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Is Cutting Calories Good for Long-term Weight Loss?
Have you ever tried a cabbage-soup only diet? I remember trying this as a teenager and I only lasted two days. But it was probably one of the more successful diet attempts I’d tried.
Cutting calorie intake alone to lose weight is not a good option for the long-term. Generally it’s too hard to maintain and you end up gaining back any weight lost.
To effectively lose weight, a healthy lifestyle change includes reducing calories and following a regular activity plan. Exercise burns calories, speeds metabolism, and helps offset the dreaded “plateaus” at which weight loss slows down or stops temporarily.
A large amount of exercise is needed to lose weight without reducing calories, and combining more exercise with less food helps avoid the loss of lean body mass and lowered metabolic rate that occurs with dieting alone.
In addition, a friend of mine told me that when she commits to an exercise plan she feels healthier and this in turn makes her want to eat healthier.
This can also work in reverse. When we’re not active we may feel less inclined to choose healthier food options which make us feel bad about ourselves and so we turn to comfort food to soothe ourselves and it becomes a vicious cycle.