You can set your watch by it. February. The scales are going back in the cupboard while you build up the willpower and forget the hardship sufficiently to go again. This will be about January next year. As you tucked into the salad straw that broke the camel’s back, you probably asked yourself, “Why? Why does this happen every year?” you get amazing progress at first.
Everyone tells you that you look amazing and asks for your secret. You tell them you’re doing the new diet that *insert a-lister here* is doing and you swear by it. Sure, you’re hungry (SO HUNGRY), but the results are undeniable. Your goal jeans now fit, and you’ve been catching people staring everywhere you go, BUT SO HUNGRY. SO, SO HUNGRY. You start to question whether it’s really worth it, it’s making you miserable. Herein lies the problem. Your diet is unsustainable. You’ve relapsed, and you’re eating the foods you ate pre-diet and, not only have you put all the weight you lost back on, you’re actually bigger than you were when you started. But why? What on earth happened?
The Fad Diet Trick
Almost every fad diet will work at first. You will see incredible results early on. Mind-blowing. The scales will tell you you’re smashing it. Pounds fall off in just a few days. Great! You found the secret to weight loss. FINALLY. But this is where fad diets prosper on false results. Everyone extols the virtues of the diet they’re doing at the start because they’re proud of the weight loss, but when the going gets tough, and the diet slips, no-one tells the same people that they were, in fact, onto a loser.
Water Weight
So how does the fat shred off so quickly at the beginning? And why does it come back so quickly? The answer is that the fat never left. You were duped. Sure, you lost weight. But barely any, if any at all, of the weight, was fat. Most diets will utilize water depletion to help you lose weight. When you dry out, your body will look leaner, but the minute you start drinking water, the weight returns. So it’s all water? Nope. It’s glycogen too. When you consume carbohydrates, your body stores a certain amount in case it needs it in an emergency. It stores this as glycogen.
Glycogen
When you restrict calories to an extreme degree, your body will deplete these glycogen stores leading to weight loss. The problem is, the minute you consume carbohydrates, it will work to replenish its stores of glycogen. So the majority of the weight that isn’t water is glycogen. Your body will work to restore these reserves as soon as it can, regaining the weight you lost in the first place. You’re back to where you started. And the worse thing is, when you eat in a severe calorie deficit, your body will adjust to need less calories, so when you restore your calorie levels you no longer need that amount so your body stores is as….say it with me…. BODY FAT. So you’re in a worse situation than when you started. Fuming.
Intolerance and Allergy Testing To See The Truth
All of the above assumes you’ve been getting results. But what if you haven’t. Despite following all of the rules of healthy eating, you still have a belly. It feels kind of firm, but it’s definitely a belly. This is where you could benefit from intolerance and allergy testing. One of the common symptoms of allergy and intolerance is bloating. Bloating makes your stomach look much bigger than it actually is and can hide your progress. Intolerance and allergy testing can help you identify the foods covering up your progress. Find a range of intolerance and allergy testing to suit your budget here.
