South Beach Diet Things to Watch Out For

South Beach diet promises that you will lose 8 to 13 pounds of unwanted weight in just 2 weeks. It has emphasized that you won't have to count calories or starve yourself because you'll be eating well-balanced meals. Also, you won't even have to exercise because all of this weight will be gone after the first phase. These promises may be true to a certain extent but you have to be aware of the effects of changing your normal diet to this weight-loss program. This article talks about some matters you have to watch out for in implementing the South Beach diet. These include dramatic weight loss, drastically changing food habits, and no exercises needed to lose weight.

Dramatic Weight Loss

Losing 8 to 13 pounds in two weeks is very drastic although you may be enticed to join the program because it promises such a weight loss. First of all it's not healthy simply because that's too much weight lost in a short period of time. Mostly what you lost are fluids and some essential minerals for the first few days. The next few days you may lose fat tissues but along with it you lose muscle mass too.

When you eat fewer carbohydrates, your body uses its glycogen reserves to render glucose to the cells of the body. Once the glycogen reserves are used up, it will begin to get its supply of glucose from proteins and fats in the body. The desired result is the breakdown of fats so that you feel you're losing weight. This is because you lose appetite and there is dramatic weight loss. When you fail to adhere to the diet and go back to normal eating habits, not only will you regain the lost weight but you can even gain more weight. Thus dramatic weight loss in low-carb diets is not long-term and you predominately lose water causing dehydration.

Changing Food Habits

Phase 1 of South Beach diet is the most grueling of all because you have to change your normal eating pattern drastically. It's not easy to change habits overnight and even if you succeed in doing that, the effect is not long-term since you will most likely go back to your squelching your cravings. This is the reason why most dieters don't succeed or they regain more weight even if they have reached phase 3 of SB diet. The key to effectively change food habits is to slowly reduce the intake of foods. It may even be better to start with phase 2 but instead of reintroduction, you just follow the guidelines and consume high glycemic index foods moderately. You may lose only 1 to 2 pounds a week but that is considered healthy and will surely last.

No Exercise Needed

South Beach diet assures you that you won't need to exercise to eliminate those bulging belly fats and by diet alone you can effectively lose weight. This is partially true but you still need to exercise to lose weight for good and build muscle mass. The hard truth is you won't lose just fat but water and muscle tissues as well. Indeed, dieting leads to weight loss but exercising will do you more good than otherwise.

Knowing all these matters affecting your life when you start a South Beach Diet will make you understand more the real mechanism of losing weight. Hence you don't have false expectations about the results of joining this kind of weight loss program.