May 6 is observed as International no diet day every year. This is a day celebrating fat acceptance and body shape diversity acceptance. This day is also dedicated to spread awareness about healthy body may it be of any size. It is also celebrated to highlight the various risks that come up on dieting and why do dieting always doesn’t succeed. In short it  is a day for foodies to be free from the concerns of right body shape. So when the world prominently talks about the benefits of dieting and importance of a right body shape, I have decided to make people aware about what mistakes most people do while dieting. Here’s the list. See if you too have such misconceptions!

Starving to lose weight

This is the most common mistake most of us do or have done at least once in our lives under the obsession of a right body type. Even I have done this. But it’s not a good practice. Though dieting demands less food intake than usual but that doesn’t mean you skip meals. This will make you frail rather than fit. This devoids our body of essential nutrients that we must take. Also our muscles mass will also reduce along with fats which isn’t a good sign for healthy muscles. A rough estimate says that the calorie intake for men must be 2700 calories per day and that for women must be 2200 calories per day.

Avoiding carbohydrates

Many of weight shedding diets are made in such a way that they decrease your carbohydrate content and help shed weight. But it’s not right. People believe that carbohydrates lead to lots of weight gain. But certain complex carbohydrates actually help you shed weight. Vegetables, beans, potatoes and whole grains have loads of carbohydrates that full your tummy so that you don’t overeat. It helps in maintaining blood sugar and improves metabolism.

Calories processed equally

This is also a misconception. We feel that our body digests everything at same pace at same time. But this is not the case. Our body needs more energy to breakdown proteins than to breakdown fats and carbohydrates. This is the case that helps us feel full after eating enough proteins rich diet. Therefore, it is always advisable to eat much of protein rich diet and always have protein supplements in our routine. They act as fillers. Protein digestion helps to speed up metabolism and burn calories.

Eating anything if exercising

This is also a misunderstanding that you can eat anything if you exercise regularly. There has to be a balance maintained what you consume and how much you exercise. If you burn calories on treadmill, but later eat extra slices of cheese pizza, this won’t help in breaking down extra fats. Instead you might bolt more. It should be manageable. For example if you burn 500 calories then you must lessen 500 calorie intake in your diet. Then is the ratio maintained. This also doesn’t imply that you must increase or do heavy workouts. Just being active and doing as much physical work as possible helps you keep yourself fit an on toes. 

It is always advisable to consult a doctor over dietary plans.