If you've decided to lose weight, you probably also want to know how to become healthier with a natural fat-loss diet. You don't need supplements or pills to lose weight, and the pounds will naturally come off as you learn more about healthy eating and making better choices. By starting to make incremental, permanent changes in your diet and your lifestyle, you'll soon find yourself at your ideal weight, and you won't regain weight after your diet because your diet will simply be your new way of eating. The only sacrifice you'll have to make is a reduction in the number of calories you eat per day. Over time, you'll see that choosing low-calorie, high-fiber foods will keep you full and energized throughout the day.
Fiber
Fiber helps move food through your digestive system, and it adds bulk to your diet without adding calories. Fruits, vegetables and grains contain fiber, while meat is carbohydrate- and fiber-free. Sources of insoluble fiber include dark, leafy greens and wheat bran. Sources of soluble fiber include oats, beans and psyllium husk. Insoluble fiber provides a bulking material, while soluble fiber slows the passage of food through the intestines and lowers cholesterol. The advantage of obtaining most of your fiber from dark, leafy greens is that you will also receive a great deal of vitamins.
Lean Meat
This dietary choice may be one of the first changes you need to make. You need protein for normal functions such as growth, tissue repair and digestive enzymes, but you don't need any saturated fat in your diet. Lean red meat, poultry and pork provide all of the essential amino acids, or the nutrients your body derives from protein. These sources are also low in fat and calories, freeing up room in your diet for more food. Oily fish is also relatively low in fat and calories, and the fat it contains is the healthiest kind you can eat, polyunsaturated omega-3 fat. Don't be afraid to eat fat while you're losing weight, but don't eat more overall calories than your body needs.
Function
A natural fat-loss diet is actually very simple. A caloric deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories per day will cause you to lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. The biggest source of unnecessary calories in the modern western diet is sugar from desserts and soft drinks. Cut these completely out of your diet as quickly as possible to begin losing weight. Don't reduce calories from the sources you need most such as protein or healthy fat.
Considerations
Reducing your calories will cause you to lose weight, but exercising will make the amount of calories you need to eat every day higher. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends five 30-minute sessions of moderate aerobic exercise and two sessions of resistance training per week. Aerobic exercise is physical activity that raises your heart rate and causes your body to make energy by burning fat and carbohydrates with the oxygen you breathe. When you have begun making sensible dietary choices and exercising, you'll start to see the pounds melt away.
References
- Colorado State University Extension: Dietary Fiber
- Harvard School of Public Health: Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, In with the Good
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: A Diet That Works
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity Guidelines
- Harvard Health Publications: Glossary of Exercise Terms
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