Quick weight loss diets
Monday, March 16th, 2009Quick weight loss is the goal of so many of us. But is it realistic to expect to achieve this either in the long term or the short term? The answer is an emphatic YES! but only by following some strict but achievable guidelines.
What would be a good guide to define quick weight loss. Lets start where you are. How much weight do you need to lose? How many years did you spend putting on these unwanted extra pounds? Do you have a specific date or event in mind by which you want to lose this weight? Experience teaches that weight loss of 2 ” 5 pounds a week is quite achievable and this is the result you should consider to be quick. The more extreme the diet and the more outlandish the claims it makes the more certain you can be that it doesnt work long term. These diets usually help your body shed water through herbal remedies and diet pills that work as diuretics. When you stop taking them the water quickly returns to your weight. Weight loss that matters is fat loss, not water loss. So how do you achieve quick weight loss?
The beginning point must be a diet that includes regular food. Very low calorie or vry restrictive diets will guarantee failure. Only squirrels and rabbits can exist on a lettuce leaf and a handful of nuts a day. Understand that food is your ally and will help you achieve quick weight loss. Your diet up to now (which is probably high in sugars, processed carbohydrates and low in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals) made you fat, so the right diet will guide you back to a healthy weight.
When I started looking for a good weight loss program I looked for one that allowed me to eat my fill and not starve. Extreme diets that starve you set you up for failure. Your body knows you cant survive on such low food intake so it goes into survival mode and slows down you metabolism to protect you for the famine your body is suffering. This stops any possibility of weight loss, quick or otherwise.
A well-designed weight loss program guarantees a balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates with adequate amounts of fiber and essential nutrients. Proteins kickstart your metabolism and are the building blocks of muscle. By contrast empty calories found in processed carbohydrates such as sugars stimulate the bodys insulin response and are the building blocks of fat. You wont get fat eating protein and fats. We all got fat eating tons of carbohydrates.
Sugar consumption is the USA reached 158 pounds of sugar per person per year in 1999. This compares with 70 pounds in 1973 and less and less as we go back in history. Its no coincidence that the massive increase in sugar intake has corresponded to an increase in diabetes and heart disease. All carbohydrates have the potential to increase your body fat levels and the more processed the sugars, the less fiber is present and the greater the insulin response of the body to them.
All good quick weight loss program incorporate an exercise program. Exercise is an integral part of any weight loss program. Exercise builds muscle. Muscle burns more fat which builds more muscle. You get thinner because your actual ratio of body fat to lean muscle changes. As this progresses it also slows down you appetite for food and you want less food so you lose more weight. You cannot expect any long term success without an exercise program that you adhere to faithfully. No matter how obese you may have grown, there is some exercise you can undertake, no matter how small. Start with baby steps if you have been very sedentary for a long time and build up from there. Speak to your doctor first if you are concerned but do something! Today is the first day of the rest of your life, so get started today (but read the rest of this article first!). The sooner you start the sooner you will achieve your goals.
Finally I always recommend finding a weight loss program that includes a meal planner. This makes your task of losing weight easier because your weekly meals are planned for you and your shopping is made easy. All the programs I recommend and they work well from personal experience. Your goal is quick weight loss. Losing up to 5 pounds a week qualifies for that description. If you need to lose 50 pounds, set aside 10 ” 12 weeks to achieve your goal. It wont happen overnight so dont put unrealistic expectations on yourself.
Remember that your goal should also be a healthy and sustainable lifestyle and all the good stuff will flow from that decision. Our society thrives on instant gratification but if you are going to succeed you must rise above that to set yourself achievable goals in reasonable time frames. The only place instant results happen is in cartoons and our lives are much more serious than that. You can achieve long term sustainable weight loss with sensible eating, exercise and a healthy frame of mind. The tools are in your hand. Only you can create your future. So go out and create it and make it a great one!