Title says it, people come up with excuses and doubts to not start bettering themselves even though they know the science behind it but can’t seem to accept that it’s that simple. For example burning more calories than you consume to lose weight.
In: Biology
For most of our evolutionary history, we had to expend an incredible amount of energy to get more calories. Hunting involved long distance running and foraging would mean long walks. Not to mention setting up shelters, finding water, making tools. Even 100 years ago, most people had limited access to calories, and just lifestyles and jobs required a lot of physical exertion. The rule if thumb would be, eat when you get food, minimize unnecessary expenditures of calories.
So, we are not adapted to having, basically, access to unlimited food and no need to exercise. Not dieting and exercise are necessary, but also unnatural.
However, you might notice some people just do better with dieting. Humans have a lot of variables to them. Some are wired differently (one example: one person might make less of the chemical that tells the body is hungry and therefore naturally eats less) all have different backgrounds (people raised on healthy diets and healthy relationships to food tend to keep those habits, on average, better than those who weren’t). So, the person looking to diet may be predisposed to eat more than they should of things they shouldn’t.
A lot of diets aren’t designed to help you lose weight. Most are either to sell a lifestyle, book or product. This often means a pressure for quick weight is instead of sustainable nutrition. As a result, the majority of people on diets end up gaining more weight in the long run. One theory, going back to studies from WWII, is that if a diet starves you, your body starts to crave caloric rich foods, and also stores more of the calories as fat, to protect against future starvation.
It’s not all bleak news, it just means there isn’t a quick answer. Losing weight means eating healthier and moving more. Logging what you eat is another trick that will help eliminate mindless eating without putting any restrictions on what you eat. Consider cooking more food s and eating out less/eating less pre packaged food. Find exercises you enjoy doing (or pairing exercise with things like watching tv). Lastly, consider focusing on what you can do and how you feel, instead of on an arbitrary number like weight or BMI.
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