Everyone who diets knows about counting calories. The experts have been telling us forever that all we need to do to lose weight is to eat fewer calories. But is that all it's about? If that's all there is to losing weight why are so many people overweight? I know, maybe it's all about carbs? Or they tell us we have to exercise more or your doing the wrong type of exercise.
Not really, the whole idea of the low-carb diet was to get you to eat less junk food. Junk food is 90% carbs and has almost no nutritional value. But low-carb wasn't the answer because you would cut back on junk for a while but never quit eating junk completely. And low-carb and low-fat foods usually have more sugar to put taste back in the food.
So what is the answer to weight loss? I believe that all calories are not equal and that you don't need to count calories, you need to eat better food. The Atkins Diet is a good example of a healthy balanced diet. Another healthy diet is the Mediterranean diet. Below you'll see a food pyramid showing the foods you can eat and how often to eat them.
If you notice the foods in the pyramid are all whole foods that supply lots of nutrition. And why is that important? Your body doesn't count calories, your body can either process your food and turn it into energy or if it can't process what you're eating it will store it in your fat cells. It's your choice. Do you want to eat real food or manufactured food?
When you change your diet to real food, you won't eat as much. And when your body gets used to your new diet you'll start to burn body fat. It's not going to be quick, but with more physical activity the fat burning process will go faster.
It's a good idea to download my ebook and learn how I lost 60 pounds, lost my fat and have more energy than I've had in 30 years. It's not too late or impossible, no matter how heavy or how old. We can all improve our condition with a healthy a diet and more activity.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K. My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon
I get email all the time wanting some way to lose weight without dieting. How can they do it; there are ways but you still have to be committed and stick to these changes. Small changes take longer to take effect, so you will lose weight and get healthier but you have to stick to the changes.
One easy change is to do more walking. Trainers have all these new workout plans when really all you need to do is walk more. 10,000 steps a day every day will help you lose weight, that's all the activity you need.So why did I say "will help" instead of "can"; because your diet will work hand and hand with the increased walking. You can walk all day long and still not lose weight if you don't eat the foods to help you lose weight.
Speaking of your diet; one of the biggest reasons for gaining weight is eating too much animal fat. Animal fat is marbled through the meat in beef and pork, you can't remove this fat, you can only trim off the fat on the outside. Animal fat is the fat that will clog your liver and slow-down liver functions, raise your cholesterol and cause high blood pressure. Only very small amounts can be digested in one day. Doctors only recommend eating red meat, which includes hamburger meat, once a week. Seafood and poultry can be eaten more often.
Besides meat, most people don't eat enough vegetables, especially the dark green leafy ones. You can get a lot of your protein from plants and plant protein will be absorbed easier and faster than animal protein.
More of the do's and do not's:
Do get more sleep- The later you stay up the more you eat.
Do drink more water.
Don't drink your calories- no sugar in your drinks.
Do eat whole grains- whole wheat is not whole grain.
Do not eat bacon or any lunch meat. If you most have bacon, buy the uncured slab of bacon from a butcher and have him slice it.
Cut back on alcohol- if you drink any alcohol drink a clear alcohol with a bottled water, nothing sweet. Some cocktails are several hundred calories.
Try to drink more green tea- One cup of hot green tea each day will help digest your food.
If you cut out the things you're doing to increase body fat, then over time you will actually start to lose body fat and that's the real "end game". Losing body fat will help you regain your lost energy. You can feel years younger just by losing the extra inches around your waist.
You can tweet me with questions at #ray0369
I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon
I found this post on VeryWell.com. I haven't seen many posts like this one that talks directly to men. This is worth reading. I'm sure you've heard of the "Tom Brady Diet". His diet started to circulate about a year ago. He eat almost no red meat and lots of vegetables and you might see some comparisons to his diet in this post.
Focus on Healthy Foods That Fill You Up and Build Muscle
Men face unique challenges when they try to slim down. One of those challenges is meal size. In many restaurants and other social settings, guys are encouraged to eat “manly” portions of hearty foods. Big meals and big bodies are often celebrated in men’s magazines and television shows. Eating petite portions of light, delicate dishes like maybe Sushi can make a guy feel…well, less like a guy.
How to Choose Weight Loss Foods for Men
The best weight loss foods for men are selections that fill a guy’s plate, keep his body lean and muscular but also help him to feel full and satisfied.
So guys should focus on protein when shopping for diet-friendly foods.
"One thing I take into account for a goal of weight loss in men is lean protein intake," says Jason Ewoldt, RDN, LD, wellness dietitian at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. He adds that he doesn't necessarily focus on increasing protein intake but on choosing the right type of protein. "Men tend to have more lean muscle tissue," he says, "so it's important to ensure adequate intake of amino acids to preserve lean tissue while at the same time increasing feelings of fullness."
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Non-essential amino acids, such as glycine and alanine, are made by your body so you don't need to get them from food. But essential amino acids are not produced by the body. The food you eat should provide these amino acids for general health and for the production and maintenance of lean muscle mass.
Complete proteins are those that provide all essential amino acids. Meat, fish, poultry, and dairy foods (such as eggs, milk, or yogurt) are complete proteins. Soy, quinoa, chia seeds, buckwheat, and flax seeds are also examples of complete protein foods. So there are complete protein in plant food also and that's the protein we need to increase. The downside to a meat based diet is the animal fat that is marbled in the meat. That's why doctors want you to cut back on red meat. You just end up consuming too much animal fat.
Protein quality can also be determined by the PCDAAS or protein digestibility corrected amino acid score.
PCDAAS takes amino acid content into consideration and balances it with other factors related to digestibility. Casein, egg, milk, whey, and soy proteins have the highest score of 1.0. Other foods that are high on the list include beef (0.92), black beans (0.75), and peanuts (0.52).
But if you're a man who wants to slim down, you may not have time to research the PCDAAS score of every food you see in the grocery store aisle. Instead, scan these lists of the best weight loss foods for men to eat at mealtime and the best weight loss foods for men to snack on. You can even bookmark this page and take it with you to the market.
Healthy Foods That Fill You Up at Mealtime
In a recent interview about weight loss challenges for men, fat-loss expert Tom Venuto and Biggest Loser champ Pete Thomas said that men should learn how to cook to lose weight faster. If you can learn how to build hefty but healthy meals around nutritious foods you're more likely to stay satisfied and get the fuel your body needs to get lean and strong.
So what foods should you throw in your cart at the grocery store? "One thing I would suggest when shopping for weight-loss friendly foods would be putting the focus on whole foods," says Ewoldt. "This would include foods like fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. By shifting toward a more whole food approach it generally means more plants (fruits and veggies) which helps with weight loss as they are higher in fiber and water but lower in calories. I would also look at making changes from higher fat protein foods to lean types of protein which keeps satiety up but reduces overall calorie intake."
Here are some of the best weight loss foods for men at mealtime:
Lowfat Greek yogurt (look for brands that are lower in sugar)
Fish such as salmon or tuna to provide heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids also known as "good fats"
Poultry like chicken or turkey breast (reduce fat and calories by choosing skinless varieties)
Lean cuts of beef such as filet mignon or flank steak
Bison and other game meats that are lean but flavorful
Cottage cheese (check the sodium content on the Nutrition Facts label if you are watching your salt intake)
Healthy beans (legumes) like black beans, chickpeas, black eyed peas, or green peas
Whole grains like quinoa, barley, brown rice, or buckwheat
Dark green, leafy vegetables including kale, spinach, or broccoli
Fresh fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth
If you noticed, there's not a lot of milk or cheese on the list. If your trying to slim down be careful how much dairy you consume. Dairy is another source of animal fat.
And which foods should you avoid when trying to slim down? The worst weight loss foods for men might be the foods most often served on game day at the bar. These are foods that are full of the nutrients that your body probably needs less of. "Men tend to over-eat foods that are high in fat and carbohydrates. This is especially true when eating out as high fat items such as burgers, French fries and chicken wings tend to be the expectation," says Ewoldt.
Healthy Snacks That Fill You Up
Just like any dieter, a man is likely to get hungry between meals. But snack foods can easily undo the effort you put into a healthy meal. So it's important to be just as mindful when you snack as you are when you plan and prepare nutritious meals.
Sadly, the snack aisle at your local market is probably full of foods to avoid. They are also foods you're likely to want to overeat. "It seems, in my experience at the Healthy Living Program, that men tend to crave either salty foods like chips or French fries or sweeter foods like cookies and desserts when they are actively trying to lose weight," says Ewoldt.
So skip the baked goods section and the chips aisle and fill up on foods that are full of fiber. Soluble and non-soluble fiber provide slightly different benefits, but both will help your body to feel full for a longer time after eating. When you're less hungry, you're more likely to make smart food choices and eat proper portion sizes.
Here are some of the best weight loss food for men who snack:
Hard boiled eggs
Chopped veggie sticks with hummus or other bean dips that provide healthy fats
Plain Greek yogurt and nutrient-packed berries (think raspberries or blueberries) topped with chia seeds for extra fiber and nutrition
Other low-fat dairy products like skim milk or chocolate milk for a post-workout boost (instead of high calorie or artificially sweetened sports drinks)
Low-calorie, protein packed snack bars for busy days when you are on the go
Nuts such as almonds or Brazil nuts that provide both poly and monounsaturated fats
Peanut butter on whole grain crackers
Turkey roll-ups (low-sodium turkey slices rolled around a thin layer of low-fat cream cheese and thin veggie sticks)
Most importantly, drink water for thirst. Skip the super sized sodas that you find in convenience marts. Regular colas and flavored sodas are full of sugar and even the diet-varieties often contain caffeine and artificial sweeteners that can derail your diet.
How to Cook Weight Loss Foods for Men
You can (and should) learn to cook weight loss meals that build muscle and bulk up your plate without adding inches to your waistline. Simply adding healthy weight loss foods to your plate won't help you to lose weight unless you use smart cooking methods to prepare them. Focus on these cooking methods to keep your meals lean:
Grill. If you love a good steak, you can keep it in your diet if you grill it without adding extra oil or butter. Most cuts of beef already contain enough fat so there is no reason to add any more. And if you are grilling lean poultry, marinade it in citrus or drizzle with (just a small amount of) olive oil to boost your intake of heart-healthy fats. And remember that you can grill indoors or out. During cold winter months, invest in an inexpensive indoor counter-top grill to prep your meals.
Roast. Nothing brings out the savory flavor of vegetables like roasting. And it is one of the easiest cooking methods available. Simply chop vegetables like carrots, onions, or Brussels sprouts and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Season with herbs or salt and pepper and place in the oven at about 400 degrees. Roasting is also a smart way to prepare meats and seafood.
Poach. Many savvy cooks poach seafood to maximize flavor and minimize the amount of added fat that you use. To poach salmon, simply simmer an inch or so of liquid on your stovetop and place the fish in the warm water to cook.
Sautée. Rather than frying your favorite foods, why not lighten up the meal and sautée instead? This method allows you to use less oil and still get the flavor you enjoy when you cook meats, fish or veggies. In fact, you can even sautée without oil and use chicken or vegetable stock instead. Just be sure to use high quality cookware so your food doesn't stick to the pan and so you are not tempted to use more fat and oil.
If your cravings for French fries, pizza, and burgers get the best of you, there are also reduced-calorie recipes for each of those favorites. You can learn to make healthier pizza by swapping veggies for fatty meats and cheeses. Bake sweet potato fries that are better for you than their traditional counterparts and then grill a lean turkey burger instead of making one from fatty ground beef.
Lastly, remember that calories matter most when it comes to weight loss. Make sure you are eating the right number of calories to fuel your body properly and create the calorie deficit needed to slim down.
You can tweet me with questions at #ray0369
I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon
We all have similar problems that keep us from losing weight. We start out with good intentions but after time we tend to fall into one of the three categories listed below.
1. "All or None" Mindset
Many people adopt and hold true to the mindset of PERFECTIONISM or "All or None". This mindset shows itself in numerous ways, but most often, it rears its ugly head during conflict. Many clients I have had are OK as long as everything is going well. Their choices are sound, their thinking is pure and their mood is good. However, as soon as one area of life causes stress this creates a spiral of negative thinking and their mindset goes from "I am in control" to "This isn't working, I quit!" The stress could be a work conflict or poor food choice or a missed exercise session.
The "All or None" mindset makes it difficult to maintain success because the thought process relies on Perfection. A better plan is to understand that negative situations happen to everyone and will happen to you on occasion. Learn to handle stress with a proper perspective and the ability to understand that every choice counts towards achieving your goal or to delay it.
2. Failing to Plan
A second pitfall I often see is that many people do not plan their meals or workouts. We wait for motivation to strike before we act. This is the opposite of what needs to be done to gain success.
You must schedule your workouts as a "non-negotiable priority" and attend these important appointments with yourself. You must plan and schedule your meals in advance. If you wait until you get hungry to think about what you are going to eat you increase your risk of making poor food choices and eating items that are not in your plan. This may lead to a loss of control (see "All or None").
3. Lacking Consistency
Often, individuals begin a plan when they become distressed about something (health, appearance and/or fitness), making multiple drastic changes at once, in an all-out effort to achieve as much as possible as quickly as possible. Generally, repeating mistakes from their recent past.
When you attempt this method in addition to the busy schedule you may already have, you can become overwhelmed and may cease a few of the more important acts of attaining your goal. Consistency is accomplished by placing priority on the actions that are most vital for your desired outcome and continuing these actions. You cannot get to your goals with a "tomorrow" attitude.
So, what's the answer, how can I be successful at losing weight. The same way you succeed in your job or business. You never stop trying and never give-up. If you're not succeeding you're just doing it wrong and you need to start over and make a new plan. There's a hundred different diets to lose weight and none of them work for everyone. You have to find one that works for you.
Giving up is the easy way out. Planning is the only way to succeed. Most of us want to lose weight to look better. We don't like what we see in the mirror. But losing body fat is actually a life changing experience. You gain energy, self-confidence, and just feel better about yourself in general. After losing that first 10 pounds of body fat you'll feel years younger.
You can tweet me with questions at #ray0369
I write several blogs and e-books, check out some of my other sites.
gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon
I'm not going to paint a rosy picture about how easy it's going to be to lose that your fat, but losing that fat is essential. You don't have to worry that much about what the scale says, your goal should be to lose inches in the truck section of your body. The rest will take care of itself. The bad fat your doctor doesn't want you to have is the fat around your waist. When you measure your waist at the navel it should be half your height. I'm 72 inches tall, my waist should be a 36. I don't mean a 36 pant size, I mean 36 inches at the navel.
So even if your weight is in the normal range, and you can check your range on several different websites, if your waist is too large you need to lose some of that fat. There are two ways fat can build-up, over the top of your muscles or under the muscle layer. Under the muscle layer is very dangerous. You may think that your stomach is solid muscle but if you have excess fat under that muscle then it's surrounding your organs. The body will only add about one inch of fat under the skin, maybe a little more around the waist and then it will start to fill the fat cells under the muscle layer. Your liver and your heart are where your doctor doesn't want excess fat. That excess fat around your organs will slow down body functions. That doesn't mean you move slower, it means that instead of your liver being able to work on all the body function (more than 100 functions), it might only have time for the critical ones. Fat around the liver causes "fatty liver disease, fat around your heart causes "heart disease".
So what can you do about it now? First, you'll have to change your diet and not just temporarily. You have to start eating healthy and that means eating fresh and eating clean. So what does that mean? You can probably get more info from "health and fitness" websites than I can give you in one post, but just to simplify things. "Fresh" means you stat buy only produce (fruits and veggies) that are fresh, not frozen. Meat and fish that's fresh and whole grains nothing processed. That means cereals, pasta, and bread that's whole grain. Whole wheat is not whole grain. Whole wheat is processed flour that strips out the nutrition during the processing. You want to avoid anything containing processed or enriched flour.
Also, you have to be careful how you cook food. Cooking oil is your enemy when you're trying to lose fat. First of all, no fried foods, no foods or drinks that are sweet. Fruit is your new dessert. Nuts and seeds are good in moderation, but you need some every day. Cooking oils can be deceiving, most of them are blended oil, some might be good oils but some are bad. They can blend oils in one bottle and call it "olive oil" as long as it's mostly olive oil. And they do the same thing with other oils like "canola". Companies will use 20% palm oil or a mix of other tropical oils and they don't have to put that on the label. When I buy oil for cooking I buy 100% extra virgin olive oil. That means the olive oil is from the first or second press of the olive. Even if the oil is a blend it's all from the first or second press and you're getting all the goodness from the olives. If you buy the oil that comes from Italy or Spain you want the oil that's bottled over there. I say that because Italy and Spain have laws to protect the quality of their oils. Government inspections are a serious thing and no one wants to lose their license to export olive oil. Spain has better control and purer Spanish olive oil. Italy is actually the biggest importer in Europe of olive oil, from other countries. So I would think that Italian olive oil must be blended with oil from other countries, whereas Spain is more real Spanish olive oil. Be careful buying cheap brands. The very best and very expensive olive oil comes from Morroco, but Spain is my pick for high quality for a reasonable price.
So after you straighten out your diet, you will start to have more energy.You have to be on your new diet for a few weeks before you start to feel better. Just being on your new diet will make you feel healthier and then you should start a walking routine, about 30 minutes a day more than you walk now. You want to build up to 10,000 steps a day. That's what you want to do every day to lose inches. 10,000 steps can be a big increase for some of you, so build up to it slowly and don't try to do the whole thing at one time. Try and do some walking early in the morning and then finish up after dinner.
75% of your food should be vegetables and fruit, 15% fish, poultry and some meat and the rest whole grain. Drink mostly water, some coffee or tea and a glass of red wine a couple time a week. Try and go heavy on the fish and don't be afraid of mercury. Go on the internet and look for seafood low in mercury and you'll be surprised how long the list is.
If you stick to this new diet and do the walking every day in just 3 months you'll feel much better and look much better and if you stick with it, you will lose that fat and you'll love yourself for doing it. Good health is a one-way road so you can't go back. If you want to live a healthy life, you have to work at it every day and never look back.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
This is one reason most people quit their diet. "It's too hard to follow". I don't care which diet you think might work for you and I don't care who is on the diet and how much someone else lost on the diet, "if you can't stick to a diet, it won't help you". This is a classic mistake that people make, they take advice from someone who likes this new diet and has had luck on the diet, but you have to look close and read the fine print and if you can't stick to a cabbage soup diet, don't start it. I don't care how much your friend lost. The best diet ever created isn't going to work for you if you can't stick to it.
When consumers look for a weight loss program, they usually look for the easiest diet to follow. After all, who wants to spend weeks learning a complicated system? But almost every program claims to be easy so it can be hard to choose the best plan.
3 Ways to Find the Easiest Diet
Everyone has a different lifestyle and different food preferences so the easiest diet for your co-worker or your neighbor might not be the easiest diet for you.
The key to getting sustainable weight loss results is to find the plan that works best with your specific skill set and your specific lifestyle.
Ask yourself a few important questions before you look for a diet:
How much time do I have to cook and prepare foods?
Do I like to cook and spend time in the kitchen?
Do I like to try new tastes and flavors?
Do I have time to grocery shop?
How much weight do I have to lose?
How much money can I spend on a diet and for how long will I be able to maintain this budget?
Do I enjoy eating foods that are considered to be healthy, like fruits, vegetables or lean meats?
Do I prefer comfort foods like pasta, bread, and baked goods?
If you find a diet that fits into your regular routine and satisfies your food preferences, you're more likely to stick to it long enough to see real weight loss results. In addition, if the plan is simple you're likely to maintain the good eating habits after you've reached your goal weight, so weight maintenance becomes easier as well.
The maintenance is important, if you're not going to work on maintaining the weight loss then why bother losing weight?
Tops Picks for the Easiest Diet to Follow
Easy diets fall into one of three categories. You'll notice that almost every easy diet has certain key characteristics in common. Portion control, for example, is essential for almost every diet to work. But there are some differences between top diets that may make one plan easier for you to follow.
Your answers to the questions above will help you find the best plan for you.
The Most Convenient Diet
Meal delivery plans are the easiest diets for people who have very little time to cook and prepare food. Often these plans provide small microwavable meals that you can heat up on the go, calorie-controlled shakes to drink, or small snack bars to nibble when you don't have time to sit and eat.
Top picks in this category include Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, or Weight Watchers. My personal recommendation in this category is Weight Watchers simply because it provides the option of face-to-face support, which makes weight loss easier for many dieters, plus a new on-line program for those who can't do a face-to-face.
This is the best easy diet for people who can make a financial commitment to a diet program (depending on the amount of weight you have to lose, your total cost can run in the thousands) and people who don't like to or don't have time to prepare three meals each day. Keep in mind, however, that plans like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers do encourage dieters to learn to cook for improved weight loss and weight maintenance.
This is not the easiest diet for people who enjoy large quantities of food (meals and snacks are usually quite small), people who enjoy cooking all of their meals, and people who don't want to invest too much money into their weight loss program.
The Quickest Diet to Learn
If you don't want to spend time and money learning a point system or setting up food delivery, then you need a diet that is quick and easy to learn. There are some diets like Atkins, Mediterranean diet, or The South Beach Diet that provide simple food lists. If you eat the foods on the approved list and avoid other foods, you'll lose weight. But to really take advantage of these programs long term, you should read the books associated with the diets.
My pick for the big winner in this category is calorie counting. Why? Because counting calories simply requires basic math skills that you already know and there are free apps that make the process super simple.
Calorie counting is like budgeting. You take five minutes to use a calorie calculator and determine your daily calorie budget, then each day deduct calories from your budget as you eat. It's simple, but it takes consistent input, which is easy for some but overwhelming for others.
This is the best easy diet for someone on a budget who is willing to use tech devices (like a smartphone) to put forth small consistent efforts on a daily basis to slim down.
This is not the easiest diet for someone who isn't likely to be consistent with food tracking. This might include someone without access to their smartphone at mealtime or someone who isn't likely to be honest about what they eat and how much they eat.
The Most Accessible Diet
Sometimes the easiest weight loss plan is the one that is easiest to find. There are certain diet products you can find at your regular grocery store that will help you to slim down. They allow you to eat (at least some of) the foods that you normally eat. In this category, the Lean Cuisine diet or the SlimFast Diet plan are top picks.
You'll find frozen meals by brands like Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones in nearly every market in the country. The meals are relatively inexpensive, portion-controlled, and microwavable. For around 300 calories you can eat foods that you are familiar with, like meatloaf, pasta or turkey, and stuffing.
If you choose the SlimFast Diet, you simply consume two easy-to-find SlimFast products as replacements for two meals during the day and eat three low-calorie snacks. Then enjoy one additional 500-calorie meal that you buy or prepare on your own.
This is the best easy diet for consumers who don't want to read books, compare online programs, or make a long-term investment in a food delivery service. These diets are also better suited for dieters who have less weight to lose.
This is not the easiest diet for those who have more pounds to lose or for those who have medical concerns that limit the amount of salt or added sugar in their diet. Some frozen meals and shakes are high in sodium and some have added sugars.
What's the Easiest Diet Ever?
One of the problems with many of the easy diets listed is that they include a lot of processed foods. Frozen products and microwavable meals are generally not as nutritious as a home cooked meal. Meals that come to you frozen contain lots of sodium and sometimes sugar. Be sure to read the labels. I prefer the fresh meals you can buy at the deli section of your supermarket. You can get low-calorie, low-sodium meals.So which plan would I recommend as the easiest diet to lose weight? Portion control. Simply eat the foods you currently enjoy at mealtime, but eat less. Sounds easy, right? But it doesn't work. If you're adding fat to your body it's because of the foods you're eating, generally when you eat fresh foods and nothing processed you don't eat as much. Fresh foods will satisfy your appetite, processed foods don't, they only fill you up for a short time. You don't have to control portions if you eat fresh foods, mostly vegetables and fruits.
So which plan would I recommend as the easiest diet to lose weight? I found the best way is to completely change your diet and don't look back. Changing your diet I liken to stopping cigarettes. You might as well know now, weight maintenance means never going back, if you do the weight will return.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional foods eaten by people living in the Mediterranean region, especially Greece. It's loaded with healthy foods and research findings suggest following this diet may help reduce some of the risk factors for heart disease.
According to the Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, the Mediterranean diet was introduced in 1993 by Oldways, Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.
The diet includes:
Olives and olive oil
Whole grains, mostly in bread and cereal rather than pasta
Very little red meat
Fish and seafood
Some cheese, but less milk
Lots of vegetables and fruit
Plenty of legumes and nuts
A little red wine
The Mediterranean diet is high in fiber and antioxidants from vegetables, legumes and nuts, far greater than the typical Western diet, and low in saturated fat. Very little red meat is eaten in this region, and milk consumption is limited as well, except for some cheese and yogurt.
Oldways designed a Mediterranean Diet Food Pyramid to help you see which foods are best.
The base of the pyramid is made up of foods like whole grain bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes and rice. Fruits, legumes, nuts, and vegetables make up another large share of your daily diet, along with smaller amounts of cheese, yogurt, and olive oil. Poultry, fish, and eggs are eaten weekly, and red meats are eaten about once per month.
Oldways also suggests you drink six glasses of water every day, along with moderate consumption of red wine for some people. The Mediterranean Pyramid even allows for one sweet treat every week.
How to Follow the Mediterranean Diet
Replace the fat you use now with olive oil. You probably don't want to add more calories to you diet so use olive oil in place of butter, margarine and other salad dressing oils.
Olive oil is good for cooking too.
Eat lots of vegetables. This idea just can't be stressed enough. Every healthy diet includes lots of vegetables. Many people in the Mediterranean eat a pound of vegetables every day. Green and colorful vegetables are low in calories and high in antioxidants. Prepare Greek vegetarian dishes several times each week.
Enjoy a little starch. Choose whole grains more often because they're higher in fiber. Potatoes and polenta, which is made from cornmeal, are also commonly used as starches in the Mediterranean.
Eat poultry and fish. Fish contains omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your heart and your brain. Plus, fish is low in total fat and calories. Poultry and eggs are also acceptable protein sources. Bake or broil your fish or chicken, don't deep fry it. Breaded and deep fried foods don't fit this diet at all.
Limit red meat consumption. Red meat has a lot of saturated fat that's not good for your heart, so there isn't much room for steaks and hamburgers in this diet (only about one meal per month).
Instead of a greasy burger from a burger joint, make a ground turkey burger on a whole grain bun instead. Add lettuce, a slice of avocado and tomato, and you won't miss the red meat.
Discover legumes and nuts. Legumes have lots of fiber, protein, and nutrients and can be used in the main dish. Choose fava beans and other dry beans. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and cashews make a delicious and healthy snack.
Enjoy fresh fruits as dessert. Avoid sugary pastries, cakes, and cookies. Fruit is lower in calories and high in fiber and nutrients.
Yogurt and cheese are sources of calcium. Choose some low-fat yogurt and cheese every day. You could make a yogurt dressing or try a healthy salad with tomatoes and feta cheese. Keep it light.
Drink water and wine. The Mediterranean Pyramid includes six glasses of water every day and a glass or two of red wine. Water is good for everybody, but don't drink red wine if you're pregnant, underage or if drinking alcohol puts you or others at risk.
Switching from a typical western diet to a Mediterranean diet seems difficult if you're not used to olive oil, fish and some of the vegetables and seasonings often associated with this region. But it's quite delicious. After a couple months on this diet you will feel healthier and have more energy. You may over-eat at first but after the first week, you'll notice that you won't be eating as much. Stick to this diet and don't cheat, you'll become a healthier person with more energy and considerable happier.
You'll have to follow the same simple rules to lose weight. Eat several small meals, one about every three hours. Don't drink calories, except for that glass of red wine. And don't eat anything the last 4 hours before bed.
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
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