By Mashum Mollah
With social media becoming an important part of our lives, new diet plans seem to be popping up here, there, and everywhere. With the rise of health and fitness influencers on YouTube and other social platforms, people are actively trying to adopt new diet plans for one or the other purposes.
In recent years, several innovations in this regard, including the coming up of the Keto diet, have taken the world of health and fitness by storm.
The important thing to note is that amid all this chaos around new diet plans, science and medical reasoning are ignored. This can create unfavorable health complications for individuals who are trying these new diet plans.
In this article, we are going to look at five factors you need to consider before starting a new diet plan. Before we get to the list, let us first look at some reasons why people go for diet plans.
Major Reasons Why an Individual Starts a New Diet Plan
As individuals, we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. Most of us are aware that food plays a very important role in how we look and feel both externally as well as internally.
In the following section, we list down some major reasons why an individual looks to start a new diet plan-
- A healthy diet plan can help in improving external physical properties. For example, eating healthy can help improve the condition of the skin, hair, and other physical components of our body. This helps you look beautiful, fresh, and youthful.
- Eating healthy can also have a tremendous impact on our productivity and efficiency. If you are a corporate professional, you would want to work long hours, be at your sharpest, and avoid feeling drowsy or tired.
- A lot of individuals go for diet plans to alter the status of their weight. In other words, individuals who are looking to reduce their weight try to cut proteins, fat, and carbs from their diet. Individuals who are looking to gain do the opposite.
- Most of us belong to a friend circle or community that picks up a trend, and others simply abide by the same. It can be your Yoga group or your therapy group that feels that a new diet can lead to something positive. This is another reason for a new diet.
- The Coronavirus pandemic has given a lot of us some extra time on our hands. This means a lot of social media DIY exercises. Starting a new diet figures prominently on the list of DIYs. There is no doubt that staying indoors has forced us to do this.
List of 5 Factors to Consider When Starting a New Diet Plan
In this section, we take help from leading dietitians and medical experts. We ask them to list down five important factors that individuals should consider when starting a new diet plan.
1. Diet Plans affect everyone differently
While your close friend may have been able to remove carbohydrates from their diet and build solid ab muscles, there is no guarantee that you doing this will have the same results.
In other words, doctors say that all of us have specific body types and conditions. What works on one individual might not have the same results as the impact on someone else.
2. Focus on what your Goals and Objectives are
The question that you need to ask yourself before starting a new diet plan is, what is it that you would want to achieve? There is a different diet plan for losing weight, gaining muscles, training for the Olympics, and so on.
You need to remember that you cannot do everything in one go. This is probably going to stress out your body and result in some harm or the other.
3. Start your Diet only after Consulting with a Doctor
No matter how qualified or certified the social media influencer is, please ensure that you run your plans with your GP. A social media influencer is not aware of your prior health records or some allergies that you might have.
Their methods are something that has given them results. Please make sure you do not do something drastic and start without consulting a doctor.
4. A New Diet needs to be complemented by Lifestyle Changes
If you are looking to reduce your weight, cutting down on food is not the only thing that will help you. You also need to start pursuing an active lifestyle with lots of exercise and outdoor activities. Food, together with exercises can help in improving body metabolism, which in turn can lead to the burning of calories and help in weight reduction.
5. Start Slow and let your Body Adjust to the Changes
Attempts should be made so as not to shock the body because of the new diet plan. This is why doctors and dietitians recommend slowly easing into the new diet plan over a month.
Our body is used to habits. Small changes over a period will ensure that the body adjusts accordingly. If you are shocked, you will see everything from your digestion to eruptions on your skin.
6. Will the diet give you enough calories?
You need to understand the calorie needs of your body. The average calorie requirement of an active adult is 2,000 kcals for women and 2,500 kcals for men. When a person goes on a diet, they reduce their energy intake, and therefore, there is a calorie deficit.
So make sure whatever you are eating, you are consuming enough calories to maintain the energy level in your body. Well, a healthy weight loss plan should be losing 0.5-1kg per week. And to get that you have to create a deficit of 500 calories in a day.
7. Is the food appealing?
Whatever you are eating on a diet should be appealing to you while meeting your dietary needs. If the food is not appealing, you will always look for other alternatives. Also, you have to decide whether you want to keep the diet flexible or want to go with the prescribed diet.
Maintaining a fixed diet will be effective during the weight-loss period, but while you try to maintain that weight, it will not help much.
8. Does the plan match your commitments and lifestyle?
If you have a busy schedule, and do not have time for going shopping and cooking, then you will not be able to engage in a diet plan that needs a lot of preparation time. Moreover, look for plans that would provide you with easy-to-prepare solutions or a service that provides ready-to-cook meals.
9. Is the diet plan sustainable?
Maintaining a healthy weight and having a balanced diet is something you should include in your lifestyle for a lifetime. If you give up easily and get back to your old self, you might start gaining weight and get sick again.
You have to think whether you fit your eating style with your lifestyle. Think whether you will be able to continue with the diet plan when you are traveling or eating out, and see if you can accommodate it with your plans. If the plan is quite prescriptive, and there is no chance for flexibility, it could be difficult to follow it in the long run.
10. Does it promote physical activity?
If you are suddenly losing weight, it could be because of physical activities. According to research, optimum weight loss happens when there is a perfect combination of activities and diet.
So, choose a diet plan that includes activities. However, there is no need to attend structured classes. It could be something as simple as going on a walk every morning.
Is your goal realistic?
A new diet plan can be a great and positive new activity that might have you all excited. By paying attention to the points mentioned, you will give yourself a good chance of enjoying all the benefits of a new diet plan and removing all the risks involved.
Rather than religiously following what social media influencers have to say, you should pay attention to the advice of your doctors. It is needed that you have a realistic goal, or there is the risk of losing too much weight quickly.
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