The best diets to lose weight quickly are all extremely low-calorie and have certain traits in common: they are simple to follow, provide adequate hydration to ensure you are not just losing water weight and should kick-start your weight loss so you can continue to lose fat in a healthful manner. Consult your health-care professional before using a quick-weight-loss diet; he will advise if the diet is safe for you.
Cabbage Soup Diet
The Cabbage Soup Diet is a seven-day plan based on consuming unlimited quantities of cabbage soup. According to Adele Hite of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic, this diet---like other food-specific diets---can be "very effective in reducing weight." The Cabbage Soup Diet also provides a high level of nutrients, as the soup recipe includes onions, peppers, carrots, mushrooms and celery. Plus, the weeklong plan encourages eating a range of raw fruit and vegetables, and drinking plenty of water.
Master Cleanse, aka the Lemonade Diet
Peter Glickman, author of "Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days," credits the Master Cleanse, aka the Lemonade Diet, created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941, with helping him lose 23 pounds in 20 days. He notes: "I felt fabulous and was able to work 10- to 14-hour days with no strain." Glickman recommends following up the liquid diet, which is based on consuming large quantities of homemade lemonade made with fresh-squeezed lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, with a raw food diet to maintain weight loss.
A low-calorie, high-exercise plan
The simplest weight-loss plan is simply to cut calories, which is most easily done with a low-fat diet and lots of exercise. According to Michael Dansinger, M.D., the medical adviser for "The Biggest Loser" TV show, it is possible for someone who is very overweight to lose up to 20 pounds in a week by "following a very ambitious eating and exercise plan [and] devoting more than seven hours per week to rigorous exercise." He recommends keeping your calorie intake between 1,050 and 1,200 per day and doing one hour of exercise to lose 3 to 5 pounds per week.
References
- ABC News: Are Food Specific Diets, Such as the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Lemonade Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, Work?, Adele Hite, February 1, 2009
- Cabbage Soup Diet: Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe
- Google Books; "Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days", Peter Glickman, 2005
- Weight-Control Information Network: Very Low-Calorie Diets
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