Disclaimer: This post isn't designed to bash any particular person or product. It's to help educate people on safer and more sensible ways in which they can invest their time, effort and health.
Why we're here.
Australian's are getting fatter and spending over $600 million a year on diets and meal replacements trying to change it.
The problem is, none of them work.
We have magazines, trainers, doctors and authors all trying to convince us to follow their their expensive and very questionable products and programs over experienced health professionals who have spent years, if not decades studying and crafting their profession.
Let me explain to you why this is bad news...
Who do you trust with your health?
- Would you let a plumber deliver your child?
- Would you let an accountant build your house?
- Would you let a flight attendant manage your investments?
- Would you let a salesman control your health?
Why do most say no to 1-3 but some say yes to 4?
The majority of people selling diets or diet products have very little understanding of health and therefore, have no right to be involved in yours.
Don't be fooled by fancy advertising and beautiful smiles. Just because someone can link you to a companies website, pdf's or invite you to their presentation nights doesn't mean they have the education or experience necessary to help you lose weight.
There is a reason it takes years of tertiary education and hands on experience to become a successful nutritionist, dietitian and sought after coach. How qualified and/or experienced is the person you trust with your health?
Get rid of meal replacements
As I explained in this post, Losing weight = eating less energy than your body requires.
This is how meal replacements work.
By containing far less energy than their real food counterparts, meal replacements create a large calorie deficit which in turn, creates weight loss. It's not because they have any magical fat loss formulas or advanced capabilities, its simply because they contain less energy than real food.
When we start using meal replacements, the calorie deficit is very large and causes us to first lose water weight (up to 5kg's of it) which is often mistaken for fat loss. If we continue using the meal replacements we do end up losing some body fat but we also risk losing muscle, slowing our metabolism and destabilising important hormones.
This is because the difference in energy between real food and meal replacements is sometimes too large and the nutrient content too little. This comes back to haunt us when we return to food as we generally go back to eating the same amount that made us overweight in the first place and we now have a down-regulated metabolism to contend with as well.
Can you see how this causes us to put all the weight back on, if not more?
Get Rid Of Fad Diets
Fad diets don't work long term for the exact same reasons meal replacements don't.
- Low Carb
- Low Fat
- Atkins (low carb)
- Soup Diet
- Lemon Detox
- South Beach (low carb)
- Dukan (low carb)
- Cabbage Soup
Ever noticed all these diets require you to exclude certain foods, thus causing you to consume less energy than you normally would (should)? Some of them get rid of nearly all the food groups, no wonder you lose weight!
Because these diets cut your energy intake by such large amounts, they cause the exact same problems meal replacements do. Yes you get the weight loss but you also risk losing muscle and a healthy, functioning metabolism and hormonal system.
As soon as you go back to eating the way you used to, the weight comes back and the cycle continues.
Well How do i lose weight and keep it off?
Make small, sustainable, life long changes
Yep - boring as bat shit and precisely why most people succumb to fad diets and meal replacements.
But if you want to change the way you look for good, you're going to have to change the way you live for good.
In this previous post I've explained exactly how you can do this but if you have any questions please feel free to email me or hire a another professional who can help as well.
Yes dieting and meal replacements will work for a short period of time, but what have you learnt that's going to stop you from ending up back where you started? Are you going to stay on them forever?
I'll leave you with this...