How To Lose The Flab Now!

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It seems as if just about everyone has tried a diet or weight loss plan at one time or another – and it also seems that every time you turn around, there’s another new diet that promises results with very little effort. For example, there are and have been some crazy fad diets floating around…the popcorn & ice cream diet, the soup diet, the sardine diet, the hot dog diet, and now there’s…. the cookie diet !!!

Some popular diets today are: the South Beach diet, the Zone diet, the Atkins diet, Macrobiotics, Weight Watchers, Raw Foods, Life Choice….etc. and they promise to deliver – if you can stay with the program to the letter.

But the question is: do any of these diets really work ? If some of these popular, highly advertised diet plans do achieve the weight loss promised, why do so many dieters tend to re-gain their weight back, and more times than not, why do they eventually end up gaining back more weight than when they started on the diet?

From experience, I can tell you this : these diets are not made for everyone – if every person who wanted to lose weight all went on the same diet, it would work for some, and not for others. Everyone has a different metabolism, different systemic needs, different digestion – every person is an individual with a body system that is different in some way from every other person.

Popular diet plan promoters want you to believe that everyone who is really motivated to lose weight, should choose their special _____________( fill in the blank…) diet – and they will lose weight and succeed !!! And of course, they show you numerous “before and after” photos to convince you that their diet is the only one that really works, and that you too will soon be thin and attractive.

Many people have had success with low carb and other popular diets. On the other hand, many others fail on these diets, as not every diet is for every person. Some diet-educated people actually make up their own personalized diet and this works for them…but in most cases, losing weight requires guidance, discipline, and life style changes which a good diet guide or diet plan can provide.

So, if you need to lose weight, do some research and learn all that you can before starting on any diet. Look it up online and check out the successes – and the side effects… Consult your doctor and take the diet information with you and ask questions.

In my own experience with dieting I learned Rule # 1 about weight loss: If you take in more calories than you burn off every day, you will gain weight. If you burn off more calories than you take in, you will lose weight – sounds simple and it is, but even this rule has it’s own rules… a starvation diet of 1,000 calories a day will eventually put your system on “hold” – you won’t lose any more weight, as your body thinks it’s starving, and will “hold on” to any calorie it can get for survival. Eventually, you will eat – and gain.

I have personally found that a balanced daily diet combined with different forms of exercise up to 3 hours per week works best for me – but many people don’t have the time to exercise 2 to 3 hours or more…

As mentioned above, it’s best to do the research on any diet that you are interested in first, and then make an educated decision for yourself.

For More Information  Please Visit The FREE Weight Loss Information Website at: http://best-infosite.com/dietinfo 

Maybe you have heard of the 3 day tuna diet and how it can make you lose 10 pounds to 15 pounds quickly. You can be that desperate to lose your weight off, but before jumping into the 3 day tuna diet, there are some important things you should really know about.

The three day tuna diet is one of today’s favorite crash diets. Many people assume that there is no health risk with short diets just like the 3 day tuna diet. However, low calorie diets usually have adverse effects on your body’s metabolism. By using this kind of diet you may later gain weight, and probably put back more weight than you actually lost. 

This is not a healthy diet since it starves your body. You only get about 978 calories per day. Low calorie diets will put you in starvation mode during the first day. You will know it after beginning the three day tuna diet. You will feel sluggish, feel cold no matter how many blankets you have, and even some people dream of food dancing right in front of them when they wake up. These symptoms are indications that your body is in a starvation mode.

The 3 day tuna diet is nearly close to a very low calorie diet or VLCD for short. The three days duration is just an illusion. You will truthfully be on and off this diet for one month. 

The three day tuna diet involves eating foods that are not balanced and will not help you lose weight permanently. This diet only allows you some small amounts of fish and chicken, some peanut butter, a few vegetables and an apple for dinner. If you follow all that, then you can get ice cream too, which is not really a healthy diet.

A large portion of the three day tuna diet are made up of refined carbohydrates which have very little nutritional value or none at all. When you eat very low calorie foods that has some bread and sugars in them, then your food cravings are essentially increased because there is more production of insulin when we eat these carbohydrates.

Low calorie diets like the 3 day tuna diet will only give you food cravings. After the three day diet, you are most likely to end up eating unhealthy foods during the rest of the week, since you are free to eat anything you want. Studies made in the 1970s have shown that on average, the 3 day tuna dieter will eventually gain up to eight pounds a few weeks after finishing the diet. The 3 day tuna diet may help you lose some pounds at the start but in the end you will most likely gain back the weight you lost or may gain back even more.

 

With so many conflicting studies and vague interpretation of information, it’s not surprising that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to the value, safety and efficacy of low-carb diets. It seems like heated debates are everywhere!

Whether it’s the South Beach or Atkins, or some other low-carb plan, as many as 30 million Americans are following a low-carb diet.

Advocates contend that the high amount of carbohydrates in our diet has led to increasing problems with obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. Critics, on the other hand, attribute obesity and related health problems to over-consumption of calories from any source, and lack of physical activity. Critics also express concern that the lack of grains, fruits, and vegetables in low-carbohydrate diets may lead to deficiencies of some key nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and several minerals.

Any diet, weather low or high in carbohydrate, can produce significant weight loss during the initial stages of the diet. But remember, the key to successful dieting is in being able to lose the weight permanently. Put another way, what does the scale show a year after going off the diet?

Let’s see if we can debunk some of the mystery about low-carb diets. Below, is a listing of some relevant points taken from recent studies and scientific literature. Please note there may be insufficient information available to answer all questions.

Differences Between Low-Carb Diets

There are many popular diets designed to lower carbohydrate consumption. Reducing total carbohydrate in the diet means that protein and fat will represent a proportionately greater amount of the total caloric intake.

Atkins and Protein Power diets restrict carbohydrate to a point where the body becomes ketogenic. Other low-carb diets like the Zone and Life Without Bread are less restrictive. Some, like Sugar Busters claim to eliminate only sugars and foods that elevate blood sugar levels excessively.

What We Know about Low-Carb Diets

Almost all of the studies to date have been small with a wide variety of research objectives. Carbohydrate, caloric intake, diet duration and participant characteristics varied greatly.

Most of the studies to date have two things in common: None of the studies had participants with a mean age over 53 and none of the controlled studies lasted longer than 90 days.

Information on older adults and long-term results are scarce. Many diet studies fail to monitor the amount of exercise, and therefore caloric expenditure, while participants are dieting. This helps to explain discrepancies between studies.

The weight loss on low-carb diets is a function of caloric restriction and diet duration, and not with reduced carbohydrate intake. This finding suggests that if you want to lose weight, you should eat fewer calories and do so over a long time period.

Little evidence exists on the long-range safety of low-carb diets. Despite the medical community concerns, no short-term adverse effects have been found on cholesterol, glucose, insulin and blood-pressure levels among participants on the diets. But, adverse effects may not show up because of the short period of the studies. Researchers note that losing weight typically leads to an improvement in these levels anyway, and this may offset an increase caused by a high fat diet. The long range weight change for low-carb and other types of diets is similar.

Most low-carb diets cause ketosis. Some of the potential consequences are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and confusion. During the initial phase of low-carb dieting some fatigue and constipation may be encountered. Generally, these symptoms dissipate quickly. Ketosis may also give the breath a fruity odor, somewhat like nail-polish remover (acetone).

Low-carb diets do not enable the consumption of more calories than other kinds of diets, as has been often reported. A calorie is a calorie and it doesn’t matter weather they come from carbohydrates or fat. Study discrepancies are likely the result of uncontrolled circumstances; i.e. diet participants that cheat on calorie consumption, calories burned during exercise, or any number of other factors. The drop-out rate for strict (i.e. less than 40 grams of CHO/day) low-carb diets is relatively high.

What Should You Do?

There are 3 important points I would like to re-emphasize:

1)The long-range success rate for low-carb and other types of diets is similar.

2) Despite their popularity, little information exists on the long-term efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets.

3) Strict low-carb diets are usually not sustainable as a normal way of eating. Boredom usually overcomes willpower.

It is obvious after reviewing the topic, that more, well-designed and controlled studies are needed. There just isn’t a lot of good information available, especially concerning long-range effects. Strict low-carb diets produce ketosis which is an abnormal and potentially stressful metabolic state. Under some circumstances this might cause health related complications.

The diet you choose should be a blueprint for a lifetime of better eating, not just a quick weight loss plan to reach your weight goal. If you can’t see yourself eating the prescribed foods longer than a few days or a week, then chances are it’s not the right diet. To this end, following a moderately low fat diet with a healthy balance of fat, protein, carbohydrate and other nutrients is beneficial.

If you do decide to follow a low-carb plan, remember that certain dietary fats are associated with reduction of disease. Foods high in unsaturated fats that are free of trans-fatty acids such as olive oil, fish, flaxseeds, and nuts are preferred to fats from animal origins.

Even promoters of the Atkins diet now say people on their plan should limit the amount of red meat and saturated fat they eat. Atkins representatives are telling health professionals that only 20 percent of a dieter’s calories should come from saturated fat (i.e. meat, cheese, butter). This change comes as Atkins faces competition from other popular low-carb diets that call for less saturated fat, such as the South Beach diet plan. Low-carb dieting should not be considered as a license to gorge on red meat!

Another alternative to “strict” low-carb dieting would be to give up some of the bad carbohydrate foods but not “throw out the baby with the bath water”. In other words, foods high in processed sugar, snacks, and white bread would be avoided, but foods high in complex carbohydrates such as fruit, potatoes and whole grains, retained.