If you want to lose weight and lose belly fat, the first thing you have to do is stop stressing yourself out about it.
The next thing you have to do is make sure you are eating enough. I know it seems counterintuitive, but it’s true.
It’s something that I first discovered several years ago and have been excited to share with others ever since.
But often when I try to explain my beliefs with die-hard dieters, I watch their eyes roll back in their heads in complete disbelief.
So, I always love when I find research to support what my personal experiences have taught me. And here is the latest finding…
Research shows that dieting too intensely, severely limiting calories or tracking every morsel you eat creates the perfect conditions for adding belly fat, not losing it!
Stress Makes You Fat
Flickr: The Italian Voice
I just read on Dr. Oz’s Real Age websiteabout a new study that tracked the stress levels of 121 female dieters for 3 weeks and showed some concerning results. Women who followed a strict 1200-calorie-a-day diet program, significantly increased their levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
This is the last thing you want to do when you are trying to lose weight, especially belly fat, because cortisol sends signals to your body telling it to store more calories in your middle.
This is just another example of how strict deprivation based diets work against you and additional proof that Diets DO NOT WORK.
Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to eat well when you are stressed out? So, by stressing yourself out with a restrictive diet, you are increasing your stress levels and setting yourself up for the exact opposite situation you desire!
Another Interesting Note
Researchers also found that the women who kept super-detailed food diaries, accounting for every morsel, calorie, and gram, felt way more stressed-out than the those who ate without a plan. So while it’s good to think about and pay attention to what you’re eating, don’t obsess about it. Calm down.(Of course this isn’t permission to eat with abandon.) It’s about finding a healthy balance. Pay attention to your portion sizes, choose healthy foods as much as you can, be aware of how many times you visit the snack cupboard, but don’t make things too difficult.
The key to lasting weight loss is to find that middle way – where you are eating neither too little or too much. This takes patience and practice, but is so worth it!
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