If losing weight was easy everyone would fit their ideal weight.
In 2017 in Australia 67% of people were either overweight or obese.
Even with the millions of weight loss diets available to us year on year our weight has gradually increased.
Since the mid 90’s with the introduction of the internet we have had information at our disposal yet still weight gain has been a struggle for many households.
Why Are We Gaining Weight
While the internet and all its information has been helpful it doesn’t come without its downfalls.
With weight gain being a global issue, diets, shakes, and other fads spruiked by celebrities are multi million dollar industries.
Because of this you have people taking advantage of others (and making huge money) by creating diets such as the celery diet, the cabbage diet, and who can forget Eddie Maguire’s diet where he lived on half of a cucumber.
There are some diets supported by science such as the mediterranean diet which has shown to have benefits such as helping with high blood pressure.
Then there is the world’s most followed diet, the Paleo diet which centres on the thought process of removing processed foods and including food sources available to our paleolithic ancestors.
Despite all the diets known to many kinds though, do you know what all these diets have in common when it comes to weight loss?
It’s not revolutionary, it’s really simple.
Caloric Deficit
If you have read our blogs, you knew that was the answer.
Yes, science shows two key areas of significance for weight loss.
The first area of significance is that it matters less about whether you choose to follow a high carb diet or low carb diet, what is of greater importance is that you followed a diet that helped you create a caloric deficit.
The second and I believe most important area of significance is to eat a diet where adherence is high. It makes sense, if you eat the keto diet for two weeks and lose weight but then binge eat because it’s too restrictive then it’s most likely not a great diet for you.
Which brings me to my final point.
Stress’s Role In Weight Loss
As previously mentioned, in spite of all the information, all the thousands of diet books, we as a country in Australia lead the way with other western civilisations in obesity.
It’s my belief that stress plays a huge role in our unwanted weight gain.
Here in Australia, we are working longer hours than ever before, that’s not to mention most households can no longer afford to have the mother staying home like they once could.
So not only is the pressure of work greater through the long hours but we have two people in most households under that same amount of pressure.
On top of this we are sleeping less, this is double edged. Sleep is very anabolic, it helps us recover but research also shows those who sleep less tend to eat more and move less.
Stress is a huge issue and I really noticed throughout covid. Those who felt secure with their jobs, were in healthy relationships etc managed to lose weight by simply having the time to make better choices with their diet and get outside and move more.
Those who felt the unrelenting pressure of covid often turned to food, didn’t feel like exercising and ended up gaining unwanted weight.
Overall the truth is weight loss is more about sustainable changes, it’s about reducing the stress in our lives so we can make better choices. You can lose weight on any diet which gives you the freedom to eat any food in moderation.
Yours In Health & FItness,
Chris
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