You've heard about them and more than likely tried them, so why don't the work.
So do 1200 calorie diets work? Initially, yes. Short term they are a great way to drop some excess water weight,... wait, water weight you say?
Yes, because generally speaking, so many of these 'diets' create the calorie deficit by cutting carbs. Carbohydrates fill your muscles of glycogen and hold onto water. So the more carbs you eat, the more water you actually hold.
Are you one of those women, or men, who have calorie restricted yourself - you lost 5kg the first time, then you put back on those 5kg. So you tried it again, this time you lost 9kg. But now, you are 12kg heavier than before! How does this keep happening?!
Simply put - excessively restricted calorie diets are not maintainable.
They are short term solution for quick weight loss. Often, that quick weight loss if generally water weight, as you are sticking to your 1,200 calorie diet you'll notice you're eating less processed carbohydrates, low fat foods, your intake of vegetables is quite good, and you are learning about portion sizing. Great. For now.
But how long can you keep that up for? How long will you enjoy only having 3 x300-400 calorie meals a day.
Do you think it's sustainable lifestyle choice for you to actually enjoy going out for meals with your loved one, meals with family, knowing that if you have that cheese burger that's all you are having until dinner time.
A calorie isn't a just a calorie.
To ensure you achieve a well balanced diet you'll need to balance out your intakes of each macro-nutrient, when we weight train, we need sufficient protein. Honestly, the breakdown of carbs and fats after that then comes down to your preference. How will YOU stick to the best plan for you.
What to keep in mind:
- You're weight training at the gym, or working hard in your morning boot camp - you need some protein to help repair and grow your muscle.
- You'll need to eat some good carbohydrate however to transport that protein to your muscle fibres through your blood stream.
- Lastly, healthy and good fats, like nuts, fish and avocados are vital for organ function and lubrication of joints, they are the most dense source of energy to help keep our body functioning right.
Put simply - when you eat negative calories (burning more than you eat) you will lose weight, if you do it long term, or inconsistently that's more so when you'll see a plateau.
When you eat a well balanced, healthy, LARGE and voluminous diet - your body will thank you.
It'll start letting your metabolism work harder than before, it'll let your body burn more calories, it'll stop storing your excess calories as fat.
So, don't eat less. Eat right. Understand what your body needs to burn fat, how much more your body actually needs to then build muscle, to keep healthy and to function to its best ability.
Number one rule - never starve yourself, you'll do more damage which can be seriously hard to undo.
If you're ready to start on you. To eat MORE than 1200 calories and get results, drop me a line now.
Ali