Five Reasons Why Your Diet Plan Has Never Worked

How to Set Off on the Right Foot with Your Diet Plan

Could Your Diet Fall Prey to the Five Weight Loss Pitfalls?

Weight

Have you been trying your best to lose weight, but still that arrow on the scales won’t budge? A faulty diet can wreak havoc on your wellbeing, making you think there’s something wrong with you when the chances are, you just haven’t set off on the right foot. So where has your weight loss plan gone wrong, and how can you fix it?

1. You’ve set unrealistic goals.

Not only is it impractical to set an unrealistic goal, but it’s just downright bad for your health. If some miracle plan offers you a ridiculous amount of weight loss in a short amount of time, run the other way! Even if it works – which is very unlikely – you’ll have to starve yourself to get there, and lose muscle, rather than fat, which will lead to deficiencies, illness and eventual weight gain anyway. If you’re only going to diet, you’re looking to shed ½kg per week, or 1kg a week if you are combining exercise and diet, losing an extra 1-2kg per week after the first two months.  When setting your goals, factor in things that will get in your way, like big events or travel plans, so that you won’t get frustrated with your progress.

2. You’re on a diet pendulum.

More often than not, people who fail at dieting are those who swing between eating what they want, and then going on a strict diet for a few days. You can’t expect good results with an eating pattern like this; weight loss takes time and effort, and will only come about if you make small but permanent lifestyle changes.

3. You’ve been unfaithful…to your workout.

Cheating on your workout may seem fun at the time, but you’re doing yourself no favours. Sure, it’s tempting to skip a few reps, or take things easy when your instructor is looking the other way, but this won’t get you any closer to your goal, so why bother? If you’re trying to do 30 reps and failing, break it up into smaller sets of 15, but don’t skip.

4. You’ve been putting it off until tomorrow.

To paraphrase a ginger orphan with a big voice, tomorrow is always a day away. You may think that gorging yourself today will guilt you into that diet plan tomorrow, but when you eat a high-calorie meal on one day, your body will craves that many calories the next day. To adjust to a low-calorie diet, your body needs a few days and so having heavy meals on and off will rev up the hunger pangs. Your body will gradually adjust and it will become a lot easier, and will even allow for the odd high-calorie food without weight gain, but you’re never going to get to that point until you start your diet – today!

5. You’ve been eating when your feelings dictate.

It’s amazing how often you find justification for indulging. Sure, you’re on a diet, but you’ve had a really hard day at work, or an argument with your friend, or you’ve even done really well at something – it must be time for a chocolate-y reward! Many dieters fall off the wagon because they chomp on calories to soothe the feelings of anger, frustration and stress, but you don’t have to. Emotional eating often occurs because your body needs a feel-good hormone called serotonin, which is released when you eat carbohydrate-rich foods. However, this isn’t the only way to increase your serotonin production so when you next feel stressed, take a few deep breaths, go for a walk or drink a glass of milk. This will be better for your weight loss as well as your wellness.

 

Categories: body, cheating, diet, eating, emotional eating, high calorie, loss, Unrealistic Goals, weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Is a High-Calorie Diet Putting the UAE’s Wellbeing at Risk?

The UN has released a report that argues people in the UAE are eating too much of the wrong foods and straining the nation’s food supply. This is in-line with recommendations by other food wellness experts, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which says that, at 3,000 calories, the average daily caloric intake per person in the UAE in 2005 was almost a third above the recommended amount for a healthy person.

According to Dalia Shukri, a clinical dietician at the American Hospital in Dubai, overconsumption is ‘very typical; I see it in the hospital. It is an increasing trend.’ Obesity rates in the UAE are 25% for men, and almost 40% for women, and the wellbeing of 20% of the nation’s residents is affected by diabetes, which is a life-threatening, obesity-related condition. Clearly, something needs to be done about diet and nutrition in the UAE.

Dubai-based nutritionist and dietician, Hala Abu Taha, suggested that the current caloric intake was even worse now than when the study was conducted in 2005: ‘Some extremely obese patients will recall consuming 8,000 calories,’ she said, while others with more reasonable weights often consumed more than 3,200 calories a day. She added that the actual number is probably higher because you’re likely to underestimate what you eat.

Experts say that the problem is compounded by the fact that 10% of the food supply in the Gulf region is imported, which means more dependence on foreign resources. According to a joint publication by the FAO, the Economic and Social Development department of the UN and the World Food Programme (WFP), known as The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009, one trigger behind increasingly unhealthy dietary habits in the developing world was the global financial crisis. The report said that less money means reduced food diversity, and ‘food expenditures also shift towards calorie-rich, energy-dense foods and away from more expensive protein- and nutrient-rich foods.

So what can be done? Shukri advised, ‘Physical activity is key – you need to burn off the food you eat. You can have a good 2,400 to 2,600 calories of food and exercise to burn it off.’  Also, nutritionists recommend that restaurants display calorie counts on their menus as well as colour-coded labels warning customers of unhealthy food. Shukri added, ‘They shouldn’t get too close to the prices, but make people aware, and telling them to not have this or not have that, and to tell them what’s the healthier option.’

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Is a High-Calorie Diet Putting the UAE’s Wellbeing at Risk?

Categories: high calorie, obesity, UAE