Expert shares key to weight loss - and it doesn't involve restrictive diets

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Expert explains secret to weight loss (Stock Photo) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Expert explains secret to weight loss (Stock Photo) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A lot of people wouldn't mind shifting a few pounds, especially at this time of year when people are trying their hardest to stick to their New Year's Resolutions. But now an expert has provided a much-needed wake-up call about how to lose weight in a sustainable and healthy manner.

Across the world, the weight loss and management industry is estimated by market researchers to be worth over $150 billion and this value is only forecasted to rise and could even reach an incredible $350 billion by 2030 - such is the grip that the idea of losing weight has on so many people internationally.

In the UK, obesity and being overweight have been on the rise in recent decades, with an increase of 12 percent in the last 30 years - and the most deprived communities in the country are the most affected.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to get healthier, particularly if you feel like any excess weight you are carrying is impacting your well-being negatively, or if your doctor has advised you that you might face health complications if you don't shed some pounds.

However, one expert has come forward to explain that there is one key factor when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, and it has nothing to do with restrictive diets.

Woman tells of losing 29 kilos and becoming a bodybuilder in her 60s eiqetiqhxideeinvWoman tells of losing 29 kilos and becoming a bodybuilder in her 60s

The fat loss expert - Amanda Black, who goes by @ablack_fitness on TikTok where she has gained over 100,000 followers - explained that the issue for many people who regularly have engaged with crash diets only to find themselves putting all the weight back on later is that they are not dealing with the core problem: their emotional relationship with food.

"When we're coming from any type of intense dieting history, which I promise you most of you watching this, that's you. Most of you have been involved in some type of diet for decades and usually, those diets are in the back of over-restrictive, crazy b******t rules that are not realistic long term.

"The first thing we have to do is we have to understand that we have to work on our food relationship as a primary driver in our journey for weight loss. We cannot go on another weight loss journey with the s****y a** food relationship mindset. Here's what I see so many of you guys do: 'Let me lose the weight first and then I'll heal my food relationship'. No, my friends, that's a petri dish for weight regain."

Amanda also explained that so many people restrict their diets so often, that they later end up binging, and suffer from powerful cravings because they simply don't provide their bodies with enough nutrition.

"You're going to lose weight much faster when you first learn how to eat enough calories for your damn body to reduce all of these cravings. To be able to actually understand how to appropriately fuel your body, eat enough," she explained.

"You're probably even going to lose weight as you eat enough to fuel your body. Because we're not falling into this overly restrict-binge cycle we've been in forever and then we're going to be able to work on the nuance of breaking out of the good versus bad food mentality. There are no foods off limits," the expert recommended.

Research shows that Amanda's advice is pretty spot on, with a study showing in 2013 that restrictive diets can be a "robust predictor" of future weight gain in some people. Further studies have shown that "although dieting may cause short-term weight loss, it is associated with weight gain in the long-term," and that " weight suppression correlates with future onset of eating disorders".

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Emma Mackenzie

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