If you find yourself constantly obsessing over your weight, analysing absolutely everything you put into your mouth, counting calories, cutting out fat, and generally driving yourself crazy in your quest for the ultimate beach body this summer, then rest assured that you’re most certainly not the only one. Every single year, individuals from countries all over the world spend millions, billions in fact, on various diet plans, programs, healthy eating guides, and various health foods and supplements in an attempt to lose body fat and build themselves a body that they’ve always dreamed of. Body fat is notoriously stubborn to get rid of and for many of us it seems as if it doesn’t matter how hard we try, how much exercise we do, and how much, or how little, healthy produce we consume, we simply can’t seem to shift those stubborn pounds.
People will often go to great extremes to lose weight, with many of them trying extreme diets and eating programs in an attempt to lose weight. Whilst there are many extreme diets out there, with some being very unhealthy indeed, there are also a number of sensible and effective diets currently available as well. The thing to remember about diets however, is that they’re not guaranteed to work for you as well as they did for others. Look at low-carb diets for example. Some people will lose as much as 20lbs in as little as three weeks by following a low-carb diet, whilst others would be lucky to lose a couple. Just because one diet plan works for one person, doesn’t automatically guarantee it will work for you. If you’re worried your current diet plan may not be working for you, here are a few warning signs for you to keep a look out for.
You find yourself becoming ill a lot
One distinct warning sign that your diet may not be working for you is if you suddenly find yourself mysteriously becoming ill a lot, for no good reason. If it’s mid-winter and you find yourself surrounded by friends, family, and/or work colleagues with common cold and flu symptoms and you find yourself experiencing these same symptoms a few days later, don’t blame your diet as you will have almost certainly caught the illness from somebody else. If there is no clear reason for you to feel ill however, your diet may be to blame. Whether you find yourself feeling sick, experiencing headaches, randomly aching and experiencing pains you never had before, or any other signs of symptoms out of the ordinary, this could be a clear sign from your body to you that the foods and drinks you’re currently consuming are not doing your health any good in the slightest, and that perhaps you should change things around and try a different approach.
You encounter excessive cravings
Craving certain foods on any diet is perfectly normal, but if you find your cravings becoming excessive, persistent, and refusing to go away, you may very well need to change a few things around. Many dieticians and experts will tell you that there are two very common reasons for food and drink cravings, and they are emotional, and nutritional. Emotional cravings for example, could be foods you crave when you’re sad and comfort eat, whilst nutritional cravings come directly from your body as your body believes it medically requires whichever food it is craving. Simply put, if you find yourself constantly hungry and craving pretty much anything, your diet is far too low in calories and you will need to increase the amount of calories you consume, or find a diet which allows you to consume more calories than usual.
You constantly feel tired and depressed
Diets are, or at least should be, about so much more than losing weight as in actual fact a diet should be all about making and incorporating new dietary changes into your lifestyle. For this reason, you should be able to eat foods you enjoy, but perhaps cooked in healthier ways or used with alternative ingredients which are healthier and better for our bodies. Skimmed milk in mashed potato instead of double cream perhaps? If you find yourself constantly feeling tired, depressed, hungry, and downright miserable, your current diet is just not going to work for you. Ok, you may be able to tough it out for a week, possibly even two or more, but eventually you will have a bad day, or someone will offer you something unhealthy and you’ll give in to temptation, and before you know it you’ve had a full-blown binge eating session and will have undone a good percentage of your hard work. The goal of any new diet should be to not only make you feel happier, but to also increase your energy levels as well. If you find the thought of eating your next meal repulsive and all you want to do is curl up in bed and feel sorry for yourself, stop what you’re doing and find a diet that is right for you.
You’re gaining weight
Probably the clearest indication that your diet isn’t working for you is the fact that you’re gaining weight rather than losing it, unless that is your intention of course, in which case that’s great. The idea behind most diets is to lose as much fat as possible, whilst maintaining lean muscle mass. If you find yourself struggling to lose weight, or even worse, actually gaining weight, you’re either doing something wrong, or your body is simply not responding to the foods and drinks you’re consuming in the correct manner. If you are trying a low-carb diet for example, if you’re not losing weight and are gaining weight, your body probably does not respond well to low carbs, at least from a fat loss point of view. In this instance, you may want to try a different diet plan and see how you get on.
