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What is best for
me?
Finding the Right Diet
Important Points to Consider
Take IT Easy
Diet
and Weight Loss: FAQs
What is best for
me?
Are you ready to diet? Again? Diets entice us with their
promises of quick weight loss. But the people we know who
eat well and look healthy aren't dieting at all. They have
simply adopted good eating habits. Diets can be so restrictive
that they set us up for failure. Some are so low in caloric
intake that we literally don't have the energy to continue
with them.
Follow almost any diet and you will lose
weight. This is because whether you are counting
calories, fat, or carbohydrates, or restricting certain
types of food, you are ultimately restricting the number
of calories you consume. The formula for losing weight is
very simple: Consume fewer calories than you burn.
You do not need to join a commercial diet program, purchase
special foods or dietary supplements, or use diet
pills to succeed at weight loss. In fact, the best thing
that you could do would be to start eating healthy right
now and continue to do so for the rest of your life.
Of course very few people could do such a thing, so think
of a diet or the use of diet aids as tools to help you in
the right direction. A good diet can teach you how to eat
well and give you a jump-start toward meeting your goals.
But whatever path you choose to follow now, your goal should
be to make it on your own at some point down the road.
So, what should you eat? You would likely do well to eat
mostly fruit, vegetables and lean protein (reduced-fat dairy
products, fish, chicken, and lean cuts of beef and pork)
and choose whole and natural foods over processed foods
whenever possible. Foods with good nutritional value
are not only healthy, but will help you lose weight and
live longer.
Finding the Right Diet
While we do not recommend any specific diet and want to
be supportive of people on all diets, the above paragraph
describes the conventional formula of eating healthier foods
and fewer calories and could be labeled a low calorie diet.
There are many other options including low
carb diets, the current trend; low fat diets, the previous
trend; and diets based on highly nutritious, low calorie
foods.
After learning the basics of diet and weight loss you will be able to choose the diet, or simply a healthier way to eat, that is right for you. You will be able to steer yourself away from marketing gimmicks and promises of short term results and find a solution based on sound, realistic and healthy principles.
A good diet will be healthy from the start, and will be based on principles that you can follow for a lifetime. In fact, if you have found the right diet, it will be one that you will want to follow for a lifetime.
Important Points to Consider
If you follow a particular diet plan, it is important that you understand it thoroughly and follow it carefully.
1. Depending on the diet plan you select and how your body reacts to it, you may not see results as quickly as you would like. Before you begin, make a commitment to stick with the plan for a specified length of time. This will help to ensure that you don't give up prematurely and you will therefore have a greater chance of success.
2. The formula for the "low calorie diet" described above
is based on simply eating fewer calories. If
you "slip" or "cheat" and eat extra calories, you can simply
eat that many fewer the next day and
be back on track. With low carb diets and others the formula
is much more complex and straying
from the diet plan can change the "chemistry" of the diet
and have a much greater effect.
3. In the text of this website you will read, "The faster you lose weight the more likely you are to put it back on." This is generally true, and in addition losing weight too fast can be unhealthy.
However, some diet plans provide the means to lose weight rapidly by eating highly nutritious foods. Here the degree to which you follow the diet plan can mean the difference between a rapid, healthy weight loss, and a rapid, unhealthy weight loss followed by an unhealthy weight gain.
Take It Easy
Unless you are excited to be following a very specific diet and exercise plan, do not try and change too much too fast. If you have been eating poorly and not exercising, both your body and your mind will have a lot of adjusting to do.
All the sugar and fat were actually quite enjoyable, and sitting on the couch didn't feel too bad, either. If you try and change everything too quickly the odds are greater that you will feel bad, get discouraged, and give up. So be patient.
A time will come when a healthy snack will taste as good as the junk food you felt bad about eating, and you will look forward to your regular exercise. For better or worse, we can become addicted to just about anything. It's certainly "for better" when it's eating well and exercising.
Our concept of a "diet" is a change in lifestyle. Learning to eat well and exercise in a healthy way that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. Our concept is not unique. It is one you will likely hear about from a health professional. As explained in What is the best diet for me?, it is not meant to be your next diet; it is meant to put an end to the diet cycle. Temporary weight loss is of little benefit.
Our tutorial consists of a series of questions and answers about calories, our calculators, and diet and weight loss. It has been written to provide you with a foundation of knowledge to help you begin your lifestyle changes. You can also sign up for our Free Weekly Newsletter.
Eating poorly and being overweight increases your risk
of diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart
disease, Alzheimer's, cancer and many other maladies. But
unless your doctor sent you, you are likely here because
you want to
lose weight to look better. We hope we can help you
with that, but also to feel better and be healthier.
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