Following a diet plan can be so gruesome and frustrating. With months of dedication to the diet, there is often little fat shed and people may become discouraged and abandon this plan.
Recent research conducted however shows that taking time off (2 weeks) from your diet plan can help you lose fat faster and keep you healthy. So if you have the habit of abandoning your strict diet plan, this should be good news for you, and you need not feel guilty about it.
The research carried out showed that nonstop dieting actually hinders the loss of body weight. It involved enrolling 51 obese men between the ages of 25 to 54 years. These men were separated into two parts; one part was placed on a nonstop strict diet plan for 16 weeks.
The other part was also placed on a strict calorie-restricted diet, but they were given two weeks break from the plan. The 2-week break allowed them to increase their calorie intake to maintain their weight. This process was then repeated for 30 weeks, which means they were also engaged in the 16 weeks diet plan just as the other part.
At the end of the study, it was found that the men involved in the intermittent diet plan lost far more weight than the men in the nonstop strict diet plan. Observations made six months after the diet plan had been ceased showed that the men who took two weeks break to recuperate lost a steady 8 kilograms more than the other part. It was thus concluded that following an intermittent diet plan ( 2 weeks on and two weeks off) is more effective for losing weight faster and maintaining body health.
How the two weeks break off your diet plan work in the body (the science behind it)
Lots of dieters have wondered how this diet program actually helps an individual lose weight. The answer is not far-fetched. Scientists believe that engaging in a continuous diet plan triggers our survival instincts.
Adaptive thermogenesis kicks in, a phenomenon that occurs when we reduce our food consumption making it harder to lose weight. This survival mechanism was often effective in ancient times when food was scarce, and the body had to take care of itself by reducing the time taken to burn off excess food.
Research also showed that engaging in a 5:2, one week, every alternate day intermittent diet plan may not be as effective as a two-week break and it shows the same weight loss as a non-stop diet plan.
Taking a 2-week break from your diet plan has thus proven to be more effective and useful for getting rid of thigh fat and increasing waistline.
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