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Weight Loss Diet

What is a weight loss diet? Well let’s take the elements apart. Weight loss is the goal. A diet is simply a list of foods and quantities which we will consume with the hope that we will lose weight.

There are many weight loss diets out there. There are many ways to lose weight. Our success or failure will depend on many things. First and foremost is the will to succeed. Any weight loss diet is doomed to fail if we aren’t willing to see it through to the end. The end is at our ideal weight.

My goal with this article is to list and explain a few types of weight loss diets. There are low fat diets, low carbohydrate diets, fruit juice only diets and a whole host of combinations. If you’ve read any newspaper or watched the news on tv in the last 5 years, then these will be familiar phrases: “Dr. Atkins Diet”, “South Beach Diet”, “calorie shifting”, “glycemic index” and so on. On our website, we discuss all of those terms. Let’s just talk about how to lose weight.

Your body needs to consume a certain number of calories a day to survive. If you are a man, 6 feet tall and 250 pounds then you will need around 3400 calories to keep you going. Anything less and you will be losing weight. If you are a woman, 5 and a half feet tall and 135 pounds then you will need approximately 2300 calories to maintain your weight. Each pound of fat is worth 3500 calories so if you have a daily deficit of 500 calories, it will take one week to lose a pound. Many health experts believe that a loss of one to two pounds a week is the maximum for a healthy weight loss diet plan.

You can also lose weight by increasing your activity level. Exercise should play a large part in your weight loss diet plan, whichever diet plan you choose to follow. Many fitness experts believe that starting with walking is your best bet. Walking is really good for you. It is easy on the joints and heart. Walking will provide you with great cardiovascular benefits.

Ideally, your weight loss diet should be a combination of eating the right foods and exercising each and every day.

While all diets recommend restricting calories, there are some significant differences. The Atkins weight loss diet starts out by restricting carbohydrate to almost nothing. Many people cannot handle this and become very grouchy. Part of the reason for this is low serotonin levels in the brain due to lack of carbohydrate. Another drawback is the loss of fluids and electrolytes. As a result, this initial phase of the diet lasts no longer than 2 weeks. A more moderate approach is found in the South Beach weight loss diet plan. Here too is a restriction of sugars and bad carbohydrates that raise your insulin level. Insulin’s job is to turn excess sugar in the blood into stored fat. We want to avoid this at all costs. Another weight loss diet is the low fat diet. This diet restricts almost all fat intake. In my opinion, it is doomed to failure because people wrongly assume most of the time that they can go carb crazy as long as they don’t eat any fat. The lack of fat also causes the hunger cravings to go crazy leading to a propensity of overeating.

Weight Loss Fast Tip #1

Believe it or not, drinking lots of water helps your diet efforts more than you think. Did you know that the body makes you feel hunger even when you are just thirsty? Yes, it is true. Drinking eight 8oz. glasses of water each and every day will keep your body hydrated and you diet humming along. Remember, the body also needs water to flush out that fat that we are trying to lose!

Weight Loss Fast Tip #2

Walking is the miracle exercise. Walking about a half an hour a day will help your diet tremendously. It does not matter what diet you are on. The reason we like walking is because anyone can do it and walking is not overly stressful on the body. Running and jogging when you are very overweight can be downright dangerous!

Weight Loss Fast Tip #3

Get a good night's sleep. Yes, you heard me right, lack of sleep will kill any diet. Lack of sleep does many bad things, but when dieting, it affects your metabolism and also contributes to eroding your energy level and enthusiasm. So go get a good night's sleep, your body will thank you for it.