According to research by the Center for Disease Control in 2014, a significant proportion of people who look on the internet for tips on how to lose weight get misleading articles that mostly recommend for dieting. The fad diets, and in rare occasions, exercise regime presented in blogs and social media are often dangerous and leads to disproportional weight loss and poor nutrition among adherents. Notably, these diets are promoted for commercial purposes by companies that hope to improve certain products and drugs. Consequently, while weight loss may be achieved in the short term, these regimens are often dangerous and unstainable with individuals often regaining the weight with time. Instead of going for dieting methods of weight loss that are not sustainable and poses health risks, one should opt for a comprehensive approach to maintaining a healthy weight.
While diet is a common nutrition term describing an individual’s eating pattern, dieting in our technology led sedentary society completely deviates from the nutritional connotation. Today, dieting is an unsustainable change in food consumption in a bid to get certain benefits, primarily losing weight, in the fastest way possible. Mostly, it involves the reduction in the number of foods consumed in a bid to burn calories stored in the body as fat. However, while denying yourself calories, you also deny the body other nutrients including vitamins, fiber, protein and minerals required for other bodily functions. According to Azar et al., (2013) 80% of common dieting regimes are insufficient in vitamins and minerals. Seeing that vitamins and minerals are essential for the disease-fighting mechanism of the body, this predisposes users to infections. A person on a low vitamin diet is susceptible to common diseases such as flue and tuberculosis which rarely affect normal healthy individuals. Also, a sudden decline in food intake destabilizes electrolyte balance primarily due to changes in potassium and magnesium.
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Moreover, dieting leads to extreme weight loss that is not sustainable in the long-term. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention hold that a healthy weight loss should not be more than two pounds per week Rueda-Clausen et al., 2015) . However, most dieting practices propose a rapid reduction in weight in most cases by making an extreme reduction or even elimination of carbohydrates and fats. This rapid loss of pressure does not allow the body systems and organs to adapt to the low body mass. The circulatory system is most affected by the sudden decline in body mass. The sudden decline in weight often causes damage to blood vessels, irregular blood pressure and heart rhythm and fluctuations in the rate of heartbeat ( Gardner et al., 2018) . These are the chief cause of heart failure.
Seeing the consequences of dieting, there is a need to adopt a healthy method of achieving weight loss. Healthy weight management should be a comprehensive strategy that includes the intake of nutritious food and physical activity. A healthy weight loss is less of dieting or programming and more of changing an individual’s lifestyle including long-term dietary and exercise changes. According to Rueda-Clausen et al., (2015) even the modest changes in weight such as one pound in a month have significant benefits on health measures such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar levels. Small reductions in importance not only help you become weight but are also useful in managing the behavior. Steady changes allow an individual to make significant behavioral changes that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the lifestyle.
The steady weight loss not only helps an individual improve their health but also brings along other personal and social benefits. According to Gardner et al., (2018) people who kept a constant weight loss showed improved in the level of energy, mood, physical movement, and even self-confidence. The social benefits acquired from this model is significant as it motivates individuals to make efforts to achieve change continuously. Use of both physical exercise and proper nutrition to reduce and maintain a healthy weight is, therefore, a method of creating a whole new self and elevating one's position in society. Consequently, one should opt for this method of weight reduction that the unhealthy way of dieting that uses fad diets. Moreover, taking up a healthy diet and physical activity regime is not a complicated endeavor.
A simple weight reduction regime should involve balancing food intake and expenditure from physical exercise. First, the diet should be balanced with sufficient amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and fruits and vegetables. Having more fruits and vegetables in the diet is necessary for they aid when it comes to exercise and to build resilience ( Aljadani et al., 2013) . Also, it is essential to spread the consumption of food throughout the day so that you eat five small meals distributed throughout the day. Secondly, one should create a routine physical activity made of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Montesi et al., (2016) recommends for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activities and 75 minutes of anaerobic activities each week. However, one should start with a smaller amount of time and move from low to high intensity. Through this simple regimen, one can avoid the fad diets presented by bloggers and get a robust methodology through which to improve health.
In conclusion, an exercise regime accompanied by proper nutrition is a healthier method of losing weight than dieting. Dieting presents health challenges such as the risk of cardiovascular disease and electrolyte imbalance and is not sustainable in the long term. A comprehensive strategy that includes nutrition and physical exercise, on the other hand, ensure not only sustainable weight loss but also bring other such benefits as improved vitality, mood, and self-confidence. Simple changes in lifestyle such as incorporating a few hours a week of physical exercise will provide these benefits. Consequently, instead of looking for fast solutions to weight loss on the internet, take a comprehensive research-based approach that does not harm your system. The numbers on the weight scale do not just reflect your health but the whole functionality of your different systems including your psychological wellbeing.
References
Aljadani, H. M., Patterson, A., Sibbritt, D., Hutchesson, M. J., Jensen, M. E., & Collins, C. E. (2013). Diet quality, measured by fruit and vegetable intake, predicts weight change in young women. Journal of obesity , 2013 .
Azar, K. M., Lesser, L. I., Laing, B. Y., Stephens, J., Aurora, M. S., Burke, L. E., & Palaniappan, L. P. (2013). Mobile applications for weight management: a theory-based content analysis. American journal of preventive medicine , 45 (5), 583-589.
Gardner, C. D., Trepanowski, J. F., Del Gobbo, L. C., Hauser, M. E., Rigdon, J., Ioannidis, J. P., ... & King, A. C. (2018). Effect of low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet on 12-month weight loss in overweight adults and the association with genotype pattern or insulin secretion: the DIETFITS randomized clinical trial. Jama , 319 (7), 667-679.
Montesi, L., El Ghoch, M., Brodosi, L., Calugi, S., Marchesini, G., & Dalle Grave, R. (2016). Long-term weight loss maintenance for obesity: a multidisciplinary approach. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity: targets and therapy , 9 , 37.
Rueda-Clausen, C. F., Ogunleye, A. A., & Sharma, A. M. (2015). Health benefits of long-term weight-loss maintenance. Annual review of nutrition , 35 , 475-516.
