The best diets for weight loss and strength combine balanced, healthy nutrition with exercise. While many people often want fast weight loss and workout results, you will usually benefit more by setting gradual weight loss goals from a lower calorie diet and healthy food selection. Building physical strength and toning is also a gradual process, and requires a commitment to exercise over the long term.
Nutrition
The healthiest diet choices are those outlined on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables will give you an excellent low-calorie base of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Whole grain breads, pastas and rice also offer healthy sources of fiber without excess starch. Meat and protein choices should be unprocessed, lean, and low in unhealthy fats. Likewise, you should select dairy products that are lower in fat, such as skim milk or fat-free yogurt. Both meat and dairy contain protein, which is essential for muscle tone, so it will be very critical to a strengthen diet. Sticking with small amounts of healthy fats such as olive or sunflower oils is also a much healthier choice than saturated fats, such as butter or margarine, and will help to reduce body fat.
Eating Habits
As you begin a new diet program, it's important to develop eating habits you can maintain over the long term. Cutting calories excessively, skipping meals or fasting for weight loss is not a system that you can maintain over the long term, and many individuals return to their original weight after this type of diet. By building a strategy that encourages three balanced meals and two snacks a day, you can teach yourself to eat for proper nutrition and still enjoy food. A weight loss plan does not need to leave you feeling deprived or bored.
Goal Setting
Consult with a doctor or nutritionist prior to beginning your weight loss program. You should assess your beginning weight, body fat, and Body Mass Index. Starting a strengthening diet means you will aim to reduce your body fat and build muscle tone, so you should also ask a nutritionist or a trainer to take key body measurements, such as chest, waist, hips, and thighs. If your total weight loss goal is more than 20 pounds, you may require many months, as healthy diets should not exceed one to two pounds of weight loss per week.
Exercise
Exercise is critical to any healthy weight loss program. If you are interested in building strength while losing weight, your exercise program should combine cardiovascular workouts with strength training. You should exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, and exercises can include resistance training, free weights or weight machines. If you are unfamiliar with strength training workouts, it is a good idea to consult an athletic trainer or to take a class at your local gym. As your workouts progress, you will be able to track your progress by noting the increase in weight and repetitions in your strength-training workouts.
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