Losing a lot of weight is quite a demanding challenge that requires a lot of effort. Effort in making extreme changes in day-to-day activity and diet. However, for losing a larger amount of weight, the latter is always a lot more important. To stop gaining more and more weight, a person has to cut down on their calorie count. Otherwise, they will not notice any results. This is why a lot of people are considering going on low-calorie diets. However, before making this type of a decision, it is important to understand the pros and cons of such an extreme change.
Yes, there are a lot of advantages when going on a fasting diet, but that does not mean that you should ignore the disadvantages. By acknowledging that those disadvantages exist, it will not be as challenging to go through the diet.
To help you with that transition into a fasting diet, I decided to write this article and talk about the various pros and cons of such a change in your lifestyle.
Pros
It is no secret that being overweight can be a serious health issue. Unfortunately, getting rid of that extra weight is never easy nor simple. But, the best and probably the only situation is to just reduce the calorie count throughout the day, or more specifically, the week. Here are some of the pros of eating less throughout the day.
1. Quick weight loss
This is a pretty obvious advantage, but I am going to put it first on this list to give the most importance to it.
Even though losing weight is a difficult challenge, the solution is just simple and basic math. To stop gaining extra mass, you have to reduce the amount of mass you intake.
Every day, you burn an X amount of kcal. The amount you burn is based on your day-to-day activity. Getting up in the morning, working out, walking, running, talking, thinking, and basically everything else. You burn kcal through both physical and mental activities. Obviously, physical activities burn a lot more calories.
If your kcal intake throughout the week is more than you are burning, you are still gaining mass. If you are at a deficit with your kcal intake, you will start losing weight. It’s simple to understand, difficult to practice, I admit.
2. Easy to stick to it
The thing about low-calorie diets is that they are quite simple. You are not limited to certain types of food. You just have to cut down on the number of kcal you intake. There are a lot of things you can eat and a variety of meals available.
You can basically eat anything you want, just keep the kcal low. However, it is not recommended to eat fast food or anything unhealthy like that because usually, those meals have a high kcal count. So, you can’t exactly have a burger as a meal because that will be most of the calories for the day. You need to be at 1500 kcal or less and one burger with fries is probably around the 1200 mark.
That is why it is recommended to eat a more vegan-style diet because you can spread around the meals throughout the day. Veggies and fruits are quite low in kcal but are still quite tasty and healthy. Implement veggies such as broccoli, mushrooms, pumpkin, carrots, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts are also great for lowering cholesterol levels as suggested by www.dietzones.com.
3. Implementation of healthier foods
As I mentioned previously, to make a low-calorie diet, it is much better to switch to healthier foods. Legumes, fruits, and vegetables should be the main ingredient of everything that you eat. So, not only will you be losing weight, but you will also be getting all the vitamins and other nutrients you need. You will see an increase in protein intake, vitamin C, B, D, fatty acids, fiber, and many other nutrients.
Try cutting down on dairy too and start eating more bananas, apples, and oranges. You may even feel much more energetic and healthier than you did before.
Cons
There are probably several other advantages I could add to this list, but I think the ones I mentioned above are more than enough to convince anyone. But, I think that it is also fair to list the disadvantages of being on a low-calorie diet.
1. Hunger
One of the main reasons why a lot of people have trouble losing weight is because of hunger and cravings. You have taught your body to ask for food several times a day over the years. Without any kind of warning, you suddenly cut down the number of meals you eat. It makes sense that you will feel hungry regularly.
It may not sound so bad, but it is. The hunger is going to stick with you for weeks or even months. It is going to be hard and you will have to fight against the cravings for chocolates, candy, fries, and other fast food, but you must not give in.
2. Less energy throughout the day
The main source of energy for every human is calories. How much energy you need and have is based on your daily activities and your average calorie intake.
Logically, once you start cutting down the supply of kcal to your body, you are producing a lot less energy. Understand that some days it is normal to feel fatigued and weak. But, that won’t stick for too long. Once you lose some weight and get used to the diet, you will feel much better.
3. Easy to gain weight again
One of the worst things about returning to a normal diet after a low-calorie diet is that you can easily start gain back the weight you lost. The requirements to gain mass are now much lower than they used to be, so even when you think that you are at a kcal deficit, you are gaining weight.
As you can see, there is a variety of pros and cons of a low-calorie diet, but I think that the advantages still out weight the disadvantages.