Is It A Good Idea To Lose Weight With Juices?

Can You Lose Weight With Juices?

When it comes to weight loss, sipping spinach and other juices made of fruit and leafy greens can be a good thing. This is because juices are loaded with vitamins, phytochemicals, antioxidants and minerals that can help add onto the quality of your diet.

Moreover, if you engage in smart juicing, you can stay fuller for longer and as such consume fewer calories.

But is it a good idea to try and lose weight with juices? Before you decide to swap full meals for juices, there are a few things you need to know about juicing.

Can You Lose Weight With Juices?

Juicing Results Are Temporary

A liquid diet consisting of nothing but juices will give you fewer calories than you will use. That is assuming you continue with normal everyday activities and work out several days a week. In this respect, a liquid diet can work to help you lose weight fast. However, there are two downsides to juicing that make the weight loss results you get to enjoy only temporary.

Firstly, when you drastically cut calorie intake like a juicing diet does, your body will eventually slow down its metabolism in a bid to save its secondary energy reserves. So, while you may lose weight with juices at first, the rate of weight loss will slow down after a while.

Secondly, sticking to a liquid diet for the rest of your life is impossible. Therefore, unless you form healthy eating habits when you come off your juice diet, you will gain back all lost weight and probably a few extra pounds.

Free Report: 15 Foods To Eat Before & After Your Workouts

Juices Are A Sugar Trap

The great thing about juices is that they give you a chance to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet. As a result, you get in more nutrients than you normally would with other diets. However, that’s just about where the benefits of juicing end. Juicing also comes at a price and a hefty one at that.

Juices, especially the tastier options and those made from fruits are a sugar trap. The exact amount of sugar tends to vary depending on what went into making the drink. But you can expect to load up on anywhere between 28grams to a whopping 90 grams of sugar with each serving.

So, when you eat nothing but juices, you’ll be overloading your body with sugar and carbs. That will force it to burn muscle for the energy. The end result? Fast weight loss plus a few other not so great side effects. Depending on how long you juice, you can suffer a number of negative side effects ranging from nutritional deficiencies, to severe fatigue, to loss of energy and muscles, to gallstones and kidney stones.

Don’t Miss Out The Fiber Factor

Vegetables and fruits are rich in fiber, a benefit that makes them more filling than most foods. And as we all know, filling foods are the cornerstone of weight loss diets as they keep one full for longer thus curbing overeating, which in turn works to minimize calorie intake. Juicing machines however, tend to only squeeze out the fluid from ingredients and leave behind pulp, which is where fiber is contained.

Therefore, unless you add the pulp back into the juice or eat other fiber-rich foods, you’ll end up missing out on the fiber factor that makes fruits and vegetables a great addition to your weight loss diet. Without the fiber advantage, you’ll end up missing out on one of the benefits that makes consumption of fruits and vegetables effective at boosting weight loss.

If you want to lose some weight in time for a major event (e.g. wedding, high school reunion, etc.), then by all means go ahead and take on juicing. Liquid diets are fast acting and will allow you to lose a significant amount of weight quickly. Just make sure to juice smartly by seeking advice from a physician or dietitian.

15 Foods To Eat Before & After Your Workouts

Your body needs a certain kind of nutrition in each stage of an exercise workout.  Download this free report to discover 15 Foods To Eat Before & After Your Workout and why those types of foods are best at both ends of an exercise session.