A reducing diet is all about cutting, lessening and trimming. It involves reducing overall body weight, body fat and disease risks as a result of reducing total calories, processed foods and potentially harmful nutrients. The diet can allow for some flexibility, but its rigid guidelines are what help it achieve serious and lasting results.
Benefits
The benefits of weight loss through a healthy diet are remarkable. Healthy eating not only reduces risks of overweight and obesity but also cuts risks of bone loss, kidney stones, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. Achieving and maintaining a trim, healthy body can also bring about psychological benefits such as increased self-esteem and better confidence.
Guidelines
Healthy reduction diets meet all nutritional needs by including servings from every major food group: vegetables, lean proteins, fruits, whole grains and nonfat dairy products. The diets limit or prohibit saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugar and focus on whole, unprocessed foods instead of prepared food items and restaurant meals, which tend to be higher in calories. For women, reduction diets usually have a limit of 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day. Men might limit themselves to 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day.
Calories
About 3,500 calories makes up a pound, so reducing and limiting daily caloric intake can rapidly accumulate weight loss and fat loss. The National Institutes of Health suggest cutting 1,000 calories from the daily diet through a combination of calorie restriction and exercise, resulting in a net loss of 2 lbs. per week. Losing weight more rapidly than that may be unsafe and pose health risks.
Considerations
It may make a significant difference, but diet is not the only factor in losing weight and reducing body fat. According to the Mayo Clinic, the single most important factor in cutting extra fat, especially at the midsection, is daily exercise. Exercise helps keep the body trim and toned, and regular weight training for major muscle groups reduces almost all body measurements. Following other healthy habits, such as getting enough sleep and minimizing daily stress, can also contribute to healthy weight loss.
Results
The scale is one of the most reliable long-term measures of results from a reduction diet, but it's not always as helpful in the short term. Strength training routines can put on muscle weight even as they trim the body's overall figure, so scale amounts may be misleading for people with new exercise routines. To start, measure results by taking physical cues every day. Notice how you feel and whether you have increased energy or alertness. After several weeks or a month, measure your waist, thigh, arm and bust circumference to see if any body areas have shrunk.
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