Diets For Quick Weight Loss

Diet and exercise are the two main options that overweight people look to, in an effort towards losing weight. Those who are energetic by nature, tend to prefer exercise and other physical activity. Those people who cannot, or do not like to exercise, opt for dieting instead. However, dieting is something about which most people have either incorrect or insufficient information. Therefore, before we move on to any sort of diets for quick and healthy weight loss, here are some dieting basics that you should know.

Basics of Dieting

The purpose of dieting is obviously weight loss. But that is the cumulative end result. How is it achieved? Dieting aims at achieving weight loss through the following:

• cutting down on calorie intake
• improving the body metabolism
• minimizing fat absorption
• improving digestion

Also, dieting does not mean starving yourself in an effort to lose weight. It just means eating healthy and eating smart. Assuming that you have three major meals in a day, here is how your food intake should be:

• heavy breakfast
• moderate lunch
• light dinner

Breakfast: Your biggest meal of the day should be your breakfast. This is because the time period between 9am and 6pm comprises the core working hours of most people. It is the time when your body will be extremely active and will need a lot of energy. Activity translates into calorie burning. Having a full breakfast will provide you with the energy that you need to sustain yourself throughout the day. Also, it can prevent overeating or binging during lunch hours.

Lunch: One of the additional benefits of a heavy breakfast is that you do not have an empty stomach at lunch. There is a certain degree of fullness that you experience which ensures that you eat moderately during lunch.

Dinner: Your dinner should be the lightest of your three daily meals. Think of it as an inverted pyramid - breakfast at the top, lunch in between and dinner at the bottom.

The Best Diets for Fast Weight Loss

The best weight loss diets are those which apply the fundamental principle of calorie substitution and the inverted pyramid meal model as well. For those of you who are interested in the names of some popular diets, here there are:

• Atkins diet
• South Beach diet
• Glycemic Index diet
• Zone diet
• Mediterranean diet
• Abs diet
• Grapefruit diet
• Sonoma diet
• Grape diet
• Cabbage soup diet

Without getting into the nitty-gritty of all these individual diets, we will have a look at the main principle that most of them adopt.

Calorie Substitution: The name says it all. Substituting high calorie content foods with low or moderate calorie content foods is what is known as calorie substitution. For example, substituting your favorite morning donut with an apple or with a few slices of papaya will give your body much more nutrients and far fewer calories. Having five egg whites instead of two whole eggs will give you additional protein without the burden of any extra fat. Similarly, substituting your 11am Coca Cola with a glass of water or some green tea will save you an additional 100 calories. Having a green lettuce salad with some vegetable soup instead of a cheese-rich appetizer at lunch is another good example of calorie substitution without comprising on nutrition. Having some fresh fruit and some pasta (sans the cheese) for dinner and avoiding calorie rich foods like pizzas, ice creams and pastries can go a long way in cutting down on calories and speeding the process of weight loss.

Diets that foster weight loss are a dime a dozen. However, each one of them has their own pros and cons. Therefore, it is imperative that you always consult a dietitian to know the type of weight loss diet that will suit your body, before you begin with any sort of diet.