Turn on your television late at night and you'll be bombarded with commercials for diet plans, weight-loss tools, pills and products that promise to help you lose weight quickly. What the commercials don't tell you is about the lack of safety or effectiveness quick-fix diets offer. While you may see a fast initial drop in weight, that success will likely be short-lived. While you can jump start weight loss fairly quickly, a sensible, healthy diet is the best to drop 20 lbs. and maintain your weight loss.
Fast Weight Loss
Weight loss occurs when you eat fewer calories than you burn each day. One pound is equal to 3,500 calories, which means you'll need to consume 500 calories less than you burn for seven days straight to lose 1 lb. The problem with many fad diets is that they restrict your caloric intake so severely that they can permanently alter your metabolism. When you begin eating normally again, you'll gain the weight back. You need the nutrients of a balanced diet, making quick-fix diets both unhealthy and ineffective.
Diets to Try
Instead of looking for a quick way to drop 20 lbs. with little effort on your part, expect to alter your lifestyle to accommodate weight loss. While taking a diet pill may give you fast results, learning to make healthier food choices, drink water and move your body more will help you lose weight steadily. Look for diets that include a balanced diet that includes fruit, vegetables, protein and whole grains and never go below 1,200 calories per day for a woman or 1,500 calories per day for a man.
Diets to Avoid
In your quest to drop 20 lbs., avoid diets that make impossible promises and cause you to eat unrealistically. Any diet that requires you to cut out entire food groups will be difficult to stick with. You may lose weight at first, but the day you begin eating normally, you'll be back to your old habits and your old weight. Avoid diets that cause you to buy special products on a long-term basis or those that drastically restrict your daily caloric intake. Diets that promise to help you lose weight fast, without any extra effort on your part are usually a farce.
Warnings
Medline Plus recommends losing weight no faster than 1 to 2 lbs. per week. If you need to lose 20 lbs., you'll need to plan at least 10 weeks in advance to facilitate that weight loss and create healthy habits for life. While losing weight quickly may be more appealing and instantly satisfying, healthy weight loss is longer lasting and safer.
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