If you have been yo-yo dieting for many years and you think that it has become harder and harder to lose weight, it is not your imagination.
Most fad diets are based one or more variations of a few basic themes: High protein, High carbohydrate, Food combining, or Starvation diets, either (liquid, fasting, grapefruit, or the cabbage soup diet, etc.). These diets will cause a weight loss, however, the initial loss, up to 10% of your body weight is usually in the fluid.
“ Once you go off the diet you will almost always regain all of the weight you lost during the weight loss program.”
After the initial fluid loss, weight loss from fad programs is often due to the loss of muscle. Your body will burn muscle when you try to lose weight too quickly through calorie restriction. You need the calories for fuel and if you are not eating the calories needed, your body will begin to burn muscle to make up for the lack of fuel from food intake.
The only desirable kind of weight to lose is fat, never muscle Rapid dieting causes muscle loss and a slower metabolism. The metabolism slows down even further as the body senses that it is in a state of famine and tries to preserve its fat stores.
Once you go off the diet you will almost always regain all of the weight you lost during the weight loss program. This is the body’s way of protecting you from future weight loss, Rapid weight loss is preserved as starvation (a threat to your survival). With each new fad diet, it becomes much more difficult to lose weight. Your body will further protect you by becoming more resistant to weight loss and much more efficient at fat storage.