2024 is here and you are thinking of staring a new eating plan to lose some extra weight?
The biggest problem with many popular eating plans is that they lack substance. In the quest to cut calories, these weight loss plans also cut flavor, nutrients, and the visual and emotional appeal that makes eating a joyful part of your daily life. The logic makes sense. Eating fewer calories creates a deficit. When your body runs out of fuel from food, it will switch to internal body sources to keep vital processes going. Over time, this simple strategy does lead to lower numbers on the scale.
However, when it comes to real, sustainable weight loss, calories are just one part of the picture. Once you talk to your doctor about a realistic plan to achieve medical weight loss, it quickly becomes apparent that there are several problems with the seemingly simple idea of calorie deficits.
- Your body needs more than calories to maintain optimal health. The vitamins and minerals you consume are important too. Routinely consuming fewer nutrients than your system needs, makes it impossible for your body to maintain strong bones, tissues, and hormonal processes. Instead of feeling great about your weight loss, you end up weak, sick, unable to maintain your energy throughout the day.
- Enjoyment is a huge part of the eating experience. Oversimplified weight loss plans give you limited options for ingredients and preparation style that leave you eating pretty much the same thing repeatedly. This deprivation can lead you to experience intense cravings for the foods you love, which means your diet can be easily derailed.
- Diabetes, heart disease, and other common obesity-related conditions make it difficult to manage your health correctly in a low-calorie program. While some popular diet plans claim to be designed for specific health problems, there is usually very little real medical data to back that up.
Rather than trusting your long-term health to a diet plan designed mostly for short-term results, talk to a trusted health professional. Your doctor can help you achieve medical weight loss with a diet plan that preserves all the nutrition and taste you need to avoid common pitfalls that prevent many from reaching their ideal weight. Instead of eating simply to lose weight, you learn to eat for a healthier body overall.
If you need some help on getting started, click the link here and let’s rock this 2024!
Dr. Angela Tran D.O.
