Plenty of fad diets and liquid diets promise quick weight loss. However, the Mayo Clinic's guide to fast weight loss indicates that many of these diets prove too restrictive for people to follow and also lack essential nutrients. Overall, people experience greater success meeting their weight-loss goals with healthy diets. After following a one-week diet, you may find you can transfer some of your healthful eating habits to a long-term diet.
Identification
Using diet to assist with weight loss means consuming fewer calories than you burn. A rule of thumb: If you cut 3,500 calories from your weekly intake, you can lose a pound in a week. This might mean eliminating sugary sodas or replacing desserts with fresh fruit. Switch from full-fat dairy and protein sources to low-fat and nonfat preparations and you could cut another 3,500 calories, resulting in a loss of 2 lbs. in a week.
Expert Insight
Celebrity medical expert Dr. Mehmet Oz outlines the basics of his nutritious diet plan that can result in weight loss and improved health. On his diet, you eliminate white flour, simple sugars, syrups and hydrogenated oil and restrict sources of saturated fat to 4 grams per serving. In their places, you eat more fresh produce, especially leafy greens, as well as legumes, seeds, nuts, light preparations of fish, lean poultry, whole grains and olive oil.
Considerations
Oz recommends drinking vegetable juice with no sodium and unsweetened water. His prescription for weight-loss success also includes popping a flavored breath strip when you get a craving for sweets. Sprinkling cinnamon or red pepper flakes on food adds flavor without calories. Oz also recommends getting a good night's sleep and having sex.
Features
The Harvard School of Public Health points out the key elements in a nutritious diet for weight-loss, including limiting your consumption of sugary beverages, replacing refined starches with oatmeal and other unsweetened whole grains, eating diverse fruits and vegetables, eating food sources with unsaturated fat and staying attentive to portion sizes. Use smaller plates to help control the quantity of food you eat.
Time Frame
While most nutritious diet plans that you follow in one week result in a couple pounds of weight loss, adding exercise can double your success. Burn an additional 7,000 calories in a week by doing intensive cardiovascular exercise, such as running, circuit training, interval training or jogging, while pumping light hand weights for an hour each day.
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