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Don't Diet to Lose Weight – Modify Your Eating Behavior Instead

If you have set a goal for yourself that consists of losing weight, the only way to go about it in a way that is healthy and that is guaranteed to result in long-term, sustained, weight-loss, is to modify the way that you eat. Sure, dieting will produce the weight-loss effect that you’re looking for, but there are a few downfalls of dieting, not to mention that it’s just not all that fun. In order to be sure to lose weight in a healthy way and be able to keep it off, the only way to go is to make healthy lifestyle changes that include healthier eating and healthier activity levels.

Dieting’s Downfalls

While some diets can produce very drastic results in a very short amount of time, there are also some negative side effects that can come with dieting. Healthy dieting is, of course, better than drastic diets such as no-carb or no-fat diets; however, dieting has been proven to be less effective in the long run. Serious dieters are very likely to put all of the weight back on that they’d lost within just a few months of having lost it. This kind of dieting cycle is not only psychologically frustrating; it is also unhealthy for the heart. Putting on and losing weight in a cycle of more than five pounds up and down puts stress on the heart that can ultimately lead to heart troubles.

Putting this kind of stress on your heart is part of the downfall of yo-yo dieting. The other important piece is that yo-yo dieters always feel like they are dieting. This type of dieter, though they are not dieting all the time, often feels as though he or she is always dieting because no sooner has he or she resumed their ‘normal eating habits, and they are back on their next diet because they’ve put weight back on again.

Modify Instead

Modifying one’s eating habits is the best way to lose weight because it results in slow and steady weight loss (instead of the rapid ups and downs of yo-yo dieting). Slow and steady weight loss is the key to making permanent changes that will not be reverted as soon as you’ve reached your weight-loss goal. If you must have something sweet after dinner, try modifying your dessert choices. Instead of a bowl a chocolate ice cream, have a mini-Hershey bar and half an apple instead. You might even discover that your favorites, like chocolate, seem even more savory than before when you eat them in such small quantities.

Slow and Steady

Dieting is the hare’s way of losing weight. One can loose a lot of weight in a short amount of time by going on an extreme diet such as no sugar or no fat, or even the no-carbs diet. On the other hand, modifying one’s eating habits instead of going on a diet is the tortoise’s way of losing weight. The tortoise way might result in two pounds of weight lost in a month instead of in a week; however, it is the tortoise’s path, the one that is done through modification instead of deprivation that will ultimately allow you to win the weight-loss race.

Results through modification are not as drastic and impressive, but they are longer lasting, which in the end is more impressive than sudden, quick weight loss. Modification is sustainable, dieting is not, as it should not be. Those who diet perpetually are seldom in good health, either physically or mentally. Ultimately, it is the sustainable method that will impress more than anything else.