7 Downfalls of Dieting to Be Aware of ...

One of the biggest downfalls of dieting is the reduced calories. When your body doesn’t get all the calories you need to sustain your metabolism and energy levels, it slows down. Everything stops working as efficiently, which is never a good thing. Calories mean energy by definition. This is a good thing, remember!

Another major downfall of dieting is it teaches you an unhealthy mindset of restriction in order to get healthy. Instead of restricting yourself on a diet, look at it more as a lifestyle where you focus on addition of healthy foods, not denying yourself the pleasure of food. This will help keep your mindset focused in a positive way.

If you’re not eating enough or enough of the right foods, you’ll likely feel very tired pretty often on a diet. Dieting is a tricky issue. When done the right way, you’ll get enough calories so you’re never hungry or tired, but if restrictions are too tight, you’ll likely feel tired and might even become ill from the lack of nutrition.

Many people actually become very depressed while dieting. This can happen for a few reasons and not all are necessarily permanent or bad. One reason most people get depressed is because they’re having to give up addictive foods like caffeine, sugar, wheat, processed food, and junk food. All these foods cause addictive cycles in our bodies making us crave more and want more. When we go without them, withdrawal kicks in and we might feel depressed. The good news is, this does pass, and is for your benefit. Now, if you’re not eating these foods and are dieting, and get depressed from a low calorie intake instead, that’s another story. The best way to fight this is to eat healthy fats, enough protein, and plenty of fresh vegetables. All these foods have vitamins and minerals, along with amino acids and nutrients that can help prevent and even treat depression.

Muscle loss on a diet can often happen from too few calories where the body has to literally eat muscles to use for energy, which it will do at a drastic point. Eat enough calories to prevent this! Another reason muscle loss might happen is from a lack of protein in the diet. This can happen from too little quality protein, which comes in the form of lean meats, Greek yogurt, eggs, and fish for omnivores, and plant-based foods like quinoa, nuts and seeds, plant protein powders,beans and legumes. Other good sources of plant protein are nutritional yeast, spirulina, and spinach. Eat enough muscle fueling foods to feed your muscle and you’ll never have to worry about muscle loss.

Most people always notice a huge change in their digestion when they start dieting. Some people’s digestion can improve, but others..not so much. DIgestion can slow down, or things like bloating and gas might occur from a higher intake of fruits and vegetables, or other forms of fiber. If you’re not eating enough, constipation might occur. Be aware that if you’re eating enough during a diet, usually the digestive changes will pass. If you’re not however, you should be sure to add some healthy calories into your diet so your digestion can work itself out and get back to normal.

Another common downfall of dieting is headaches. This might occur if you’ve removed caffeine, sugar, or other addictive foods from your life, and this is usually just a common sign of detox. However, it can also come from not eating enough too.

The best way to prevent too low of a calorie intake is to eat at least 1500 calories a day. This is a great number to ensure that no matter how active you are, you’ll likely get enough nutrients so long as you’re eating whole foods and clean foods. If you’ve ever done a diet, what’s the biggest downfall you’ve experienced? Was it worth it?