I have been an “on and off” dieter since my teen years. I know I am not alone. I have tried dozens of diets and I have known other women who have tried them as well, most of them to no avail. We all wanted to be thin and we all struggled with it. Dieting is big business, but most of them don’t teach you how to eat nutritiously. How many of you tried the rice diet, the egg diets, the grapefruit diet, the no carbohydrates diet, the no fat diet, the no this and no that diets? We were all guilty. We wanted a quick fix, but most of us lost and gained the same 20 pounds over and over again. The phenomenon of gaining and losing the same 10-20 pounds repeatedly (yo-yo dieting or weight cycling) does an incredible about of damage over a lifetime.
Repeatedly losing and gaining weight lowers the amount of muscle mass that you have, and as a senior this is a serious consequence. Muscle mass declines naturally with age, and dieting certainly doesn’t help matters. Moving into our senior years with a deficit due to “body abuse” earlier can leave the body weaker and prone to balance problems. If you have followed any or all of the fad diets over the years, the chances are pretty good that you skimped on important stuff like calcium, proteins, vitamins and antioxidants.
Is it too late to undo the damage caused by this kind of behavior? Lucky for us this is one type of abuse that is pretty easy to fix (if you can get yourself out of the yo-yo mindset). A few months of eating a healthy diet and rebuilding your muscle mass will get your metabolism back where it belongs. Better nutrition will lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes and of dying prematurely. Tell your doctor that you are ready to change your ways. A dietitian can teach you how to eat well, lose weight and create a healthier lifestyle.
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