As anyone who goes to a gym will tell you, January and February are always packed full of people starting their New Year’s resolutions. Everyone’s eager to lose weight this year, especially after a holiday season full of treats. The gyms are packed full of people on the treadmills and recumbent bikes, yet these same people disappear after a month or two.
Usually, they stop going to the gym as they’re not seeing any results. They want to lose weight, so they start working out. Shouldn’t this be enough to see the fat slide off your body? Exercise is an undeniably important factor in weight loss – but it’s not going to help you lose weight all by itself.
The simple fact of the matter is that you can’t lose weight without following a good diet.
We know what you’re thinking; what is a “good diet” and why is it important for weight loss? Well, let’s find out!
What is a good diet?
A good diet isn’t anything special. It doesn’t involve crazy rules or restrictions; it’s simply a diet full of balanced nutrients and balanced calories. As long as you’re trying to eat whole foods, your diet should be healthy.
It should leave you with plenty of energy every day, you should feel full between meals, and you shouldn’t notice any bad side effects – like bad skin, sluggishness, stomach pains, etc. Your diet may need to be different from someone else’s based on your dietary preferences or nutritional needs, but in the context of weight loss a “good diet” puts you in a calorie deficit.
Why is a good diet needed for weight loss?
We just mentioned the idea of a calorie deficit, but what does this mean exactly?
The human body runs on calories – this is what we burn to create energy to help our organs and other parts function correctly. As such, we need to consume calories, and we get them from eating or drinking foods. They act as fuel for our bodies to burn, but if we’re consuming more calories than we need, the energy gets stored as fat.
That’s where a “good diet” comes into play. Working with online dietitians will help you see how many calories your body needs to burn each day to function at a base level. This is the minimum amount of calories you must eat to stay healthy. Then, you factor in exercise and see roughly how many calories you burn in total per day. Let’s say it’s 2,200 calories for you. Your diet should therefore be under this if you want to lose weight.
If you consume 2,000 calories, the body then needs to burn 200 more. It does this by burning fat, so you eventually start losing weight. Without a good diet, you could consume more calories than you burn, thus making weight loss impossible. Imagine you’re currently eating 2,700 calories a day. You’d need to exercise and be incredibly active to get above this level if you want to lose weight – it’s SO hard to do.
In summary, following a good diet means you’re managing your calorie intake. This makes it easier for you to burn more calories than you consume, thus entering a calorie deficit to lose weight. It’s much simpler than it sounds, so pay attention to your diet and build a workout routine around this!
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Embracing nutritious eating habits empowers individuals to make sustainable lifestyle changes and unlock their full potential for health and wellness. Thanks for this.
A nutritious diet not only fuels our body but also promotes overall well-being, making weight loss sustainable and achievable.