Find yourself skipping your typical healthy eating plan during the holidays? Are your missed workouts beginning to pile up a bit more than they should. That's five extra pounds you've gained? Come the New Year, do you put your body through the ringer: two-a-day workouts, juice cleanses, etc?
Well guess what. None of it is good. Read on to find out the side effects of such drastic yo-yo dieting on your body.
A new study from the University of Exeter and Bristol found repeated dieting can do the opposite of what you want and ultimately lead to weight gain because your brain interprets these extreme swings in eating patterns as famines.
As a result, your body goes into survial mode and prompts the storage of fat for future shortages.
This is also seen in people who try to stick to super low-calorie diets. You can thank evolution; animals, like birds, respond to shortages in food supply by gaining weight to stay alive. Unfortunately, researchers say, our bodies are hardwired to follow this model.
That gargantuan shift from hot wing-stuffing-cocktail binges to I'm-only-going-to-eat-negative-calorie-celery benders you transition in and out of is a rough one”especially for your stomach, according to a study from the University of New South Wales.
Yo-yo dieting throws off the healthy balance of gut bacteria. Usually, your gut's home to about 100 trillion microbial cells that influence everything from metabolism to immune function to overall nutrition.
But when the levels and diversity of bacteria are disrupted, gastrointestinal conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and obesity are the result.
By depriving yourself of fuel and maxing out during workouts, your only result is burnout.
Sure, you'll see some weight loss; but that's only due to water loss and dehydration. When people put themselves on a diet, they often forbid themselves to eat the foods they love, but dieting is not the same as healthy eating, and this leads to a sense of deprivation, which can derail your healthy intentions. Over time this creates the effect of yo-yo weight cycling, which can take a toll on your emotional and physical well-being.
The best thing for weight loss is to take it steady. Eat only slightly less than you should, all the time, and keep doing your physical exercise.
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Eat more protein. Protein is essential for fat loss. First, it maintains your muscle during a caloric deficit. Second, it keeps you satiated, which prevents overeating and snacking on junk food. Third, it boosts your calorie burn throughout the day because takes more energy to digest compared to carbs or fat. Eat at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight every day and get your protein from whole sources like nuts, eggs, lean meats, yogurts, and quality protein powders.
And stay hydrate. Water ensures that you perform at a high level in the gym because even a slight amount of dehydration can wreck your athletic performance. Worse, by skimping on water throughout the day, you’ll actually reduce your metabolism because your body tries to conserve fluids. Start the day hydrated by chugging a tall glass of water first thing in the morning.
Get a good night's sleep. At least 8 hours. Researchers from the University of Chicago found that shortchanging your sleep slows down fat oxidation and increased muscle loss by 60 percent. Sleep deprivation also wrecks your muscle gains because it interferes with recovery and growth hormone production, which happens at night during your deep sleep cycles. So make sure that you get at least eight hours of good sleep every night.
