Weight loss: A flexible diet allows you to eat anything and still lose weight
Flexible dieting refers to a diet without restrictions or limiting yourself to particular food groups. A flexible diet means you can inculcate multiple varieties of food items in your diet without ditching your favourite food items even when you are on a weight loss journey. Following a restricted diet can often become a hard task. Therefore, a flexible diet can be the perfect solution to your weight loss concerns.
Here's how flexible diets can help in weight loss
First of all, including your favourite foods gives you the benefit of staying in control. You will not fall off the track easily. Cons of a strict diet or restrictive diet include relapses or falling back and ending up having more cravings. For example, if you are fond of sweets and your diet eliminates them, you will end up craving for it even more and may eat more sweets than required. Now, when you are on a flexible diet, you have the freedom to consume sweets but more healthily. With flexible eating, you can either make your sweet healthily or you can practise portion control so that your diet remains well balanced and does not hamper your weight loss goals. Flexible dieting is gaining much momentum these days as it makes your weight loss process easy and happy.
Flexible dieting and macros
Flexible eating pattern put its precise emphasis on macros (macros means macronutrients, which are carbohydrates, protein, and fat). As per this type of diet, it is extremely vital to calculate your macros every day and at every meal. You need to be aware of calorie consumption and portion control, which further benefits your weight loss journey. In the beginning, this process looks challenging and you may even require some apps or tools for this, but you will get habituated to this process over time.
A flexible diet is known as a sustainable form of dieting which means you can do it for a longer time as it gives you the liberty to tweak your diet, includes all food groups and does not ask you to cut a food group like carbs or protein. Therefore, it's virtuous for mental health too.
The rule of macros
But to lose weight healthily, it is extremely vital to make healthy food choices even if you are on a diet that does not believe in restrictions. While following flexible dieting, make sure to abide by the 80%-20% rule, which says, 80% of your macros come from healthy food sources and 20% can be your favourite indulgence but always control your portion. This will not only make your weight loss journey more joyous but also eliminate any unnecessary stress and boost your overall well-being. Did you know, for weight loss you need to have a diet that is calorie deficit? But a recent study showed that participants who follow a flexible approach to dieting lose the same amount of weight as people who follow rigid routines and diets.
Flexible dieting gives you the power to choose your foods on diet but make sure you are using your common sense and judgment properly. Also, portion control is the key- let's say you are craving a pizza- then just have one slice instead of the whole of it or you can prep your pizza at home by picking up healthier alternatives to fat-filled ingredients. Flexible dieting is the new, revolutionized way of keeping your weight on track without the fuss of cutting out cravings and still seeing good results.
And if in doubt, always consult a registered nutritionist to guide you.
(Nmami Agarwal is a Nutritionist at Nmamilife)
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