Finding the right diet for you. It seems like there are tons of diets out there, all of which promise to be the most effective way to lose those unwanted pounds. While these diets may have unique labels and market the ones that actually work actually taking one of three approaches, they are a balanced, calorie-controlled diet, a low-fat diet or a low-carb diet. To make things a little more complicated some are a combination of the two above, but their underlying main philosophy will usually be built on one of the three. As always make sure you work with your doctor in deciding which diet to follow and how to follow it. Which one worked? Yes, they all do, depending on the individual, their time frame and goals. So instead of looking at it as choosing the "best" diet, you should choose the one that's best for you.
Calorie Controlled Balanced Diet
This is by far the healthiest option assuming you don't have a medical condition that dictates otherwise. This diet is a very simple approach, eating smaller portions of protein, fat and carbohydrates and consuming a reduced number of calories each day leads to weight loss. Generally this is a very effective and healthy way to lose weight, but it doesn't always work for everyone in every unique situation with the individual's self-determined time frame. But long term this is the ideal diet and in fact it is not a diet but rather healthy nutrition. The ability to easily vary your calories should make it easier to keep your body in the calorie deficit that is the basis of weight loss.
To follow this type of diet simply find out the number of calories you burn in a day (there are a ton of calorie calculators online, just Google how many calories do I need a day) and subtract that number, the more you lose the bigger the weight loss, up to the limit certain. Please note that the lowest medically recommended daily calorie intake for men is 1500 and 1200 for women. Many popular meal plan diets follow this strategy. While they may have slight differences, these diets tend to follow a 1 part fat, 2 part protein, 3 part carb strategy (time-proven balanced diet) while eliminating bad fats (think trans fats) and bad sugars (think candy bars). This is how I eat most of the time (with the exception of my cheat times and when I want to lose weight) I can easily maintain my weight on this program but can' I actually lose weight without very drastic calorie reductions ( under 1000 per day) and the drastic reduction in calories made my workout impossible so I don't use this type of program for weight loss but more on weight maintenance.
A meal day on this type of program looks like this, with meals eaten every two to three hours:
• Breakfast - oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon and sausage
• Snacks - fruit and a handful of almonds
• Lunch - turkey sandwich on whole wheat, rye or oats, with cheese, handful of baby carrots and fruit
• Snack 2 - Yogurt and granola
• Dinner - grilled chicken or fish, sweet potato and mixed green salad
• Snack 3 - Yogurt and fruit
There are many options for this type of plan, the above is just an example based on my own experience.
Low Fat Diet
A low-fat diet is really a twist on calorie reduction because one gram of fat has 9 calories while one gram of protein and one gram of carbohydrates has only 4 calories. A low-fat diet doesn't mean no fat, because some fat is essential to the way your body operates. Low fat is generally considered to be less than 30% of your total calories coming from fat, so this diet is not as simple as it seems as you have to keep track of your total calories and how many calories come from fat. The most effective low-fat diets also focus on maintaining your total daily calorie intake and eating less every two to three hours.
A low-fat diet seems to me a bit too much math, so even though I don't eat trans fats and avoid other bad fats, I've never really followed a low-fat diet:
• Breakfast - oatmeal and one cup of milk
• Snack 1 - 1 cup 1% fat cottage cheese and half a can of pineapple chunks
• Lunch - turkey, tomatoes and cheddar with whole grains
• Snack 2 - low-salt turkey and crackers
• Dinner - grilled fish, mixed green salad and frozen vegetables
Remember portion size will contribute to total calories per meal and fat should be less than 30% of total daily calorie intake, see like I said too much math. This type of diet has been shown in recent studies to be the most effective for weight loss for about 40% of the population and some believe that lowering fat intake lowers cholesterol, so even though the math might be worth a try.
Low Carb Diet
Low-carb diets are some of the most popular diets on the market today because they generally tend to be the most effective, quickest, and easiest to follow. While they will vary both in the amount and type of carbohydrates they allow, their approach to controlling fat intake and their concern for their total calories are all based on the same principle, reducing calorie intake low enough to reduce insulin production to prevent dietary fat from being stored. as fat in the body and forces the body into a state of ketosis where it does not have glucose to use as fuel so the body must cannibalize the stored fat for energy. Meanwhile all good low-carb diets have the potential to cannibalize your hard-earned muscle cells (thus creating a reduction in your body's overall calorie-burning ability as muscle burns more calories than it stores fat) and potentially causes liver damage.
You, there is also the potential for a low-carb diet to reduce your energy for exercise but research shows that this problem can be negated if the diet contains relatively high amounts of fat (which risks raising your cholesterol so be careful). There is much controversy about the overall health benefits of low-carb diets, but studies have shown that they are the single most effective type of diet for about 45% of the population, and their ease of implementation makes them the basis for such a popular diet. programs such as Adkins, The Zone, and The South Beach Diet. Low-carb diets are also the choice for many fitness professionals (including you really) as well as many fitness competitors and fitness models whose pictures in health magazines make us all feel like chocolate. Most of us in the industry will cycle our low carb diet well by sticking to it for a short period of time then returning to a balanced diet before starting another low carb cycle (I would usually do three to four weeks of low carb followed by two to three weeks of a balanced diet before starting another low carb cycle). three or four more weeks of low carb) or going on a carb cycling by having a low carb for one, two or three days and then having a high carb for the same number of days and repeating until you reach your weight loss goal.
It prevents the muscle loss that is common on low carb diets and the smarter of the two strategies is a one or two day cycle because it will work best to protect your liver, keep your energy levels high and prevent muscle loss. Another approach is to eat low carbs for five days straight and follow that with high carb meals a day or two. You can play around with different cycling combinations, I used three weeks on two because it was the simplest for me to follow; Its main goal is to prevent muscle loss and liver damage by limiting the amount of time you spend on a low-carb diet. Like a low-fat diet to be effective, a low-carb diet must also reduce your total daily caloric intake and must consist of meals eaten every two to three hours.
Here's a typical low-carb day for me:
Breakfast - egg white omelet and turkey sausage
• Snack 1 - protein shake
• Lunch - turkey wrapped in cheddar cheese salad mixed with greens in an oil and vinegar dressing
• Snack 2 - cheese and almonds
• Dinner - grilled chicken and large mixed green salad with cucumber and tomato and oil and vinegar dressing
• Snack 3 - Sugar-free Jell-o
• Before bed - shake the casein protein
Remember whichever diet approach you take, seek advice from a trusted medical professional to protect your overall health while losing unwanted pounds and make sure you are not doing more harm than good by cycling on a low fat or low carb diet. . Lastly remember that any healthy diet involves limiting your overall daily calorie intake and eating every two or three hours, so if you see a diet that recommends moving on to the next one.
Remember portion size will contribute to total calories per meal and fat should be less than 30% of total daily calorie intake, see like I said too much math. This type of diet has been shown in recent studies to be the most effective for weight loss for about 40% of the population and some believe that lowering fat intake lowers cholesterol, so even though the math might be worth a try.