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Crash Diets: Are They Good For Losing Weight?


Crash diets are any diets that are designed to make you lose weight in a very short period of time. Mostly, crash diets do not advertise themselves under that name, but are more likely to give themselves a more original name. They usually promise that you can lose “20 pounds in 2 weeks” or something similar. They often revolve around a gimmick, like the “Chocolate Bar Diet,” where you eat one chocolate bar every day and little else (I’m not sure if that’s even a real diet or not; it was just meant as an example).

Crash Diets: Are They Good For Losing Weight?

Do Crash Diets Work?

Do Crash Diets Work?

There are two main problems with any kind of crash diet. The first is that they pose health risks. Your body has certain nutritional requirements. If you have a weight problem, that means you are probably overeating. That is, you are taking in more calories than your body needs for optimum functioning. A crash diet takes you to the other extreme, forcing you to take in fewer calories than your body needs. This may sound like a balance -undereating to make up for overeating, but your body is not meant to go to such extremes.

Problems with Crash Diets

The other problem with crash diets is that, even when they work, the results are usually temporary. You can only undernourish your body for so long. Once you take off the weight you wanted to lose, you will have to go off the diet. At this point, you will most likely start to overeat once again, causing you to gain back the weight you lost. In fact, in many cases people actually end up gaining back more weight, putting them in a worse position than they were in before the crash diet.

Watch Out for Appeal of Crash Diets?

Crash diets can be appealing, because the promise fast results. However, you have to realize that losing weight in the long run requires some long term lifestyle changes. After all, you want to lose weight to be healthier. You may also want to look better, but hopefully you also care about your health. For this, your goal should not be to lose an unrealistic amount of weight in a short time, but to gradually lose weight in a healthy and natural way. This involves regular exercise and a diet that may involve cutting back on calories, but also includes enough nutrition to keep your body working at its best.

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My 2011 Story

I’m slowly getting back in the groove of counting calories and I have to say that showcasing what I eat here is challenging me to make better decisions. You guys have been known to keep me on my toes with comments, so for the “eat more vegetables” reminders, I find myself throwing a salad on my plate where I otherwise would have went without.

I’m also drinking a lot of water. I find that I just don’t drink enough through the day and while water, juice and milk are the only beverages I consume on a regular basis, I’m just not drinking enough. I’ve got water bottles filled and in the refrigerator for easy access.

I’ve been thinking today about what my story will be at the end of this year. What I want it to be. Come January first I want to reflect on 2011 and be proud of the first three months of consistent exercise. That I stuck with it even when the scale was slow to move. How I believed in myself despite people asking “are you sticking with your exercise?” assuming I had stopped. A valid question giving my past history. I will talk about how in April I started to take my eating seriously with calorie counting, and how the hard part was doing it even on days when I really didn’t want to.

I will talk about how the scale started to move and I was seeing my weight go down each week. Every month my clothes were getting looser. By early Fall I had to buy new pants and by winter I was down two sizes. My face is slimmer and people are noticing. They will wonder how I did it- there won’t be a gimmick, no pills, not diet fad of the week and no restrictive plans. Just me believing in myself.

I will talk about how I feared not losing the weight- would I not lose weight even if I tried? I believed in myself and tried anyway. I will talk about how I learned to eat in moderation. How I found other ways to fill myself up.

I don’t know what my weight will be come January 2012, but I truly believe it will be significantly lower than it is today. On top of that I will feel the joys of being able to move a little easier and feel much more comfortable in my body.

What will your story be?

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