When you yo-yo diet, you don't learn habits you can live with for a long time. What's worse, when you lower your calories too much, the body goes into starvation mode. This is when you'll really start to have problems. Most of the weight you're losing is muscle and water, not fat. Since muscle burns calories, your metabolism slows down.

Yo-yo dieting can harm the way you feel about food forever. Studies of severe food restriction show that when subjects were able to eat normally again, they began to obsess about food. Dieters may not feel hungry, but they are still thinking about what they'll eat in an hour. That's why people who diet on and off regain the weight they lost and more.

 

It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to catch up with your belly after you eat. Research shows that only after food begins to be absorbed and your blood sugar rises will your brain get the signal that you're full. Conversely, skipping meals also causes problems. If you're rushing around and don't have time to eat, when you do eat, you'll overeat because you're so hungry.

Take the time to enjoy what you eat and while you're slowing down, take an extra second to smell your food. Studies show that people who actually sniff before eating have an easier time losing weight. If you use your senses to enjoy food, you'll feel more satisfied and you won't need to eat as much to feel satiated.

The problem here is that you miss out on nutrients and that leads to nutritional deficiencies (and eventually other medical problems). Nutritional deficiencies are difficult for doctors to diagnose, so they often go undetected. Eat a wide variety of foods. Just because you cut your calories doesn't mean your nutrient requirements change, so you need to get in adequate servings.

 

People don't recognize what a reasonable portion is because we're a nation with plenty of food available and a tradition of enjoying big meals at home and in restaurants Start out by measuring food at home so you know what a portion size looks like. After that, keep a food diary and log what and how much you ate. That way, you can identify how much you're really eating.

 

Working the remote and the keyboard really don't burn a whole lot of calories. If you're sedentary, it's harder to lose weight. You'll have less muscle, so you'll burn fewer calories. Just by increasing your muscle mass, you can raise the amount of calories you need. Another incentive: Working out can actually change the shape of your body - weight loss without exercise usually leaves you looking like a flabby but smaller version of yourself.

You don't have to work out like Arnold or even go to a health class to be more active, walk the dog, garden or chase your kids these activities all burn calories. Start looking at your dirty house as a cheap health club. Carry your groceries, take the stairs and park farther from the super market. It all adds up.