It’s as common as waking up on a Sunday morning and saying:
‘I’m never drinking again’
^^^ I guess it’s easier to say now Christmas and New Years is over and done with!
But what I’m referring to is yo-yo dieting
^^^ That vicious cycle you get into of weight regain and ever more severe diets / starvation
Because one of the most common things I hear from people applying for my programmes to help them lose weight and keep them off is:
“I’ve lost weight before but couldn’t keep it off”
And it’s so interesting because most people will say they want to lose weight
But in fact…
they themselves KNOW that’s the easy bit.
The hard part is keep it off.
And a recent study at the University Of Exeter may indicate WHY:
You see, they looked at what happened to animals when they ate less (like in a famine / crash diet)
With the aim of finding out why we struggle to lose weight and keep it off when going on these crash diets.
And what did they find?
That those who ‘dieted’ / were in a famine / had the uncertainty of not knowing when the diet will end…
appeared to show an evolutionary response to weight gain
After all, if your food supply is limited
^^^ as it is when you cut out all of your delicious foods on your crash diet
The best thing an ‘animal’ can do (to pass on it’s genes) is to learn how to store fat by eating LESS
So what did the authors finish with?
That when going on a diet, you should only eat SLIGHTLY less, take it steady and some exercise
Rather than empty all of your ‘tools in the toolbox’ on day one, cut out all of your favourite foods, and deprive yourself
^^^ As this could lead to better fat storage in the long term AND the tendency to binge eat
And this is exactly why I don’t often advise crash diets (I say often because they do have their place…more on that another day)
Because with 9/10 people situations
It’s NOT that your metabolism isn’t working
Rather, it’s that you haven’t built a nutritional strategy that fits your lifestlye
One that gives you the freedom to eat what you want and when you want without spending hours in your kitchen and stressing about what you’re actually going to do with the chicken you bought…
So you can stick to it, ditch the love handles for good, and fit into that head-turning dress that’s just been added to the January sales
Speak soon,
Matt ‘Yoyo destroyer’ Fruci
