Losing Weight is not always a positive experience. Here is why
A 2017 parliament briefing document highlighted that over 64% of UK citizens are overweight or obese. Most of us need to lose a few pounds. The British Heart Foundation estimates that the UK dieting industry is worth £2bn a year.
Dieting is not easy. It is very difficult to do it alone and could even be dangerous. The Sweat Coach offers weight loss programs developed for individuals. Wherever you are in Surrey, The Sweat Coach will develop a weight loss program specifically for you.
Healthline lists the following potential pitfalls of fast weight loss:
Muscle loss. This also makes further weight loss harder to achieve.
Nutritional deficiencies. A reduced-calorie diet may not include the minerals, vitamins and other nutrients that your body needs. In extreme cases, dieting can lead to hair loss, anaemia, weaknesses in the immune system and brittle bones.
Gallstones. If you lose weight too fast, your liver gets rid of surplus cholesterol into bile which can gallstones in your gallbladder. They are very painful and often need surgery to remove them.
Loss of Energy and Focus. Eating a lot fewer calories than you burn can make you listless and tired. It also slows down your metabolism by up to a quarter and this means that you burn fewer calories for a given activity.
'Yo-Yo weight'. Short-term quick fixes are often not as good as gradual changes in lifestyle. Studies have shown that almost everyone who goes on a diet puts the weight back on again within three to five years. This can often be due to the slowing of the metabolism mentioned above. The majority of dieters will put on at least half of what they have lost within one year. It is much better to make gradual lifestyle changes that will help you lose weight and keep it off for ever. Sweat Coach fitness programmes help with this. They make exercise an integral part of your life and you will get advice on diet and nutrition for the long-term.
To this list, you can add in irritability, constipation or diarrhoea and even flaps of skin where the body needs to adjust to the extreme weight loss.
Most experts suggest that a weight-loss of between 0.5kg and 1.0kg per week is safe and sensible. If you enter 'Weight loss programs near me' into an internet search engine, you will get many options to choose from. If you live near Guildford, Woking, Epsom and Ewell, Farnham, Haslemere, Dorking or Reigate and Redhill, then search for 'The Sweat Coach Surrey'. Better still, get down to your local gym and discuss your specific needs with a personal trainer.
So far, we have only been talking about the physical aspects of losing weight. Dieting can also affect our mental health. Sometimes in extreme ways.
Most diets fail. The reasons are many - some physical and some mental. Often, people focus on diet more than exercise because it is a quicker, easier route. Portion control is another key area - dieters think that they are doing well but they are still eating too much. Repeated failures can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression. The fad diet that someone is on may be at fault - a lot do not begin to address the human need for a varied and balanced food intake. Dieters can become almost like addicts - obsessed with the guilt of failure and losing self-esteem. They search for the next 'hit' of a new diet that promises to work 'this time'. Serial dieters can develop eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. These are serious mental illnesses.
The pressure to be thin makes the sufferer avoid eating food. They may become dangerously underweight and short of essential nutrients.
People with bulimia want the pleasure from eating lots of food - often unhealthy stuff. They then suffer from huge pangs of guilt and force themselves to vomit or excrete the food that they have eaten.
In 'Think Small - The Surprisingly Simple Ways to Reach Big Goals', the authors explained the journey that one of the team took in exercising more often. To succeed in anything, they say, it is important to make a commitment that binds you to the goal. Appointing a 'commitment referee' means that there is a third party looking at your results. Someone else knows your goal and can tell if you are achieving it.
With weight loss, for the reasons described above, it is even more important to have someone else to look at your results. They need to know what they are talking about though because dieting is a complex business. The best gyms will help you to develop the correct program for you and will then guide you through the process. Diet and exercise need to work together. Your fitness trainer will keep you strong if things are not easy at the start. He or she will also be able to change things to help you improve your life.
Conclusion - how to make losing weight a positive experience.
Losing weight is important to most of us. Two thirds of us in the UK would be happier and healthier if we lost even a couple of Kg. It could add a few years to our lives and make those years more enjoyable as well.
The key to successful dieting is to realise that it is not something to rush. It involves lifestyle changes and you must look at the food you eat and the way that you exercise.
Remember that it is difficult and you may not always succeed at first. Your Sweat Coach personal trainer can help you find the 'sweet spot' where losing weight and exercise is enjoyable. You will soon feel the benefits. You can lose weight by yourself but it is so much easier to achieve a goal when there is someone else to guide you and help you to commit to it. Write down your target, let other people know what you are aiming for, publish your results and go for it!
