|
|
|
|
|
Not a week goes by without a new diet hitting the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, appearing on Oprah, or hitting the supermarket tabloid racks.
The only similarity between the diets is they all offer results that are unrealistic for real people. Seriously. Check any photo that appears and it will typically have the disclaimer "results not typical."
Look. It's not you. It's the diets. Lifestyle changes are effective methods for losing weight then maintaining a healthy weight for the rest of your life. Developing good habits, getting exercise EVERY day, controlling portion sizes, and considering your options at each meal makes for a happy, unrestricted life with cheesecake, hamburgers, and even pizza.
The only difference between having cheesecake, burgers, and pizza like you do now at your overweight level is knowing that splitting that cheesecake with your friend cuts your calories in half and having it only once in a while instead of every day is certainly better. Having a regular hamburger piled high with fresh veggies and low-calorie ketchup feels and tastes better than loading up on cheese, bacon, double buns, double burgers and suffering that ugly guilt and over-full feeling later.
It's all about choices. Make better choices. Change one eating habit per week and at the end of a year, you've made 52 major changes! Figure out how many calories you honestly burn every day, then eat just 500 less per day to lose 1 pound a week. Sounds pitiful, until you realize you will be 52 pounds lighter next year!
Want to boost your weight loss? Great! Just add 500 calories of activity burning to your day and you get to lose 2 pounds a week, or 100 pounds by this time next year!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
There are hundreds of diets on the market, but most fall into the three main categories - low fat, high protein/low carbohydrate, and low calorie. Some are combinations, but most are designed to keep you away from one group or amount of food in favour of another group or amount of food.
Looking past the three standard diet types (which are explained elsewhere on the site), we can look at some of the other types of diet plans and programs that are out there. These are usually low calorie diets, but with special twists unique to their program. Some are good for you. Some aren't. Most will help you lose weight, but most won't help you keep it off by learning healthier eating habits.
Decide for yourself if any of these are right for you. As with any diet plan, check with your physician before starting.
|
| blood type diet |
The theory behind the blood type diet is that your specific blood type requires different nutrients than other blood types. Each of the blood types has specific foods that must be avoided to obtain maximum benefits.
The diet is good if you like following a list of foods that you can and cannot eat. The foods, amounts of food, and timing for meals is all carefully laid out for you.
The diet's drawback is that if you have multiple members in a family with different blood types, you could spend a lot of time preparing meals to meet their specific requirements. The other problem is that you must know your blood type and buy the book to get the carefully laid out plans for your particular blood type.
|
|
| cabbage soup diet |
This diet is easy to follow since you have an extremely limited number of foods you can eat. The upside is that you can eat all you want of the allowed foods.
If you can live on cabbage, onions, tomatoes, bullion, fruit juice, and one bit of beef a week, then you should do well on this program since it only lasts for a week.
The downside to this program is that it is so restrictive that you may experience negative side effects including lightheadedness, weakness, and a decrease in your ability to concentrate.
|
|
| exchange programs |
The theory behind these programs, like Weight Watchers and Richard Simmons' plans, is that they supply you with a framework for a variety of meals and portion control in order to help you lose weight.
The flexible structure of these programs allows a variety of food choices. They typically involve an adequate number of nutrients and can be sustained indefinitely.
The downside of these plans is that they typically involve slow weight loss over long time periods. But, if you aren't in a hurry, this might work well for you.
|
|
| food combining |
The theory here is that certain foods eaten together cancel each other out thereby preventing weight gain and causing weight loss.
If you like fruits and vegetables, this will work well for you since most of these plans require up to 70% of the diet be comprised of them. The weight loss comes from the low calories more than any combination of the selected foods.
The downside to this program is that its limited food selection can deprive the body of protein, nutrients, and some vitamins.
|
|
|
If you have tried any of these diets, or if you want a particular one researched and added to this list, e-mail us. Be sure to include your initials, city, and state so we can give you proper credit.
|
|
|
|
Sign up for our periodic newsletter to get the latest tips, tricks, hints, help, recipes, site updates, and much more.
|
|
|
|
