Excellent Diets to Lose a Lot of Weight

Excellent Diets to Lose a Lot of Weight
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The best diet to lose a lot of weight is not this week's most popular diet or the one that your favorite celebrity follows. Excellent diets vary according to the individual. Consider your goals, your lifestyle and your preferences to develop a nutritious, diverse food plan that you can stick to for the long-term. Excellent diets typically feature regular exercise and new behavioral approaches to eating.

No-Fad Diet

The best diets meet your nutritional needs and promote long-term change. The American Heart Association's No-Fad Diet features sensible approaches to restricting your calories, replacing caloric foods with more healthful options and integrating activity into your daily life. The healthful eating techniques include switching to nonfat dairy products, consuming high-fiber foods, eating fresh produce and controlling your portion sizes. The No-Fad Diet supports long-term weight loss by employing lifestyle changes such as curbing emotional eating, tracking food consumption, practicing mindful eating and reducing stress.

Gradual Weight Loss

Excellent diets support your losing weight gradually rather than quickly. Overly restricting your caloric consumption or eliminating too many food sources drains your energy, puts you at risk of illness or disease and is not sustainable in the long term. A sensible weight loss plan trims 3,500 to 7,000 calories from your weekly consumption so you lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. You can easily cut these calories by skipping dessert, swapping flavored coffee drinks for unsweetened iced tea, switching from chips to vegetables and cutting out soft drinks and juice beverages.

Mediterranean Diet

The best diets have enough flexibility to keep you motivated to follow them. A Mediterranean diet suits many people's palates. Every meal and snack features fresh fruit and vegetables. You eat a variety of whole grains such as couscous, amaranth, unsweetened whole wheat products, wild rice, quinoa and polenta. Protein may come from legumes and nuts as well as seafood and poultry. You consume healthy sources of fat such as olives, olive oil, nuts, seeds, nonfat Greek yogurt and some cheese. Instead of dessert, have a bowl of berries. You may drink a glass of red wine with dinner.

Exercise

Daily activity or exercise supports long-term weight loss and ultimately, maintaining your healthy weight. Start simply by walking briskly for 30 minutes every day. Gradually add more challenges like race-walking, walking uphill, pumping weights while walking or doing calisthenics. To burn more calories more quickly, consider a more vigorous form of exercise such as high-impact aerobics, climbing stairs, doing martial arts, skipping rope, running or backpacking uphill.

References

Article reviewed by GlennK Last updated on: May 20, 2011

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