3 Wrong Ways to Lose Weight and Fat

Despite the fact that the methods listed below are wrong approaches to weight loss and fat loss, almost all of the ads you see today on the topic are talking about products that are using one or more of these methods. Just because it's popular doesn’t mean that it works. In fact, the millions of people who are still trying to lose weight are proof enough that there is a big problem with these approaches. Surveys continue to show that at any one time about 50% of people between the ages of 35 and 59 are on a diet. Below are the three wrong ways to approach fat loss or weight loss.

1. Extra Protein

Protein diets are very popular because they seem to produce very quick results. But many people don't actually know what happens when they consume extra protein. When you take in a lot of protein your liver converts the excess protein into blood urea nitrogen or BUM which makes your kidneys force water out of your body. Because most of your body is composed of water you will almost immediately see the results when you weigh yourself. But don't fool yourself because the weight loss you get is temporary. Most of the weight will return gradually as the body replaces the water to maintain its balance.

2. Diuretics (water pills)

These are special diet pills that work by removing water from your body. They have the same effect on the body that eating too much protein does. Because the body is composed of 70% water, it is very easy for these pills to remove several pounds of water in a relatively short period of time. You will think you have lost weight when you weigh yourself on the scale but the weight will come right back because the body will balance itself out by replacing the water.

3. Starvation Diets

Restrictive and starvation diets used to be very popular but many people these days are beginning to recognise that they can be bad for your health in the long term. They focus on dropping daily calorie intakes to as low as 300 or 500 calories. The dramatic drop fools the body into thinking that there is acute starvation and it starts to digest its own protein (often muscle) in order to protect its vital tissues. So weight loss will come from tissue loss as well as fat loss. This is bad for your health. You want to lose weight, not tissue.

The right way to do it is to go on a nutrition-rich low-fat optimal diet which includes regular active exercises. You may have to eat significantly less food than you normally do but not so much less that you're almost starving yourself. There is a lot of help and guidance available about healthy low fat diets. You doctor will be able to point you in the right direction.
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