Sometimes, a diet can bring great weight-loss results, especially when combined with an exercise program. Other times, once the diet is over, all the lost weight comes back with a vengeance, and all your efforts go down the drain.
The truth is, no matter how effective, a diet can only last for a limited time. Once it’s over you still need to be careful about what you eat, when you eat, and of course….how much you eat. Some people get better results when not limited by those strict menus imposed by diets. You could easily skip the dieting part and go straight to healthy eating. In the long run, it will result in weight loss with far less chance of gaining back those pounds.
You don’t need a diet to lose weight
1. Balanced nutrition
Having access to a wide variety of foods, without the often too strict limits imposed by a diet, ensures your body is getting all the nutrients and minerals it needs. You won’t put yourself at risk of developing health problems due to poor nutrition.
2. Diets are often too boring
Even diets that have meal plans may have a rather short list of foods allowed and a huge one with those you aren’t supposed to eat. In the short term this is totally achievable, but in the long term you’ll likely get bored and resume your unhealthy eating habits.
3. Less chances of gaining back lost weight
Healthy, balanced eating…..it all sounds great. If we would do this from the start, there would be no weight gain, thus no need for dieting. Obviously, it also works for weight loss. As long as you eat the right amount of calories for your ideal weight, while including all essential nutrients, weight loss will occur.
The yo-yo effect is a common secondary effect of dieting, meaning people start gaining back the lost weight once the diet is over and sometimes even more. This usually happens because many diets are very strict, and once they’re over, people are eager to “bend” the nutritional rules, which results in overeating. If you manage to get used to eating healthy while allowing yourself the occasional culinary indulgence, you won’t be at risk of gaining back the lost pounds.
4. Good choices bring more good choices
Eating healthy is only one step toward achieving a healthy lifestyle. Once you succeed in terms of nutrition, you’ll feel better both physiologically and psychologically and become more health-conscious.
People can improve their mood and become more active through proper nutrition, inevitably leading to other healthy lifestyle changes.
5. More variety, less frustration
When you don’t have dietary food restrictions, you have a wider list of foods to choose from, even though you still need to avoid unhealthy choices. But at least you won’t be forced to eliminate entire food groups from your diet.
6. It’s the process that matters, not the results
Anyone who followed a diet at least once knows they couldn’t stop thinking about how they would look and feel once they lost enough weight. None of us focused too much on what we did to get there, so dieting doesn’t really make you aware of your body’s needs and the other positive results of healthy eating (besides weight loss and looks).
When you make the right food choices, things are exactly the other way around. Your body will thank you for the quality foods it receives, and you’ll get to know yourself a little bit better every day, making it easier to be less tempted by any culinary excess.
7. Easy and convenient
Some diets may not even be that restrictive, but they come with fixed meal plans. This means every day, you need to eat and even cook those recipes, whether you like eating them or not. This isn’t very easy and time-consuming. Busy people could not even dream of achieving such an intricate eating schedule. Others, with more time, can soon become frustrated by those limitations.
No matter what, common sense is the most important rule you can follow if you want to eat healthy, balanced meals. Also, without sticking to a diet, you can set your eating schedule and not be forced to eat at seemingly impossible hours when you can’t or have to interrupt important activities so you can eat.
