Cutting calories is one sure way to lose weight. However, given the abundance of extremely low-calorie fad diets in circulation, it can be difficult to know the difference between shaving down your calorie intake and a diet that keeps you on the verge of starvation. Experts recommend a healthy diet that's lower in calories -- but that's not overtly restrictive.
Formula for Weight Loss
The Weight-Control Information Network, or WIN, dispels some of the myths about diet, nutrition and weight gain. There's no "magic food" -- not celery, grapefruit or cabbage -- that burns calories or increases your metabolism. Weight gain results when you eat more calories than you burn each day, regardless of where they come from. You can eat any type of food and still lose weight; you just can't eat to your heart's content. Portion control goes hand in hand with calorie counting, and both are key to effective weight loss. According to MayoClinic.com, one pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 calories. If you want to lose 1 lb. week, all you have to do is cut 500 calories from your daily meals. Slow, steady weight loss of between 1 and 2 lbs. per week is what medical experts recommend.
Very Low-Calorie Diet Dangers
Some fad diets require you to cut calories to an absurd degree, consuming 800 or less each day. WIN notes that diets that limit your caloric intake so rigidly are often difficult to adhere to; most people who try them fall off the wagon and resume their former eating habits, regaining all the weight they loss. However, very low-calorie diets can be dangerous. A diet of 800 calories a day or less puts you at risk for developing gallstones and riskier still, heart arrhythmia.
Choosing Your Diet
A diet that excludes certain foods or that restricts portion sizes to too-small sizes can be difficult to maintain for the long haul. WIN advises you to tailor your eating plan to your personal preferences, including a wide variety of food types to make sure you get your essential nutrients. Focus on incorporating healthy foods into your meals, including an abundance of fruit, vegetables, whole-grain foods, reduced-fat or fat-free dairy products and lean sources of protein, including beans and nuts. Choose foods that are low in saturated and trans fats, sodium, added sugars and dietary cholesterol.
Physical Activity
Along with cutting calories, regular exercise greatly enhances the results of your weight loss program. Exercise also gives you more energy, strengthens and boosts your mood. Thirty minutes of moderately vigorous physical activity each day may be enough to give you the results you want, according to MayoClinic.org -- even if you only take a brisk walk around your neighborhood. The American Council on Exercise points out that every 2,000 steps is the rough equivalent of one mile. If you walk 10,000 steps each day, you'll burn an additional 3,500 calories a week -- as well as another pound of fat.
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