Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Cookie Diet: Another Fad Diet

Latest weight loss/diet news is the COOKIE DIET. Yeah, you read that right. Let's see, eat 6 cookies a day plus one real meal and you'll lose weight. I suppose you will, if you stick to it religiously. This is just another in a long line of fad diets that use substitution and restriction instead of a balanced diet of REAL food. As a matter of fact, I just thought of a new one: The Pizza Diet. Eat one small pizza a day plus two apples and you'll lose weight.

Seriously, folks, these diets are just gimmicks. You may lose weight if you follow these plans to a tee but are any of them healthy? You didn't become overweight overnight. You became overweight because you ate too much junk and didn't stay active. Simple. You probably ate a lot of COOKIES along with potato chips, fast food, etc. Don't fall for this nonsense.

The simple fact is that if you are overweight you need a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains(carbs), lean protein and healthy fats COMBINED with some sort of physical activity. Just shuffling junk food around and counting calories is not enough.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Lose Pounds Fast

The best way to Lose 10 pounds fast is to try some dietary refinements that you would apply temporarily for one or two weeks and then measure your progress from there. Depending on what YOU consume in your current diet, pick one or two of the approaches to lose 10 pounds from the list below.

1)Drastically reduce or eliminate refined carbohydrates from your diet. The list would include most breads, pastas, rice, corn and any snack foods made from these. Anything that comes prepared in a package should be avoided. Substitute more vegetables and salads(light dressing) for the missing bulk.

2)No liquid calories. This would include soft drinks, juice and milk. Don't put any sugar or heavy cream in your coffee or tea. Learn to love water. Not only does it contain no calories but it helps to cleanse your system in many different ways.

3) Eat heavier in the earlier parts of the day and have a light dinner. No snacks other than raw veggies before you go to bed. Studies have consistently shown that people who eat in this fashion have fewer weight problems.

4)Exercise. If you're in good shape but never exercise, even a moderate walking program applied consistently will take pounds off fast. More strenuous forms of exercise or recreational sports will do it faster. Just don't up your calorie intake.

5)Start each meal with a good serving of raw vegetables and salads before you touch anything else. This will fill you up and make you eat smaller meat and potato portions. You probably won't want anything for dessert other than an apple or orange.

6)Pretend that your television(s) is broke and can't be fixed for two weeks. Find other things to do. You might be be very surprised to see the effects on your waistline and mental health after a few weeks.

It isn't hard to lose 10 pounds. It just takes a focused approach and some tweaking of your current habits. If you practice any of these approaches you'll see progress. Combining two or more of them will see even better results. We've all seen stories about formerly obese people who've lost 100 pounds. This is a lot easier to do now, before it gets to that, than to have to do more later.

For cutting edge weight loss techniques consult the Strip That Fat program.