Dieting

How Long Should I Diet? As Long As It Takes

Many new dieters would often ask this question: "How long should I diet?" One pretty obvious answer would always be to stick to your diet until you reach your ideal weight. However, this is simply not true.

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If you're trying to lose weight, you might notice that you gain back all the pounds you lost (plus more) when you revert to your old eating habits, no matter how long you stick to your diet. This is the main reason why dieters young and old want to know exactly how long it takes for the diet's good effects to stay for good.

There's good news and bad news for the new dieters out there. The bad news is that there is no such thing as diet duration. Dieting is a lifestyle change by itself, which means you should stick to this diet for life. If you want to stick to your ideal weight, then you'd better stick to your diet.

The good news is that sticking to a diet can be easy. However, you don't have to make a single drastic lifestyle change to lose all that weight! Many dieters failed this way because they try to change all their habits overnight. Instead, try breaking into your diet slowly and steadily. Below are some tips that can help you to easily stick to your diet for good.

Start small, but never stop growing.

Start your diet with small achievable sacrifices. A good way to start your diet would be to avoid all forms of soda and drink more water, natural fruit juice or low-fat milk for a couple of weeks. (Did you know that a can of soda can contain around ten teaspoons of sugar?) If you're in charge, then it'll be easier for you to stick with your diet than having to follow every 'diet rule'. After getting used to this sacrifice, impose another manageable limit (then another, and another) until you reach all your goals in the weight loss process. Handling lifestyle changes would be easier to achieve if they come in small chunks.

Key factor: Exercise!

Dieting on its own can help shed all those extra pounds eventually. But with exercise, weight loss will be exponentially faster. Exercising for at least an hour every day for five days a week can prevent you from gaining all those pounds back in case you'd revert to your old nasty eating habits. Go to your preferred gym and try incorporating cardiovascular exercises, strength training and flexibility routines throughout your workout. Also, incorporating fun exercises like dancing, kickboxing and Yoga can also encourage you to stick to your diet.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

Keep in mind that any food, no matter how "sinful" it may be, can fit into any diet. But you'll need to balance your intake by eating more healthy foods to outweigh the bad ones.

There will always come a time when even a flawless diet is bound to be disturbed. Missing a workout on a busy schedule from the office or drinking a toast for a friend's wedding are just some of the many instances which are quite impossible to avoid. But don't get so worked up over these stumbling blocks. Try getting back on the right track as quickly as possible. If everything goes well, your weight will still continue to drop.

Read more here about How Long Should I Diet Whether you are looking to lose weight within the next week or two, or whether you have a long term weight loss problem you need to address.

Are Low to No Carb Diets More Effective Than Low Fat?

The increasing popularity of low to no-carb diets has been garnering it an increasing number of supporters - as well as critics - from different sectors in the dieting industry. More studies have proven low to no-carb diets to be more effective in losing and controlling weight than low-fat diets. Despite the proof presented by these studies, low to no-carb diets still get a fair amount of skepticism.

Fat from Fat: Truth or Fiction?

It's common knowledge that fats make us fat. For an individual to lose fat, following a low-fat diet will require large consumption of carbohydrates and other nutrients for energy. After all, an increase in fat intake will likely place you at a higher risk for heart diseases in the long run, right?

Actually, it might precisely be this 'common knowledge' that's contributing to the increasing number of overweight individuals worldwide. Many scientists think so. No conclusive studies have been able to show the interrelation between cardiovascular diseases to high fat consumption. Furthermore, no fixed studies have been shown that less fats in the diet will lead to any health benefits.

Should you have low to no-carb diets

One vague assertion made by low-fat diet supporters is that it's harder to involve fiber, an important nutrient, in low to no-carb diets. For low-carb diet supporters, this is not the case. They believe that low carb diets involve less grains and more leafy green vegetables and fruit. Low-carb diet supporters definitely have no problems in getting the fiber they need in their diet.

Studies made so far show low-carb diets to be more efficient in shedding weight than low-fat diets. This scientific fact has encouraged many individuals taking low-carb diets to swear off carbohydrates entirely. This 'no-carb' diet entails eating animal meat, fats and internal organs, the diet's primary source of energy.

Is no-carb the best diet?

Even though no-carb diets basically follow 'human carnivorism' (with meat as the main food type consumed), it initially does not pose any health risk. The well-known proponent of the no-carb diet, the Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, would often go on several months at a time with only meat in his diet, with no carbohydrates involved whatsoever. Despite this type of diet, he still remained healthy with no untoward effects from insufficient vitamin consumption.

But those who would like to try this no-carb diets method should still be careful. Stefansson's studies and experiments with this diet were based on those times he was in Inuit, where their diets are primarily composed of meat and fish. While Stefansson may have been healthy throughout his life, it has been suggested that the Inuit themselves show relatively high mortality rates with stroke and other heart problems.

In choosing the type of diet to accompany your weight loss efforts, consider that science has verified low-fat diets to be less effective than low to no-carb diets. Nonetheless, even if you choose the perfect type of diet to complement your preferred weight loss, regular exercise is still the key to keep the weight you lose from coming back. Without it, any diet will be pretty much a losing cause (and not in the way you might be hoping for!).