Most diets these days, at least the really 'popular' ones all seem to be keyed to provide the same thing - to make you skinny because that's what we have been conditioned to think is sexy, healthy and desirable. They almost always achieve this through one common factor, reducing your caloric intake.
One of the things to remember though, at least in my opinion, is that a diet shouldn't really be something you do just to lose weight, it should be something that can become part of your healthy lifestyle. So a lot of those fad diets are just temporary fixes to a larger or deeper problem.
In order for a diet to work for you there are some things you need to consider:
[b]Calorie intake[/b]
Eating the proper amount of essential nutrients
Taking your metabolism into account and training it through consistency
Knowing what you like and dislike
Being able to deviate for a short time without disastrous results
Being able to easily get back on track if you do leave the path for a bit
[b]The calorie – and things to consider[/b]
The calorie is the commonly accepted unit for measuring food energy, and Wikipedia has these definitions:
[quote=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie]* The small calorie or gram calorie (symbol: cal)approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1°C. This is about 4.2 joules.
* The large calorie, kilogram calorie or food calorie (symbol: Cal)approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C. This is exactly 1000 small calories or about 4.2 kilojoules.[/quote]
The basic concept of weight loss through caloric reduction is to consume less calories in one day than we expend which in theory means that our body needs to go to it's fuel reserves (hopefully fat – but is not always the case in high energy situations or stress). One thing to consider is your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is the number of calories your body burns just to maintain itself without any extraneous activity in a 24 hour period. There are a number [url=http://www.fitness.com/tools/bmr/]BMR calculators[/url] available. Keep in mind however, that everyone's metabolic rate is different and you will have to determine on your own how to adjust those extra calories or what you can get away with.
When considering fat loss, a low calorie diet that was made up of glazed donuts may result in weight loss the same way a low calorie diet of fruits and veggies could, however the nutritional benefits of the latter are far more desirable than those of the former. So it's important to know that there is more to a calorie than merely its energy factor.
[b]Supplements for Fat Loss[/b]
I don't know about you, but I have enough things to pay for each month, and adding possibly hundreds of dollars to that bill each month is just what all the supplement companies would love for you to do. I firmly believe that with good nutritional and exercise habits you simply do not need supplements for weight loss.
Supplements may help you out a bit, but should never be considered as a replacement for good dietary habits. There really is no solid evidence that supplements work better than foods, so if you stick with a solid nutritional and exercise plan, your chances for success are much greater.
Helpful Tips for Fat Loss
