muffintop-less:

STARVATION DIETS DON’T WORK

It’s been a while since I made a post like this… but it seemed pretty pertinent considering all the New Year’s Resolutions.

The other day I was working on a photoshoot and heard a couple of the women talking about the “cleanses” they were doing in order to lose weight. They shared in great detail the pain and difficulty associated with their month-long water, lemon, & ginger concoctions. As you can imagine, I was horrified. It took everything in me not to say something. Good thing I have this blog! I can release the information FREELY here without seeming like a know-it-all or a mother hen. =)

Starvation diets DO NOT WORK. Plain and simple. I cannot even COUNT the number of ladies who have messaged me telling me about their 1,000 calorie diet who “can’t seem to lose the weight” or have gained all the weight back PLUS more after being on a very low calorie diet.

The reason these starvation diets don’t work is simple.  When you starve yourself, you lose water weight first, which is why it seems to be working and the number on the scale goes down. Next goes the muscle. (There goes any “tone” you wanted to achieve). The body is good at SURVIVING and in order to keep you alive, it clings to those fat stores for as long as it can when you don’t eat. Along with the water and muscle, there will also be some fat loss, but it is not nearly as much as people hope for when starting out on their “diet”. The next problem comes when individuals either give up or reach their “goal weight” and immediately go back to their old habits. In order to KEEP the weight off, you must live a lifestyle that promotes that. Starving yourself forever is not only unrealistic, it is insanely unhealthy. (I obviously do NOT condone pro-ana or pro-mia blogs or sites!)

The truth is, if you want to lose body fat, have a tone, healthy body… you must feed yourself ENOUGH of the RIGHT foods. Your body uses calories just to function. This is what is known as your basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is basically the number of calories you would burn if you just laid in bed all day. In other words, you are burning calories right now, just by being ALIVE! After using several calculators online, my BMR came out to around 1300 calories (for the record, online calculators are not all that accurate, but this gives you an idea!) 

Your heart beating, your lungs rising and falling? That ALL expends calories! ON TOP OF THAT… any movement you do, such as walking, talking, eating, sitting, standing, typing… it all burns calories as well. IN ADDITION… going for a run, lifting weights, and any other form of exercise burns calories too! Hopefully now you understand why it is so important to eat enough.

The truth is, there is no magical pill, potion or diet. There is no QUICK FIX or GET IN SHAPE FAST plan. Having a fit, tone, healthy body takes TIME, hard work and dedication. Going to extremes like starving, throwing up food, or excessive exercise will NOT give you a fit, healthy body. Be patient, be positive and work hard. You will get there! =)