Will you lose weight and keep it off if you diet?

"Do Diets Really Work?"

First, let me be clear: Diets work. Saying anything more is not honest. They may not function as well as we'd like, but they absolutely do function. These diets Don t Work headlines are nothing but clickbait. However, there is a problem with diets and this is what happens after the diet. You see, at any given time, nearly half of the American population is on a diet.

Don't Get Discouraged

Sadly, most are disappointed, because even when successful (which is rare), most the weight they will lose will come back within a few months after the diet ends. And it ought not be surprising. After all, if you think about it, this is what most bodybuilders, movie stars, and physical fitness influencers do. They lose weight, get in great shape, and then regain most of the weight.

In an enormously comprehensive review published in the journal British Medical Journal , researchers examined 121 scientific studies that looked at over 22,000 overweight or obese adults who followed one of 14 popular diets, such as the Atkins diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, DASH, and the Mediterranean diet, for an average of six months.

Admittedly, the results were comparatively underwhelming. Whether they were low-carb diets, low-fat, or low-calorie plans, all the diets resulted in weight loss of 10 pounds after six months, but most of the lost weight was recovered within a year.

The question is why? Why does the weight come back?

The weight is, of course, regained, and it comes back with a vengeance. There is evidence that some types of diets frequently lead to weight gain. So yes, some diets help in a short amount of time, but if not done properly (more on that in a bit), then we may become prone to weight gain.

Since the early 1990s, there have been at least 15 studies, spanning anywhere from 1 to 15 years, that have shown that dieting to lose weight is directly related to future weight gain and obesity. As previously mentioned, a study in which body composition was assessed found where the amount of weight lost as a result of dieting outweighed the amount of fat that was lost. This suggests that fat-free mass (FFM) was only partially recovered.

Actually, this gives us greater insight into why diets usually do not work, and also why physiques usually do not improve following diet. The issue is because you lose weight, you do shed muscle mass, which is a major source of insulated tissue, and you tend to lose fat mass, which can be a prominent source of heat energy.

(You can see your body fat as insulation and your lean body mass as your furnace.) The consequence of a diet can be not only less insulation but also reduced thermoregulation. This is far from ideal, especially if you do not change your environment or behavior to accommodate a change in thermoregulation.

After all, your fat mass and lean mass were in an excellent position given your age, gender, and environment. Then, in an effort to make up for the changes in this equilibrium through overcompensation, you did whatever was in your power to eliminate fat mass and increase lean body mass, only to realize the changes would instead be made in the opposite direction.

This does not please your body? and it needs to be fixed. Quickly.

It really is difficult to build muscle mass, and individuals who are already overweight store fat much easier than they can lose muscle. Also, muscle mass does not significantly grow in adults unless they're regularly exercising. If you lose weight through diet, this weight reduction may persist even in the event that you start to lift weights regularly.

When we shed weight, we lose some of our insulating fat and some of our lean body mass, but we don't really change our environment (the temperature of our home) or ourselves (how many clothes we wear), which creates a large drive to return to our equilibrium between the internal temperature and the external temperature.

The drives become a strong desire to eat and a strong metabolic drive to store. Only since the furnace is now smaller, we have no choice but to add more insulation than we had before in order to reach our new optimal equilibrium. And here is where the slippery slope begins.

If after dieting and then resuming normal eating, you become unhappy with the way your body looks, you might decide to diet again, losing fat and lean body mass, ultimately you will make the situation worse.

So what?s the solution?

Firstly and most importantly ? IF you?re going to diet, you MUST do some form of resistance training. This is essential. It will help preserve your Lean Body Mass.

Secondly, you must alter your environment. You absolutely must stay warm while giving your body a chance to build back its lost LBM.

Turn up the heat in your home slightly, wear an extra layer or two, sauna when you can. Stay active, generate heat, and eat (digesting creates heat) and of course continue to do resistance exercises to build back your internal furnace.

When in doubt, stay warm.

Brad

Brad Pilon has his masters degree in human nutrition and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist. His trademarked Eat Stop Eat program has been featured all over the Internet and been seen on national television, and has helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and heal their relationship with food. For information on Eat Stop Eat that will help you burn fat while literally doing nothing, visit https://HealthyHabitsDigest.com/Eat-Stop-Eat