If there is one thing there is no shortage of it is diets. The American obsession with dieting is seemingly endless, with more and more diets appearing to try and solve the major health crisis that is plaguing the country – obesity.
The diet industry is a billion dollar industry and the money fuels the appearance of more new diets. It is important to do your homework before starting out on a new diet because some diets are very radical. Starting out on a diet without the facts is a recipe for disaster.
When doing your homework on the different diets, make sure and check to see if there have been any warnings about the diet dealing with possible side effects and health concerns, especially if you are taking any medications.
Most radical diets are not good choices because sooner or later people will tire of a diet that is very far out of their comfort zone. You should focus on a diet that supplies you with all your nutrients and consists of healthy foods from all parts of the food pyramid.
If a diet focuses only on a certain type of food and omits important food groups, that is a red flag that you could be ending up with nutritional deficiencies and compromising your overall health. Don’t try a diet just because it is new and has a lot of buzz.
A main component for weight loss with popular diets is caloric reduction but there has to be a lower limit of calories that you should not go lower than because of risk of loss of too many nutrients, essential fats, carbohydrates, and protein. A reasonable diet for losing weight and body fat needs to limit calories while providing essential nutrients and a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. If your caloric daily amount is too low you will feel the effects with loss of energy, mood swings, and eventually an unhealthy body.
One of the real dangers of dieting is sudden weight loss and while people like to take the weight off quickly, this is where health problems can arise, including sudden death if the weight loss is too dramatic. Rapid weight loss makes the body use up energy that is stored as body fat because there is not enough food being ingested by the dieter.
Don’t make unreal expectations when starting out on a diet because that will lead to frustration and going back to your old eating habitsTo meet its energy needs, the body then has to draw upon the energy stored in body fat. Moderate exercise — which increases the body’s demand for energy — is a useful addition to diet therapy and is especially helpful in maintaining lost weight.
Many people are unsuccessful at losing weight because they get discouraged with the results. If you have unrealistic expectations, it is easy to become frustrated. Becoming overweight is not an overnight phenomenon; it takes months, even years, to accumulate that added weight. Reversing the process will not happen overnight either. You have to be willing to invest the necessary time and effort if the weight you want to lose is body fat.
A safe and realistic weight-loss program will lead to an average weight loss of one to two pounds a week. “Average” is a key word here, because the pattern of weight loss is not a steady one. In the beginning, as the body adjusts to a new diet, weight loss can be quick. But in time, the amount lost tapers off to about one to two pounds a week; our bodies simply aren’t able to lose much more body fat than that in a shorter period of time.
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