Sick of crazy diets and fluctuating numbers on the scales? Here’s how to boot those kilos off the radar, for good.
How many times have you embarked on another new diet craze, lured by the promise of being a lean, mean bikini machine? If it’s not giving up bread, it’s avoiding fat, eating for your blood type or one of the zillion other ‘guaranteed weight loss’ trends.
But here’s the funny thing about fad diets – if they worked, you’d only need to try one instead of diet-hopping, right?
Instead of producing lasting weight loss, the diet degustation menu only exacerbates the problem. Which is why we’re here to tell you, once and for all, what you need to do to keep the kilos off, permanently.
Law #1: Not all carbs are the enemy
The way some people act, it’s like carbohydrates are more evil than Osama bin Laden. Everyone has a friend who looks at them in fascinated horror when they realise that, yes, you are going to eat that bread roll that’s been perched on your side plate for the past five minutes.
The infamous Atkins diet is mainly responsible for the negative reputation carbs currently experience – the protein-heavy regime led to many women shedding kilos as quickly as you could say, “One hamburger please, hold the bun.” But as food coach Judy Davie points out, not all carbs are the enemy.
“Cakes, biscuits and chips are carbohydrates, but so are sweet potato, lentils and wholegrain bread – three of them will contribute to weight gain, while the other three will help weight loss when included in an energy-reduced diet,” she explains. “Good carbs improve mental performance, accelerate the elimination of toxins and provide sustained energy throughout the day.”
The fact is, you can’t avoid carbs for the rest of your life – as soon as you start eating them again, any weight you’ve shed will come roaring back with a vengeance. Plus research shows the factors that determine weight loss are the time you stay on a diet and how much you restrict your calorie intake – not your carbohydrate intake. “Educate yourself on what constitutes good carbs and bad carbs for long-term weight management,” advises Davie.
Law #2: Don’t crash diet
Why? Let us count the ways – not only are crash diets unsustainable, they’ll also slow your metabolism and encourage your body to store kilojoules as fat, rather than burning them off. It might be tempting to embark on that ‘three lettuce leaves per day’ wonder diet when you have your ex-boyfriend’s wedding fast approaching, but the likelihood is, you’ll end up heavier than when you started.
“The problem with crash dieting is that it usually means eating very restricted calories through a minimum intake of food, and your body is going to freak out,” explains nutritionist Kelly Hogan. Cue your body going into starvation mode, as it desperately tries to conserve as much energy as possible, by converting it into fat rather than fuel. Another issue is that when you drop weight quickly, it’s usually from muscle rather than fat – and it’s muscle that keeps your metabolism firing.
When your muscles are depleted, your metabolism slows down, which means you’ll burn less kilojoules. Then there’s the psychological aspect – when you’re deprived of something, it’s human nature to crave it.
“The short-term ban you place on yourself when crash-dieting opens the gate to eating anything and everything once the ban is lifted,” warns Davie. “Nine times out of ten, you’ll binge when the diet is over – if not before – often eating more than you would before you started the diet. With any rapid weight loss, it’s a ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ principle.”
Law #3: Food is just as important as exercise
Hands up who has fallen into the following trap: after putting in the hard yards at the gym, you walk past the convenience store on the way home and are struck with the intense need for an almond Magnum. Having spent half an hour on the treadmill, you immediately start justifying it to yourself and before you know it, the wrapper is in the bin and you’re wearing a Magnum moustache.
This is a classic case of why focussing on exercise alone isn’t the direct route to shedding kilos – what you put in your mouth is just as important. Exercising is a great way to get fit, increase muscle and burn kilojoules, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean you can stuff your face with anything you want.
“Exercise on its own will not help you lost weight, especially if you reward yourself after every workout,” says Davie. “But when combined with a healthy diet, it will help sustain weight loss, by boosting the metabolism and allowing you to enjoy some occasional treats every now and again.”
It’s also a health issue – when you’re exercising a few times a week, your body needs decent fuel to keep it up. If your diet consists of lots of high-kilojoule and high-fat treats, don’t be surprised if you struggle to make it through a spin class. Instead of rewarding yourself with food, switch to treats such as a new lip gloss or an iTunes download.