Bookstores devote rows of shelf space to diet books, magazines run regular weight-loss features and you can find a plethora of diet plans online. But when you're trying to lose weight, what you really want is a simple diet plan that you can easily follow and that will give you the results you want. No matter which you choose, get your doctor's approval before beginning.
Count Your Calories
The simplest way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories. To reduce the number of calories you consume, you need to know how many calories you're eating on an average day. Keeping a food log for a week or two is a practical way to figure this out --- just write down everything you eat and use an online calorie counter --- such as the one available at LIVESTRONG's MyPlate website --- to calculate your calorie intake. Losing a pound of fat requires you to burn 3,500 calories.
Make Smart Trades
One of the easiest ways to lose weight is to look for low-fat, low-calorie substitutions for foods you frequently eat, explains MayoClinic.com. For instance, if you drink a lot of milk, switching to low-fat or fat-free milk can lower your daily calorie intake. If you snack on chips, you can save calories by switching to air-popped popcorn. If you drink soda or other sugary drinks during the day, switching to plain water can make a significant change in your calorie intake.
Set Limits
Any diet that makes your favorite snack and comfort foods completely off-limits is likely to fail, warn the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's naive to think that you'll completely give up a food you love forever --- so don't even try. Instead, eat high-calorie, high-fat foods less frequently and in smaller portions.
Recommended Options
If you'd rather follow an existing diet plan than customize your own, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the American Heart Association's DASH diet or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid plan as good options. Both emphasize low-fat, low-cholesterol diets that keep daily calorie counts low.
Warning
If a diet plan promises you can lose weight quickly and easily without making changes to your regular eating habits, you should probably be suspicious, warns the Federal Trade Commission. Diet plans that claim to block your body's absorption of fat and calories, those that claim you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight or those that promise dramatic weight loss in a short period of time are often scams. The only way to lose weight by dieting is to reduce the number of calories you consume.
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