Diets that Work Fast
Crash Dieting vs Lifestyle Changes
If you’re searching for diets that work fast, you can lose a lot of weight under most programs that reduce your calorie intake severely.
And if you mix in moderate exercise that you haven’t been getting for a while with reduced calories in a more moderate fashion, the pounds will melt off as your metabolism kicks into high gear for the first time in a long time.
But in either of these cases, you’re body is eventually going to react to this new set of circumstances. In the first case, your body isn’t getting enough food, so you’ll eventually go off your diet and gorge yourself to make up for the lost caloric intake. You’re likely to eat enough to gain back the weight you lost, and often then some.
In the second case, your body will get used to the new workout regimen and you’ll start to experience plateau. With dedication, you can maintain your weight loss, but it will become increasingly harder to lose weight. This is still the healthier of the two options, and it points the way to the diet approach which is sustainable–diets that work for the long haul.
In the end, you’ll need to find a diet you can sustain for a lifetime. This isn’t about crash dieting until some date in the future; it’s about setting a plan that is realistic, healthy, and you can live with. You probably don’t want to hear that, but let me give you ideas that are going to make your life richer, fuller, healthier, and happier.
Diets that Work Fast for Women
I’ve talked on this blog before about diets that work fast for women, and you’ve probably read all about the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, and the Atkins Diet. Most of these attempt to restrict your access to certain food groups, such as carbohydrates, which can lead to dramatic weight loss in the early stages of the diet. Most people have trouble sustaining this level of dedication, and revert back to their old eating patterns.
I wanted to give a broader view at some of the diets that have worked for other women, specifically celebrity women known for their great bodies. Now, it’s an unfair competition, since these ladies tend to have personal trainers, dieticians, and even cooks, who help them watch their calories and plan their health cycle. But the basic principle is the same: dedication to a mixed program of calorie counting and workouts.
How Celebrity Women Stay in Shape
As you read through this list of famous women and the diets that work for them, notice how many emphasize a combination of dieting and exercise. Most aren’t afraid to fall off the diet wagon every so often, but they know to get back on immediately. Dieting isn’t about making the right decision every moment of your life and beating yourself up for a slip. It’s about eating right more than you overeat. When trying to lose weight, instead of just maintain, you’re just going to have to eat right a vast preponderance of the time.
Notice how seldom these women talk about diets that work fast for women. They are seeking a healthy balance over the course of months and years, not an unrealistic goal of dropping weight and having the hard bounceback where they gain an extra few pounds.
- Katy Perry – Five small meals a day: lean proteins, healthy fats, non-sugar drinks, fiber. Get rid of pizza, Chinese takeout. Workout: 5 days a week, 25 minutes per workout. Cardio, Strength Training, Exercises Abs.
- Halle Berry – Health Eating Plan, Limiting Yourself on Fattening Foods, Body Enhancing Workouts (Jogging Outdoors, Crunches, Lunges, Strength Training)
- Camilla Belle – Hatha Yoga
- Aly Michalkas – Kickboxing, Moderation, and Drinking Lots of Water (Note: Aly’s favorite snacks include string cheese, edamame, and carrots with ranch.)
- Marissa Miller – Consistency: Brown Rice, Potatoes, Salads, Eat Vegetables at Every Meal, Nutrition Bar when Nothing Else Available. Avoid: Pasta, Bread. Exercise: Pilates, Boxing. Weakness: Cheeseburger. Splurges only Occasionally, but knows one meal won’t hurt her.
- Lauren Conrad – 1500 Calorie Diet. Sunday is a Cheat Day, but don’t go overboard.
Diets that Work Fast for Men
Around two-thirds of all American men are overweight. By and large, most of these men deal with excess belly fat, which can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and even some forms of cancer. Many men tend to believe that sit-ups and ab crunches are the key to reducing belly fat. While sit-ups strengthen your abdomenal muscles and gives you better posture (and the appearance of slightly less belly fat), this doesn’t actually burn away the fat you have store around your middle.
Instead, you’re going to have to lose weight to get rid of this problem. That means less calories in or more calories burned, or (optimally) both. I’ve found throughout my life that I can exercise all I want–cardio 6-7 days and strength training 3-4–and that’s still not going to burn enough calories to rid myself of all the excess weight I want. Eventually, you’ll have to eat right. To do this, define a proper diet and stick with it. You can try to find diets that work fast for men, but this is only going to be a temporary solution.
Eating right is a lifestyle choice, not a two-week or one-month crash diet. Until you find a happy medium where you take in fewer calories, you’ll always be struggling to lose your excess weight, especially your belly fat.
This doesn’t mean you can’t ever have another big meal or splurge at a special event or dinner. What it does mean is that your daily routine of eating has to change, sometimes significantly. When you were younger, you might have been able to burn off everyday sweets and fatty foods.
As you get older, these have to be restricted to a sustainable level, essentially as the exception and not the rule. Look at it this way, though: this makes the times you treat yourself all the better. Just don’t let one day off the wagon turn into two days and three days and then a week and a lifestyle change.
Medifast Diets
One diet plan proven to work well for men and women is the Medifast diet. You’ve probably heard about this clinically proven weight loss program on tv or the Internet. There are Medifast centers across the nation, often in strip malls and the like, where you can sign up for the Medifast plan. Or you can go to the Medifast official site.
Medifast not only gives you a program to follow, but you can schedule weekly follow-ups with a Medifast professional, so you can discuss how your diet is going and get advice on how to stick to your diet.
More importantly, you can buy food through Medifast, which makes shopping for diet food convenient. In my mind, getting the right food and in the right variety is the hardest part of dieting, something Medifast makes a whole lot less mysterious with over 60 food products. I personally don’t rave about all the food items in the selection, but with sixty to choose from, you should be able to find food items you enjoy. What’s important is that you know exactly the calorie intake for eat meal.
You can check out the Medifast for women, Medifast for men, or Medicast for Diabetes diet plans.
Medifast Free Trial
One option is to try the free trial V.I.P. membership for 2 weeks. You get 70 meals free over the two weeks, a book authored by the Medifast Medical Group, free shipping, and a 5% discount for life on future Medifast VIP orders. This is obviously the best way to try out the Medifast diets.
I’m not saying Medifast is the only option. I’m not even saying Medifast is the best option. I’ve told you I don’t like all their food choices. But a diet plan like Medifast is just one example of a much better option for those men and women looking for a diet which works fast and gives them some miracle solution. Maybe it will be different in 20 or 50 or 100 years from now, but at the current state of health science, there is no miracle solution for dieters.
Diets That Work Fast
You can try all the diets that work fast, but you can’t possibly sustain over a life. When you’re tired of dealing with the disappointment and you’re ready to change your lifestyle, come back hear and learn how to live healthier.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 16th, 2010 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.