Low Calorie Diet

It is best if the calorie level in your diet allows for a weight loss of one pound per week or less. Due to the water loss in the beginning, results are more noticeable in the first couple of weeks.

Just keep in mind that the preferred calorie level for every individual shall vary based on your weight and age. Therefore you may have to consume a bit more or a bit less, depending on your lifestyle and situation.

Supplements are meant to give you energy and vitality all through the day and should form part of you healthy diet and exercise plan. It is good to take these supplements when on a low calorie diet. 

Types of Diet Plans

Most of the weight loss diet plans that are tailored to help you in losing weight supply 1,000-1,500 calories every day.

Remember, the amount of calories that are best for you depend on your weight and on the degree of activity you are engaged in.

When your diet plan allows for this kind of calorie intake they call it a low calorie diet. Weight is lost due to calorie counting and hence reducing the amount of calories you take in.

The Kinds of Food We Eat

Research shows that those who are overweight are often found to consume the same amount of calories as those who are not. So what is it that makes the difference? ‘Healthy diet and exercise’ makes the difference. 

It’s a common assumption that too much fat will actually make you fat. This is right in a way because saturated fats are definitely not good for your health. However some fats are required for your body, therefore they are called ‘essential’ fatty acids. Believing in this assumption, some go on a low fat or absolutely no fat diet without realizing that food which has low fat has higher amounts of salts and sugar to make the food more eatable.

Sugar and fast releasing foods inevitably cause weight gain, which people don’t seem to realize.

The rate at which these foods let out blood sugar decides whether you will put on weight or not. This is because each time you consume food, your body has to decide whether to burn this food like energy or store it in the form of fat. Greater insulin levels will change your body. 

Choosing the Right Weight Loss Diet

You may not believe this but dieting can cause you to become fatter. When you lessen your food intake so that you can lose weight, your body senses a ‘famine alert’. It thinks that food is in short supply and hence reduces your metabolism so that it can make the best of whatever little food it is getting.

By “losing weight” we actually mean “losing fat”. If weight is lost too fast, nearly 25% of this weight loss will come from muscle, lean tissue and water.

The reason to this is that our body is designed to latch on to fat. Hence it focuses on losing water and breaking down muscle so that it can latch on to the fat content. 

If this is how you want to lose weight you are unlikely to succeed. Once you have lost your weight fast through some weight loss diet and you then return to your normal diet, your body will immediately start to store a greater amount of intake as fat. It does so because your body really wants to make sure that it has enough fat reserves when another ‘famine’ happens.

Dieting often implies reducing the intake of a particular type of food or reducing the total intake. Due to this the body does not receive some important nutrients it must have. This is the reason why we must take dietary supplements. The right supplements can actually make you lose weight faster and more easily. They keep you healthy and help you in losing weight naturally and quickly.

Muscle, Fat, and Water

Do you know that you lose not just fat but also muscle tissue when you lose weight by going on a weight loss diet? There have been umpteen studies in the field of weight loss and one of the proven facts is that you lose 75% fat and 25% muscle tissue in this process. Moreover, you lose IMMENSE amount of water too during this process of weight loss.

Water makes up more than 75% of our body weight. Even fats and muscle tissues contain large amounts of water.

All through the day, your body burns calories to generate energy for doing activities. When you walk up and down the stairs, when you lift things, when you sit down and type, and for just about any little activity that requires movement, you are burning calories.

When the intake and expenditure of calories is in balance, your weight remains constant and everything remains fine. But when you start consuming more calories than what you can expend, you start piling up weight.

Your body piles up fat wherever it finds it easy to, like your buttocks, waist, thighs, chest, neck, etc. As soon as you find yourself gaining fat, start working on it. If you continue to ignore the buildup of fat, soon you’ll get to a point where it becomes very difficult to lose it all.

A correct balance of diet and exercise is what you need to lose fat. The right combination of healthy diet and exercise is what really makes a big difference. A high fiber diet is the first thing you should adopt. Also drink 8-10 glasses of water every day. Water helps your system remain clean of toxins.

So this was a primer on weight loss. Now let’s find out the various different types of diets in the next posts.

Weight Loss - Regular Meals

Skipping meals is counter productive to losing weight because it slows down your metabolism. Your body thinks that you are starving and therefore it stores food. The best way to lose weight is to have several small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism going and avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels. 

Weight and Health Profile

Coronary artery complications, type II diabetes, and high blood pressure are few of the many consequences of being obese or overweight. Your girth and more scientifically your body mass index are sure signs of knowing how much body fat you carry and how prone you are to health risks and diseases.

Body mass index or BMI is a reliable method of estimating body fat, particularly for those between 19 and 50 years of age. The exceptions are pregnant and breastfeeding women, patients, athletes and bodybuilders.

With increase in waist size and BMI, the health risks shoot up. Waistlines more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women are considered dangerous for health. BMI can easily be calculated using a chart present at health care centers everywhere. Apart from BMI there are many other ways by which you can estimate your body fat. Your doctor will always be ready to help.