A Common Diet Mistake That Can Slow Your Metabolism

The main goal of any diet is to lose weight, right? Here's the problem, though. Many diets that are supposed to promote fast weight loss can actually slow down your metabolism instead - not only making weight loss harder but at the same time making it easier to gain weight. One of the most common diet mistakes that many people make is eating too few calories. This article will discuss why "starvation diets" are not the answer to fast weight loss and how they can actually do more harm than good.

We all know that either eating fewer calories or burning more calories will lead to weight loss. Logically, then, it would seem that by eating hardly any calories you should be able to lose a lot of weight quickly, right? Wrong! At a certain point when you cut your calorie intake too low your body begins to think that you are starving. As a result it slows down your metabolism and starts to hang on for dear life to any extra body fat that you may have since it doesn't know when you are going to get your next meal.

Even if your brain knows that you aren't starving and that you can run to the store and get more food anytime you want to, your body reacts based on instinct and slows down your metabolism with the goal of keeping you alive.

A slower metabolism is bad news when it comes to weight loss. When your metabolism is sluggish it will be harder for you to lose weight no matter how little you eat. Not only that, but when you go off your diet and start eating normally again it will be very easy to gain back any weight that you may have lost. That's one of the reasons that so many of us wind up yo-yo dieting for years and never being able to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Rather than going on a very low calorie diet in the hopes of losing weight try cutting out about 500 calories per day from your normal diet. Aim for eating nutrient rich foods that give your body all the vitamins that it needs since you will be much less likely to binge or fall of the wagon with your diet. Adding light to moderate exercise to your weight loss program can increase the rate at which you lose weight as well. By losing weight slowly and steadily it will be much easier for you to keep it off and to maintain your new, slim physique.

If you would like to lose weight more quickly than a pound a week without slowing your metabolism down you may want to consider shifting calories. The basic concept behind shifting calories is that you vary the number of calories to trick your body so it doesn't slow your metabolism. A good diet plan that relies on calorie shifting is Fat Loss for Idiots which allows you to lose 9 pounds every 11 days without causing your metabolism to slow. To learn more about this diet or to get lots of other great tips, tools and information on dieting and weight loss please visit http://www.dietbuzz.com