The Facts about Quick Weight Loss Diets
Quick weight loss diets have been around since the world’s first dieter looked at their belly and thought, “I need to lose a few pounds – NOW.” Even though experience has shown that quick “fad” diets usually result in temporary weight loss, dieters are still looking for the Holy Grail: A diet that lets them lose weight fast and keep it off.
While there is no miraculous instant weight loss trick, you can take steps to speed things along without resorting to a quick weight loss diet. Here’s how:
Rev Your Metabolism with the Right Foods
Are you eating too many calories? The problem might be that you’re eating too few. Years of yo-yo dieting can slow down your metabolism by 30%. To get it back on track, you’ll need to eat enough calories to fuel your basal metabolic rate (BMR).
You can find detailed BMR calculators online. They will tell you how many calories you need to get through a day. If you exercise or have a physically demanding job, you will need more. Try to get most of your calories from lean protein, whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
Don’t let an initial weight gain scare you off; your body needs time to repair itself. Once you’ve spent a few weeks or months eating an appropriate number of calories, your metabolism will speed up and the pounds will fall away.
You can easily lose a pound a week by sticking to a balanced diet, or two pounds a week if you add exercise.
Don’t Forget the Exercise
Most quick weight loss diets don’t include any form of physical exercise. They encourage you to lose weight rapidly by eating very little. While that can lead to a quick initial weight loss, the weight will come back when you start to eat normally again. Plus, quick weight loss diets don’t provide the same health benefits as a balanced diet and exercise.
Experts agree that the best exercise routines include cardio and strength training. If you have a lot of stress in your life, you should also consider yoga for stretching and relaxation. Three to five hours of cardio exercise plus one or two hours of strength training are enough to make significant changes in your body shape and fitness level.
Exercise provides all kinds of health benefits. It will improve your mood, help you sleep soundly, make you stronger and leaner, and improve your balance. It also protects your heart and wards off metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes. These are perks that quick weight loss diets cannot offer.
Forget Starvation Diets
We’ve all heard the tales of celebrities who drank nothing but lemonade with maple syrup and cayenne pepper to quickly slim down for a role. What we don’t hear about is the aftermath: Those same celebrities regained all the weight as soon as they ended their quick weight loss diets.
Don’t put your body through the stress of quick weight loss diets. At best, you’ll end up tired, hungry, grouchy, dehydrated, and heavier than before. At worst, you could seriously damage your metabolism, making it impossible to lose weight even when you eat very few calories.
To maintain a healthy weight, your body needs to be healthy. Feed it right, move it often, and give it the hydration it needs to perform at its peak.
Our Experts Recommended Products
|
|
Deliciously G-free (Hardcover) $17.77 Growing up in a family where everyone came together at the dinner table, Elizabeth Hasselbeck savored the signature meatball, lasagna, and ziti dishes of her grandmother and great-grandmother, and the pierogies of her father’s heritage. But a dec… |
|
|
Zumba: Ditch the Workout, Join the Party Book & DVD Demo (Hardcover) $14.65 Expands the practices of a Latin-inspired workout program to include a complete diet and fitness plan that incorporates popular Latin music styles and specific body-toning dance moves, in a set that features guidelines for a jump-start diet and an inst… |
|
|
The South Beach Diet Supercharged (Paperback) $7.91 The cardiologist author of the best-selling South Beach Diet outlines a cutting-edge exercise program designed to complement his eating guidelines and lifestyle recommendations, in a reference that details a 20-minute daily, three-phase workout… |
|
|
The Dukan Diet (Hardcover) $15.9 1 international bestselling diet book coming to North America Devised by Dr. Pierre Dukan, a French medical doctor who has spent his career helping people to lose weight, the Dukan Diet rejects counting calories and promises permanent weight lo… |
|
|
G Free Diet A Gluten Free Survival Guide (Paperback) $10.09 Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of THE VIEW, had been sick her whole life, but no doctors could diagnose her ailment. Then, in 2002, she became a contestant on SURVIVOR, and was shocked to find that while living on the meager rations in the Australian ou… |
|
|
The Beauty Detox Solution (Paperback) $10.85 A renowned nutritionist and beauty expert who helps dozens of A-list celebrities get red-carpet ready presents a program based on age-old beauty secrets that rids the body of toxins so that you can look and feel your very best. Original. 100,000 first … |
|
|
The Carblovers Diet Cookbook (Hardcover) $19.37 |
|
|
The Complete Book of Food Counts (Paperback) $8.9 The phenomenal bestseller! Newly revised and updated! Thousands of new listings!THE INDISPENSABLE ONE-VOLUME REFERENCE FROM CORINNE T. NETZER, AMERICA’S #1 AUTHORITY ON THE NUTRITIONAL CONTENT OF FOOD Are you co… |
|
|
The Sugar Blockers Diet (Hardcover) $17.16 Description not available. |
|
|
New Atkins for a New You The Ultimate Di (Paperback) $10.77 THINK YOU KNOW THE ATKINS DIET?THINK AGAIN.THE NEW ATKINS IS…POWERFULLearn how to eat the wholesome foods that will turn your body into an amazing fat-burning machine.EASYThe updated and simplified program was created with you and you… |
|
|
EatSmart Precision Pro – Multifunction Digital Kitchen Scale w/ Extra Large LCD and 11 Lb. Capacity The EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale is a versatile multifunction home appliance. Designed to be highly accurate and aesthetically pleasing, the Precision Pro is manufactured to the highest quality specifications. Weigh items up to 11 lbs quickly and accurately, with results displayed in four different units: grams / ounces / pounds / kilograms. For cooks – Weigh food items directly on… |
|
|
Health o Meter SAB602-05 Dial Scale, Black with Silver Accent $8.75 Health o Meter SAB602DQ05 Dial Scale, Black with Silver Accent has large platform. Also has chrome bezel and pointer. It is very accurate. Accurately measures weight up to 330lbs…. |
|
|
Taylor 7506 Glass and Chrome Digital Scale $22.99 CHROME/GLASS DIGITL SCALE… |
|
|
New York City Ballet: The Complete Workout, Vol. 1 and 2 $19.98 Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/07/2006… |
|
|
Conditions $6.93 2009 debut album from highly-acclaimed Australian rockers Temper Trap features very polished production, which gives the album a very big sound that compliments the band’s pop sensibilities. Recorded on opposite sides of the world in Melbourne and London, Conditions was received very well by Australian critics upon its original release, and songs from the record have featured in numerous televisio… |
|
|
Enjoying Weight Loss $84.99 Discover the Weight Loss Hypnosis Program that Doctors and Psychologists recommend to their patients. “The research is mounting: hypnosis can help you lose weight and keep it off longer. Compared with individual hypnotherapy, a hypnosis CD can be a cost-effective way to get entranced. This CD set Enjoying Weight Loss has a lot to offer: a warm, fun hypnotist offering sound dietary advice and on a … |
|
|
Lean, Strong and Healthy with Susan Powter [VHS] $19.98 … |
|
|
Body Flex 1 & 2 BODY FLEX 1 & 2 with Greer Childers, 52-mother of 3.. Body Flex 1 is the instructional tape , it introduces The Tummy Tuck , Face Lift , Complete Bodylift without Surgery , Only 15 Minutes a Day , No Diet.. Body Flex 2 is the workout tape.. Desigened for Beginners… |
|
|
Raquel: Lose 10 Pounds in 3 Weeks [VHS] $16.99 … |
|
|
P90X: Tony Horton’s 90-Day Extreme Home Fitness Workout DVD Program $139.80 Tired of ineffective workouts that sound great but produce less-than-optimal results? Turn to the P90X Extreme Home Fitness system, a bundle of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. Hosted by personal trainer Tony Horton, the series of DVDs will help you get lean, bulk up, or grow stronger, with an endless variety of mix-… |
How To Fight Belly Fat
How to Lose Belly Fat – Fast Tip for Both Men and Women
|
|
Tracey Mallett’s-Lose the Belly Flab $7.19 Studio: Well Go Usa Inc Release Date: 09/22/2009 Run time: 60 minutes… |
|
|
Relacore- Stress-Related Abdominal Obesity Supplement,110 caps $29.99 Do you have excess “tummy flab”? Is your belly bigger then you like? If so then Relacore is just what you need! Excess tummy flab is not your fault… That’s the startling conclusion reached by scientists who discovered the likely cause of stubborn belly… |
|
|
From Belly Fat to Belly Flat: How Your Hormones Are Adding Inches to Your Waist and Subtracting Years from Your Life — the Medically Proven Way to Reset Your Metabolism and Reshape Your Body $9.99 Weight-loss research shows that the average person will add 1 to 2 pounds around their abdomen each year between the ages of 35 and 55 without changing their eating or exercise habits. Noted expert… |
|
|
The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle: The Simple Plan to Flatten Your Belly Fast! $2.96 Why is it that even though we might maintain our high school weight, few of us maintain our high school belt size? In your twenties and thirties, the layers of fat on top of your abs were the problem–but once you reach middle-age, the enemy shifts. The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle is the first book to deal specifically with the issues we face in the next stage of life, providing a plan… |
|
|
Outsmarting the Midlife Fat Cell: Winning Weight Control Strategies for Women Over 35 to Stay Fit Through Menopause $5.28 Menopausal weight gain is “the most stubborn weight gain you’ll ever experience,” says Debra Waterhouse in Outsmarting the Midlife Fat Cell. This book follows her bestselling Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell, customizing the program for women ages 35 to 55. The book is easy to read, makes difficult concepts simple to understand, and has helpful checklists to keep you on track. Outsmarting the … |