Many people want something for nothing. This attitude also applies to those wishing to lose body fat, gain muscle, and improve their physical fitness or sports performance.
There is no miracle means to good nutritional practices. With
thousands of foods to choose from, you can easily see how many diets can exist
using different food combinations and dieting angles. However, upon close
examination, many of these trendy diets may be deficient in important macro-
and -micronutrients.
Most of these diets do not provide adequate nutrition and
therefore are not meant for individuals who are on a fitness or athletic
training program.
Fad weight-loss diets can be too low in protein or
carbohydrates, and some of them are too high in fat. They can also leave the
dieter in a poor state of health, with a damaged metabolism.
Typically, the weight lost from fad dieting consists of water
weight, fat, and muscle mass. This loss of muscle mass is where the problem
exists, because it reduces the body's ability to burn calories. When the fad
dieter has lost weight, their body has a lower capacity to burn calories.
As most dieters soon return to their old eating habits, they
tend to gain more weight as body fat and can end up having a higher percentage
of body fat, even if they do not return to their previous high weight.
Avoid fad dieting. You now know that fad diets are
counterproductive, and may harm you.
You also know that a performance-nutrition plan must be
designed to meet specific energetic and metabolic requirements of athletic
individuals. For example, a marathon runner requires much less protein then a
powerlifter does. By knowing this little bit of nutrition science, it is easy
for you to understand that some of the common fad diets have absolutely no use
for athletes.
Do not get caught up in the myth that surrounds the marketing
of various gimmick diets.