|

Author:
Michael Smith, MD

The best weight loss plans adhere to a few dieting principles that make the difference between lasting weight loss and weight regain, the weight you can back soon after dieting.

When choosing a new diet plan to try, look for the following dieting principles. If you can't obviously recognize these principles within the new diet's structure...drop it and search for another one.

Dieting Principle #1 - Prepare to Diet

The most neglected principle of all four principles. If you skip the preparation part (which should be apart of any diet plan worthy of your money) then weight re-gain is almost guaranteed to occur. Weight regain is the weight many dieters gain back soon after completing a diet.

How do you prepare to diet?

1. Start following a strict schedule for eating meals. Eat 5-6 meals per day, spreading each meal throughout the day that fits your lifestyle best.

2. Eat more protein. Add a lean protein source to each meal (usually around 4-6 oz.).

3. Start an exercise program. Are you really out of shape? If so, start walking 45 minutes every other day. In a week or so, add ankle and wrist weights for resistance. Regardless of your current condition, adding resistance to your exercise program is the best way to tone muscle and lose weight...fast!

Dieting Principle #2 - Prevent Weight Regain

As mentioned before, weight regain is the weight you gain back soon after completing a diet. The best way to prevent this from happening is to control the rate of weight loss.

Losing weight to fast can lead to diet shock, s state of shock the body initiates, indicating you're starving. This is not a good state to be in...weight regain is guaranteed!

A safe rate of weight loss is around 2 pounds/week. Fast or accelerated rates range from 3 to 4 pounds/week. Do not exceed 4 pounds/week...never!

For now focus the two principles above. Prepare properly for losing weight and watch your rate of weight loss. Coming soon are the last two principles listed below.

Dieting Principle #3 - Maintenance Plan

Dieting Prinicple #4 - Maximizing Your Dieting Effort

Check out Best Weight Loss Plans in the meantime.

To Healthy Living!
Michael A. Smith, MD
Diet Basics

Dr. Smith is the Chief Medical Consultant for Diet Basics, a content rich website dedicated to your weight loss success. Quickly becoming known as the net's primary resource for weight loss issues, his RSS Feed and News Blog are received by thousands of e-zine websites, medical centers, and individuals. The interactive content is original and informative, challenging readers to act and maximize their weight loss efforts. Visit Dr. Smith's website at: Diet Basics from the Weight Loss Professional

To Healthy Living!

| Article Keywords: Healthy Diets

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Healthy Diets... Gradual Change of the Weight Watchers Diet As we all know by now, Weight Watchers is based on a points system and that point system basically runs the diet and everything in the diet is based on this point system. There are a few variations of the POINTS system but there isn’t much of a difference at all. The main differences are based on how the dieter looks at fiber and how much fiber they want to eat. If the dieter uses fiber as a “point enhancer”(reducer) then they would substitute the 50 pt. value in the Weight Watchers Formula for a 70 pt. base value. Other variations are that the POINTSfinder manual calculator that is handed out in Weight Watcher meetings does not reach a points value of 2 until after 70 calories have been reached, rather than 50 as the formula states. This makes the point values 20 pts. higher than first thought. As time has progressed, so has the Weight Watchers diet. Recently the diet has started to take into consideration how much people want to exercise and how that affects the point system in a whole new way. Certain exercises are given certain negative point values to offset eating some foods that might not have been allowed in earlier variations of the diet. The Core Plan When the Atkins Diet and the South Beach diet became more and more popular, Weight Watchers had to come up with a different variation to compete with these diets to be able to keep their dieters happy and feeling like they were still using a diet that was modern and up to day. So, the Core Plan was invented to mirror the Atkins and South Beach diets respectively. In essence, the Core Plan eliminates certain foods all together and focuses on “core” foods that they should eat until satisfied but not full. These core foods are basically deemed healthy foods from all food groups. Still staying with the points...