In today’s society, people are pressured to comply with social expectations of being skinny, athletic and beautiful.Society tends to judge people’s beauty by their physical appearance or how many likes they get on an Instagram posts. With all the pressure to be skinny and fit, people, especially women, tend to diet or do intense detoxes. I believe that dieting never works because of the mentality that comes along with being on a diet.
Before spring or summer break, we always hear about people going on extreme diets or crazy detoxes to lose 10 pounds in two weeks. Our Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram feeds are full of ways to lose weight quickly. Although they may seem like easy fixes and you may lose the weight in time for your vacation, these are not the best way to keep the weight off and maintain your body goals.
I believe that dieting never works because of the word “dieting” itself: It should be a change in lifestyle, not a temporary change in eating habits. Having the mentality of being on a diet makes things much harder. If you go in to changing your eating habits by saying you are changing your lifestyle, losing weight will be much easier. Your mind is your biggest enemy when it comes to losing weight.
Losing weight is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time if you want to lose the weight and keep it off. If you just just eat lean meat, fruits and vegetables and cut any fats, sugars and unhealthy carbs, your body will become unaccustomed to these foods, and when you return to your normal eating habits it will store them as fat.
Therefore, it is important to not cut foods out for a small period of time to drop pounds fast; rather, cut foods out little by little and eat in moderation. Instead of dieting and removing the things you love to eat, try reducing your calorie intake by eating smaller portions of the meals and foods you like. Keeping in mind that moderation is key, eat whatever you want from time to time. Don’t feel guilty for eating ice cream, just don’t have a pint every night. Moderate your intake and control your portions.
By eating all the things you want in moderation and in smaller portions, your body will still be used to all the foods you’re eating and be able to process things more easily. Removing foods from your daily diet and later reintroducing them to your body can be worse for your health than the foods originally were. This is why simply eating more healthy foods, moderating the unhealthy foods and eating smaller portions is the best diet. It may not be an easy fix, but it will help you keep the weight off. It takes 21 days to build a habit. Therefore, after 21 days you will have developed the habit of eating this way and changed your lifestyle forever while losing the weight the healthiest and the smartest way possible.
