Healthy Diet Plan

If you’re thinking of going on a diet to lose those extra pounds, think again. Long-term weight control through dieting is nearly impossible, for the simple reason is that diets promote only short term solutions.

After following a weight loss diet for women you’ll certainly look lighter on the scales, but in most cases this is because you’ve dumped a few pounds of body fluid and muscle, and not because you’ve lost any significant amounts of body fat.

One of the main reasons diets don’t work is because they send the body into starvation mode - a survival mechanism, when humans faced periods of famine. Cutting back on our energy intake causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat.

At the same time, hunger signals increase and we quickly start to crave high energy foods loaded with fats and sugars - the exact foods we are trying to do without!

Research has shown that repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on, because the body stores all the extra calories as fat to use later.

When you finish your weight loss diet and return to normal eating habits, the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old eating habits actually represent an excess in calories. Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but you may even gain a bit extra.

“Five more reasons to stop dieting”

Diets sap energy - Too little food means not enough energy for physical activity.

Diets slow your metabolism - Dieting causes your body to conserve energy, making results harder to achieve.

Diets are unhealthy - A cycle of rapid weight loss followed by weight gain can lead to a loss of lean tissue from your body and calcium from your bones. It also strips the body of essential vitamins and minerals depleting your body.  You need proper nutrition to live a healthful life.

Diets make food the enemy - Food provides nourishment and comfort. Diets can make you afraid to eat, depriving you of one of life’s pleasures.

Diets cheat your confidence - Every time you fail at a diet you can feel depressed and it can create a cycle in which guilt battles against food.

Regular physical activity and a healthy, balanced diet aren’t as glamorous as the quick fixes, but they do get better results and give you a fitter body.

Start with one extra exercise session and one less fatty takeaway meal per week, and gradually work towards a lifelong plan for achieving your best weight.

If you change the way you eat or exercise to lose weight, ask yourself. Can I stick with this routine for life?

If the answer is “no” then its time to change what you’re doing.

Any healthy weight loss plan should include the following:

A wide variety of colorful foods (brightly colored vegetables carrots, broccoli beet… have great nutritional value).
Regular and enjoyable exercise.
Enough food to avoid constant hunger.
At least 1200 calories a day.
Flexibility for treat foods and social occasions let yourself have a break now and again to avoid feeling deprived and binging.
A realistic goal of your best weight (not necessarily your lowest weight.)

Fact

A realistic weight loss diet for women is around one to two pounds per week. Fast weight losses are not fat loss but glycogen and water. If you lose weight quickly then you will probably gain the weight back quickly often with a few extra pounds.

Fiction
Weight loss is quick and simple.
Exercise is not necessary.
Exercises can spot reduce.
Carbohydrates (for example, bread, potatoes, rice, and pasta) are fattening.

The way to lose body fat and maintain muscle is to have a healthy food program and more energy output. Increase the fruits, vegetables, non-fat dairy products, whole grains and beans that you eat.

Eliminate calorie-dense foods such as cookies, sugary desserts, chips, fries, pizza, candies, crackers etc. Research on people who have successfully lost a lot of weight and kept it off long term, shows that the vast majority succeeded by consuming a low fat diet, high in fibre coupled with strength training and cardiovascular activity.

A sound weight loss diet should:
Be nutritionally sound, providing all the nutrients you need.
Never promise fast weight losses.
Offer an eating plan based on real food.
Allow you to eat out.
Avoid expensive meal plans, products and supplements.
Not completely avoid carbohydrate foods, e.g. bread, rice, pasta, cereals and potatoes.
Make gradual dietary changes.
Provide knowledge.
Allow you to eat all foods in moderation targeting healthy foods.
Recommend physical activity.

Your body can easily convert the fat you eat in food into body fat, so to lose weight you need to cut down on fat.

Consider the following steps to reduce fat in your diet.

Use skimmed or skimmed milk in drinks, cooking and on cereals.
Buy a non - stick frying pan.
Buy a cheese slicer and slice it thinly.
Cut the visible fat from meat.
Eat very little pastry.
Learn how to read a food labels.
Substitute low fat yogurt for cream.
Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.
Eat fruit as snacks rather than eating chocolate and biscuits.
Eat fewer burgers and sausages.

Make sure you get the free weight loss guide at the diet programs for women website!

P.S. Read also about emotional freedom technique as this technique has helped many people to get their weight “issues” under control.