There are so many weight loss programs for women, targeted directly at females pressured by the ideals of beauty and thinness portrayed by the media. They are fad diets, extreme diets, exercise plans and more, most of which are doomed to fail, causing frustration and aggravation for women.
There are many reasons why so many weight loss programs for women don’t work
Very low calorie diets
Any diet that requires severe calorie restriction is neither realistic nor sustainable. It is also unhealthy and creates cravings that are detrimental to weight loss goals.
When there is very severe calorie restriction, the body perceives scarcity and starts to horde fat stores, refusing to shed it. Instead the body cannibalizes lean muscle further sabotaging weight loss efforts.
Unrealistic or unbalanced diets
There are diets that require expensive meal purchases or that require costly proprietary supplements that may not make any economic sense to continue with over a longer term.
Diets that cut out food groups or which dictate what you should eat based on your blood type and other irrelevances are also not going to do any good.
Weight loss programs for women that don’t include exercise
Weight loss, at least healthy weight loss has to be supplemented by exercise. If the program is all about diet and not about exercise it is flawed.
Exercise regimens that don’t include resistance
Resistance training or weights are very good for weight loss, strengthening bones and for building lean muscle (which further increases weight loss by increasing metabolism) and should be a part of any weight loss diet.
Unrealistic goals
Many women tend to get seduced by programs that promise rapid weight loss with limited effort. This is an eyewash and weight loss programs for women that seem too good to be true, probably are! Have realistic weight loss goals of losing one pound or less per week. They keep you motivated and focused; they are a healthy way to lose weight and also help you keep the weight off.
Adherence and Transition
Sticking with the program is important to give it time to really work for you. Additionally when the program is over, it should have an effective transition to a maintenance-eating plan. If you go back to your earlier diet or sedentary habits once your target weight is reached, it won’t work. You have to have a plan to keep the weight off once you’ve done the hard work to lose it.
Support
Typically a woman makes herself her last priority. So with the family to look after and also perhaps a career to manage, looking after herself and her weight, finding time to exercise or cook healthy become casualties.
Don’t address issues underlying unhealthy eating
Weight loss programs for women often don’t address a fundamental problem: why a woman eats what she does. If she overeats why does she do it? If she stuffs herself with sugary foods knowing they are bad for her, why does she eat them? Until the emotional reasons for eating are not addressed, a woman may find that her weight loss program doesn’t work or that it works only to a limited extent.
