The best weight loss plans include both a food plan as well as an exercise regimen. Although you may be tempted by fad diets like eating fruit with cottage cheese for weeks on end or drinking nothing but lemonade, the best weight-loss diets include balanced meals in moderation. Fad diets cannot be maintained and you may end up gaining back more weight once you stop the diet. Plan a diet that you can maintain by making smart food choices every day for the rest of your life.
Step 1
Avoid foods with large amounts of saturated fat. Look at the nutrition label to determine how much saturated fat is in every food you put in your body. Although the nutrition label suggests a 2,000-calorie diet, many individuals may require a diet consisting of below 2,000 calories per day and should adjust saturated fat intake accordingly.
Step 2
Eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. Raw or steamed vegetables have more nutritional content than those that are boiled or fried. Anything added to the fresh fruits and vegetables, like oil or sauce, will reduce the nutritional value of the food and add more calories and fat to your meal.
Step 3
Eat foods that have a high water content such as carrots, celery, tomato and salad greens. These can fill out your meal, allowing you to eat more food. Since these foods are also low in calories, they will help you feel full without adding too many extra calories.
Step 4
Eat whole-grain foods to stabilize your blood sugar while keeping you fuller for longer. Whole-grain breads, cereals and pastas provide the body with complex carbohydrates. These carbohydrates fuel the body far longer than refined carbohydrates, (the kind that is found in white bread and regular flour pasta.) Refined carbohydrates immediately turn into sugar upon digestion, and have been stripped of many of the nutrients found in whole grains.
Step 5
Avoid eating in restaurants. Just because fish with steamed vegetables is on the menu does not mean those are the only ingredients in the dish. Most restaurants will add anything to make their food taste as good as possible, including large quantities of butter, salt, lard and other fattening additives.
Step 6
"Fat-free" does not always mean healthy. Some fat-free options, like processed diet foods sold in the grocery store, add extra sugar or sugar substitutes to make the product taste better. Sugar turns into fat as it is digested, so do not assume that just because an item contains no fat that it will not cause you to gain weight.
Step 7
Exercise to burn the calories you eat. The best diet goes hand-in-hand with a regular exercise routine. Exercise strenuously at least 30 minutes three times a week to regularly burn the calories you are consuming when you eat.
Tips and Warnings
- Drink eight glasses of water a day to curb appetite between meals.
- Consult your doctor before going on a diet or exercise regimen, especially if you have health problems.
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