the beach. It thinks that you are starving yourself and are therefore unable to eat anything.
As a result, your body will attempt to stop you from losing weight by slowing down your metabolism. The implication of this is that as soon as you stop eating healthily, your body will start storing as much food as it can as fat in preparation for the next time you go without meals.
Because of these factors, it’s essential to eat in accordance with a calorie target that is unique to your body, your situation, and your goals.
Mistake #3: Assuming that all calories are created equal
We have just looked at calories so far. And while calories are a crucial piece of the fat loss jigsaw, they in no way act in isolation. You know, most people who say they want to lose weight actually want to get healthier and more attractive.
The truth is that if you want to achieve these goals, you shouldn’t strive for weight loss. Focus on losing fat instead. This is because dropping weight does not necessarily improve health and appearance, even when lowering fat does.
Calories are still a crucial component in losing weight nowadays. Your diet of macronutrients is as crucial, though. You must consume enough protein, carbs, and fat, in other words. Your body’s response to the food you eat will be greatly impacted by how your macros are set up.
For instance, if you consume too many carbs, losing weight would be incredibly difficult even if you maintain a calorie deficit. This is so because carbs lead to an increase in the hormone insulin, which works in two different ways to prevent fat loss.
High insulin levels are one factor that prevents fat from being released from your fat cells.[6] If your cells are unable to shed the extra fat, your body will never be able to do so.
Second, elevated insulin levels cause the body’s energy reserves to be converted into fat cells.[7] This suggests that the energy will go to your hips and abs rather than muscular tissue, which would otherwise consume it.
Since diets heavy in carbs make it so difficult to lose weight, scientists refer to insulin as the “hormone of fat accumulation.”
Insulin is but one example. I’ll go through how to set up your macros to double fat loss because doing so will benefit you in a variety of other ways.
What is ideal? You can utilize the strategy I’ll show you in a moment with ease, and you’ll never be hungry. In fact, this eating pattern is so satiating and easy to follow that if you weren’t losing weight so rapidly, you may not even notice you were on a diet.
Mistake #4: Adopting a diet that is very restrictive and unrealistic
Willpower has a certain amount and runs out like a battery after a while. Extremely restrictive diets weaken willpower and raise appetites, which is the exact opposite of what you want while trying to get to your optimum weight since they encourage overeating. [8]
I’ve witnessed it several times: a person who is dedicated to losing weight and enhancing their health. They start by following a rigorous diet that only consists of items like chicken, fish, and asparagus. After all, doing so is recommended in fitness literature.
Even if the dieter consistently brings Tupperware boxes loaded with “healthy” meals wherever they go and initially has great success, eventually their willpower wears down and they give up on that diet.
Keep in mind that dieting is challenging in and of itself. Don’t make things more difficult by placing a number of unnecessary restrictions. If you don’t, you’ll probably adopt a “screw it” mentality in a few weeks or even days, find yourself drowning in Twinkie wrappers, and end up back where you started.
A keto meal plan tailored to your body, situation, goals, and taste buds is the answer to these diet mistakes. We explain the science behind keto diet in this article.
Learn more about how keto diet has helped others achieved their ideal weight
Supporting Sources
[1] Hand, G. A., Shook, R. P., Paluch, A. E., Baruth, M., Crowley, E. P., Jaggers, J. R., Prasad, V. K., Hurley, T. G., Hebert, J. R., O’Connor, D. P., Archer, E., Burgess, S., & Blair, S. N. (2013). The energy balance study: the design and baseline results for a longitudinal study of energy balance. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 84(3), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2013.816224
[2] Astrup, A., Meinert Larsen, T., & Harper, A. (2004). Atkins and other low-carbohydrate diets: hoax or an effective tool for weight loss?. Lancet (London, England), 364(9437), 897–899. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16986-9
[3] Sargrad, K. R., Homko, C., Mozzoli, M., & Boden, G. (2005). Effect of high protein vs high carbohydrate intake on insulin sensitivity, body weight, hemoglobin A1c, and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(4), 573–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.01.009
[4] Gumbiner B. (1999). Treating obesity in type 2 diabetes. Calories, composition, and control. Diabetes care, 22(6), 886–888. https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.22.6.886
[5] http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/ twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
[6] McDonald, L. (1998). The Ketogenic Diet: A Complete Guide for the Dieter and Practitioner (1st ed.)
[7] Lustig R. H. (2006). Childhood obesity: behavioral aberration or biochemical drive? Reinterpreting the First Law of Thermodynamics. Nature clinical practice. Endocrinology & metabolism, 2(8), 447–458. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet0220
[8] Westenhoefer, J., Engel, D., Holst, C., Lorenz, J., Peacock, M., Stubbs, J., Whybrow, S., & Raats, M. (2013). Cognitive and weight-related correlates of flexible and rigid restrained eating behaviour. Eating behaviors, 14(1), 69–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2012.10.015
This article does not provide medical advice. It is intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment because of something you have read on the healthysolutions.fit Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or dial 911.
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