A 1200 Calorie Diet Can Provide Quick Results

One of the hardest things to have when committing to a diet and workout program is patience. We have to remember that we did not gain all of the extra weight we are carrying in two weeks and we are not going to lose it that quickly either. You need some patience and persistence to lose weight, especially if you are older than 40. A 1200 calorie diet may sound like a great idea but in reality it could end up giving you health problems in the long run.

One of the worst things about dieting in general is that people don’t keep the weight off and they end up with the yo-yo effect, rapidly regaining the weight and then some. Medical studies have shown that this repeated gaining and losing of weight is even more dangerous to a person’s health than remaining heavy. People who experience this yo-yo effect repeatedly lose muscle tissue and may even get organ damage. A 1200 calorie diet might get you quick results but you need to be aware of the overall cost to your health.

You also need to remember that a 1200 calorie diet means not only the caloric content of the food that you ingest but also the calories that you burn doing exercise. If you lead the typical sedentary life of the average American but you go to the gym or work out some way, you need to count those as negative calories or calories burned. For example, if you take in 1200 calories each day, but burn 300 calories while walking for thirty minutes you are actually on a 900 calorie diet not a 1200 calorie diet. 900 calories is nowhere near enough for an adult.

This is why most medical and fitness experts recommend a diet of 2000 calories for men, and 1600 for women. It is further not recommended that you lose more than one pound per week. Most of us want to lose at least five pounds per week and we are encouraged by watching shows like “The Biggest Loser” on NBC. But those are really extreme cases with the men weighing as much as 400 pounds in some cases and the women reaching weights of 250 pounds or more. Of course they are going to lose weight faster than someone who is only 20 or 30 pounds overweight.

That is why when they do the weigh-in results on that show they don’t go by pounds lost but by percentage of body weight lost. That is the only real fair way to play the game. In the first week of a 1200 calorie diet you will lose a lot of weight, perhaps as much as five to ten pounds. A lot of this weight will be water weight, especially if you are doing a lot of aerobic exercise where you are sweating a lot. This can be misleading weight loss and many people find that they will hit a plateau around the second or third week and this can be very frustrating. You work out and eat very little and yet you see very low results on the scale. That is another reason that you should not weigh yourself each day, but rather once a week.

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Secrets of a tasty and healthy, quick weight loss diet

Most of us could stand to lose a few pounds. Whether your aim is to look stunning on the beach in a teeny bikini, or attend gala events in an elegant LBD, you know you'll look and feel just a bit better by losing some fat. If you've calculated your BMI, you know where you stand. OK, so you've got to lose some weight. Americans are an impatient folk, fueling demand for a quick weight loss diet program. There are so many weight loss programs, it's hard to know where to start. However, weight loss is an individual thing. While your neighbor might shed ten pounds in a couple of weeks, you might struggle for a month to drop that much weight.

If you're prepared for and determined to commit to a quick weight loss diet program, we've got the skinny on the project! No matter how much weight you want to lose, you can do it, simply by adhering to a few simple diet 'rules and regulations'.

First, you need to identify your goal. Be realistic. Conventional wisdom says that losing seven pounds a month is a reasonable and sustainable goal. So you want to push the envelope to ten pounds a month – that's doable, so long as you eat sensibly and don't cheat. Reduce your calorie intake by an extra 100 calories per day, exercise an extra 10-15 minutes a day, cut out the sugar and fat and you're well on your way to a quick weight loss diet that walks the talk.

Drinking those eight glasses of water a day – ho-hum, you say. The fact of the matter is that drinking plentiful amounts of water is an essential component of the successful quick weight loss diet program. Drinking water flushes your system of toxins, while giving you a feeling of fullness. Keep a water glass close at hand and sip regularly. You'll be less inclined to go for a calorie laden treat.

Menu planning is a cornerstone of the quick weight loss diet program. You'll want to start with plenty of veggies and fruits, for snacks and at meal time. A fruit smoothie, made with fruit and yogurt, makes a nutritious, filling, low calorie and nutrient-packed breakfast that will keep you feeling satisfied and energetic until lunch. A chef's salad, packed with green leafy vegetables, a bit of meat and a vinaigrette dressing is a dieter's delight and gets that quick weight loss rolling.

How you partake of your meals counts! Don't wolf down your food. Take it easy and  savor each bite. Just because you're pursuing a quick weight loss diet doesn't mean it shouldn't be tasty – taste is where it's at and what leads you to success.

Counting calories is necessary, as is choosing the foods you eat. A dinner consisting of a big dinner salad and a nice sized filet of fish is a tasty, low calorie choice. Eat slowly, taste every bite. Take your time. Follow up with a dessert of fruit or cheese and a cup of tea. This is how you can succeed in a quick weight loss diet that puts the nicely fitting LBD and teeny bikini in your near future.

In a word, the success of any diet rests on not feeling deprived. Fill up on good healthy foods, low in fat and high in fiber. Indulge in fish and lean meat entrees. Spice up that salad with artichoke hearts marinated in olive oil. Throw in a tomato and a hard boiled egg. Reduce your blood pressure with a bit of garlic.

If you're looking to lose weight quickly, plan your menus with foods you like and which are low in calories and nutrient dense. Avoid sugar and fatty foods. Drink lots of water. You'll then have a quick weight loss diet that works!

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Balance Your Life with a Balanced Diet

Learning about a balanced diet growing up was easy. The food pyramid was standard, and you knew to eat a whole lot of grains, some fruits and veggies, a bit of meat and dairy, and avoid the sugars and fats. However, as science and medicine have evolved, the concept of a balanced diet has changed. Why does it matter? Why should you care? These are fair questions. This article will explain why a balanced diet is important, and ways for you to accomplish one.

First, you need to realize that a balanced diet is incredibly important. One of the reasons that everyone thinks of first when thinking about balanced diet is your weight. If executed properly, especially with exercise, a balanced diet can help you maintain a healthy weight. If you need to lose weight, a balanced diet can help. However, the benefits of a balanced diet extend far beyond weight. Eating the right amounts of the right types of food can also boost your energy. The proper blend of nutrition can give you vitamins and minerals that will reduce your chances of suffering from heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It has even been suggested that a balanced diet can improve your mood! All of these things are huge benefits to eating a balanced diet, no matter how obnoxious you may find the idea or execution.

How does one go about setting up a balanced diet? The first ting to look at is the new and improved food pyramid. The recommended servings have definitely changed, with a reduction in fruit and meats being suggested, along with an increase in dairy. However, the food pyramid is no longer static, either. choosemyplate provides you with tools that allows you to put in information about you and your body for the creation of a personalized plate. If you are looking for something a little more specific, companies like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig can be very helpful. It is not just about weight loss with them. They also can help you set up a balanced diet to follow, and give you tips on recipes and portions. Finally, you should always talk to your doctor. They know you and your health better than almost anyone, and will be able to make suggestions that will help you be more successful in achieving a healthy diet. 

Everyone would like to be more healthy. Fortunately, becoming a healthier person is within reach if you make an effort to practice a balanced diet. Now that you know all the benefits of following a balanced diet, as well as different ways to set one up, you no longer have any excuses. Start your new balanced diet today!

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Weight Watchers Dieting

When it comes to dieting there are very few organizations that have achieved the lasting success of Weight Watchers. They have been around quite a while and show no signs of stopping. More importantly, their success stories speak volumes for those who join and stick with the program. So what makes this program so successful when many others come and go?

Community

Believe it or not, one of the most important things about Weight Watchers secret to success, so to speak, is the sense of community that is forged between the men and women who are trying to lose weight. There is something humbling and exciting about standing in front of the scale week after week and sharing not only your personal successes and failures but also the failures and successes of others.

Far too often we those who are dieting simply do not have an adequate support system at home. The bonding that is done during the Weight Watchers meeting is a strong bond of men and women who may come from different backgrounds and walks of life but who share a common goal for their futures-weight loss and better health. That is not a bond to be taken lightly particularly when they laugh and cry together. They are in their own way going through the trenches together and the success of this type of program for motivating and encouraging is nothing short of phenomenal.

Evolution

Weight Watchers has a pattern for success but they are not beyond evolving with the needs of the time. While they will be the first to state that the most successful participants typically attend the meetings, Weight Watchers also offers alternatives for those with busy schedules and even those that are simply too afraid to go to the meetings. For these people there is the anonymity of online forums, message boards, and support groups.

Weight Watchers hasn't limited its evolutionary process to this alone, they've also in recent years added a points system that allows dieters participating in their program to more easily gauge how well they are doing by their dietary standards and requirements without needing to count every single calorie or weighing their food. We live in a world of busy people and it is often more hassle than many dieters find to be worth the effort to count every single calorie (particularly when dining out).

The Weight Watchers website is another example of their commitment to evolve and accommodate the diverse needs of the men and women participating in their program. If you haven't checked it out in a while you really should take a look and see what amazing insights and information they have to offer.

Commitment to Fitness

Weight Watchers knows that it isn't just diet that gets results. When you combine diet with exercise the results are much more immediate and more profound. The fact that Weight Watchers stresses the importance of exercise and physical fitness in addition to proper nutrition and changing your way of thinking when it comes to food is yet another reason for their widely known success.

Weight Watchers is just one of many different weight loss and dieting programs in the market today. The fact that they have made a name for themselves and stand out above the rest in many ways is nothing to take lightly. It seems that there is a new weight loss program cropping up every other month or so and yet Weight Watchers continues to achieve visible and sustainable results in those who really work the program. Very few programs can make that claim for as long as Weight Watchers has been able to.

When you combine all of the things mentioned above with the pre packaged foods that are offered by Weight Watchers, the extensive recipes that are available for Weight Watcher's participants, and a solid track record for success you would be robbing yourself of the potential for lasting success if you didn't at least see what the plan has to offer you.

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The Greatest Dieting Mistakes

When it comes to dieting there are many mistakes that are made on a near daily basis. While there are many real profound mistakes that go along with the territory there are a few that seem to have far more profound and lasting implications than others. Hopefully by learning about these mistakes you can learn to avoid them in your own weight loss pursuits.

Perhaps the single largest mistake that dieters make is adopting an all or nothing attitude. These are the dieters that scour the pantry and the refrigerator removing anything that could be seen as a potential source of temptation. They embark on a dietary regimen that is nearly impossible to maintain and believe that all is lost the moment they stray from the strict guidelines of their diet.

While this may work for some in the short term, it sets them up for failure, frustration, and ill will towards the entire dieting process. The important thing when it comes to dieting is the goal. Your goal is to shed pounds. There are many ways in which this can be done that do not require starving yourself or punishing yourself in the process.

Another great mistake when it comes to dieting is selecting a diet plan where you eat the same thing every day. Despite our human need for structure and routine we tend to enjoy changing our lunch routine on occasion. Select a diet or new nutrition plan that allows you to enjoy a wide variety of foods rather than one that limits you to the same meal or meal selection day in and day out.

Other common mistakes include depriving yourself of everything you enjoy. One thing that we often forget is the importance of moderation. Fill up on servings of fruits and vegetables but allow yourself to enjoy the occasional indulgence for the sake of sanity. If you never allow yourself to enjoy a taste of chocolate, why on earth would you want to live forever? Seriously, do not forget to enjoy food for the sake of dieting. There is nothing wrong or sinful about enjoying food. The problem lies when you enjoy only the wrong sorts of foods.

You should also avoid the mistake of not setting goals. While you do not want to set goals that are impossible to achieve you should also avoid the opposite end of the spectrum, which involves having no goals at all. Those who set aggressive goals that are achievable will see the greatest degree of success. Making those goals public and asking for support is another thing that will help you achieve greater success. This is one reason the Weight Watchers program has enjoyed the phenomenal success is has.

The final mistake when it comes to dieting that is made all too often is giving up. We all have setbacks along the way. Even those who have achieved monumental dieting success have met with failure on the road. The end result however, for those who stick with the plan is a healthier body and that is something that is worth fighting for. Your goals may get side tracked but you can set new goals. You may have had a bad day or even a bad week when it comes to your dietary goals and plans. Do not let this defeat your desires to become a healthier you.

Learn to overcome those mistakes and move on from them. Let your failures teach you as much as your successes and you should be well on your way to the healthier person that you know is hiding inside. Whether you want to get rid of 10 pounds or 210 pounds the only way to achieve that goal and make it last is by dedicating yourself to the process of becoming a healthier person. A healthy person has healthy eating habits and doesn't starve him or herself. Nor does a healthy person binge on things that aren't healthy. Learn to enjoy food in moderation and you should be well on your to the success you seek.

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Finding the Beauty Within While Dieting

There seems to be one universal truth when it comes to dieting. No one really enjoys the process though we all eagerly await and anticipate the results. The problem is that far too many men and women around the world focus so much on dieting and perfecting their external beauty that they forget the beautiful people they are inside along the way. Our culture is becoming obsessive about the perfect body and the perfect body image.

If there was one message that should make it out to everyone dieing it is this: dieting should be more about health than beauty. You should not need to conform to some preconceived notion of what is or should be beautiful. If we create a world where everyone looks alike it would be rather boring in the end.

You need to focus on being happy with who you are in order to achieve the greatest dieting success you will have ever dared dream. Many of use eat out of emotional need or a simple need for comfort when we are depressed, hurting, uncertain, or simply in unfamiliar territory. There is no solution that will work for everyone when it comes to making peace with who you are and this by no means indicates that you should no longer seek to be the healthiest you there is. It simply means that your focus should be more on coming to terms with who you are as a person than in creating a new person or imagine behind which you can hide.

Dieting for the most part is an opportunity for many men and women to become someone else. Whether that someone is the person you used to be or some person you think you want to be, you are quite unlikely find happiness at any weight until you accept you for the person you are inside. This is often a difficult process but one that is well worth the effort. Once you've accepted the person inside you can address the specific needs that often lead to the excess weight to begin with. Depression is a common factor in weight gain as well as an inability to lose weight. By finding contentment depression will no longer a controlling factor in you life. For many, this is the freedom they need from their weight problems while others will find there are still hurdles remaining.

The important thing is that you stop allowing the person you are to be defined by what the scales say about you. Once you've reached a point in your life where you are happy with your appearance and feel that your personal fitness level is in hand you should discuss things with your doctor and see what he or she has to say. We do not need a nation of size 5 women. We need a nation of women who are self-aware and self confident and not afraid to be who they are on the inside regardless of how they look on the outside.

Finding the beauty within is often the most important aspect of dieting that there can be. Take the time while dieting to get to know the person you are and introduce that person to the person you want to be. In time the two will work out a healthy compromise and you will find that image isn't really everything no matter what the glossy magazines try to tell you.

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Dieting with a Busy Schedule

When it comes to dieting many of us find that the number one hindrance to our success is the lack of time to prepare the proper meals and snacks for our dietary needs. It is often much more convenient to throw one thing in the crock pot for the family or resort to the fast food last resort rather than preparing the healthy and nutritious meal that we should be eating.

There are things you can do however that will reduce the temptation to hit the drive thru and keep you on course with your dieting needs. The first of these is a process known as once a week cooking. With this method you cook enough meals to last you a week on one day. This means that for every night of the week you have a diet friendly meal ready to go. If your entire family is dieting or eating healthier with you, this works for this situation as well. Dieting and incorporating healthier eating habits into the food for your entire family is a great way to set an example for your children will keeping you motivated and removing temptation.

With once a week cooking you freeze the food that won't be immediately consumed and thaw it the morning you will be eating the food to cook when you arrive home after work or decide it is time for your evening meal. This is a process that works well no matter how many soccer games, dance practices, and band recitals you have on your calendar for the week. You can manage to stick to your diet while having a great meal for your family each and every night of the week.

You should also make sure to have a nice supply and cleaned and cut fruits, vegetables, and salad ingredients in your refrigerator in order to make these dishes readily assessable for quick lunches or snacks. Having these foods readily available will help you resist the temptation to snack on higher calorie prepackaged food while also helping to insure that you have a ready supply of fresh fruits and vegetables to help you get your 5 servings a day.

You should also keep some conveniently packaged yogurt on hand as a good quick and easy dairy product. Sugar free pudding cups are another decent snack for those who need something quick and easy to have on hand. Preparation and planning are essential to successfully meeting your weight loss goals. By preparing as much of the food as possible ahead of time you will never even miss the convenience of those high calorie pre packaged meals and snacks that so many of us survive on when not dieting.

Another time saver is to work your fitness opportunities into the course of your day. Rather than performing one lengthy workout each day, try to find methods of bringing a little fitness activity into the most mundane portions of your day (go stair climbing at lunch, park on the top level of the parking garage and walk down-then up when returning-the stairs), park far away from the door of the supermarket and see if your mall has a walking path that is clearly marked. You'll be amazed at the hidden opportunities many of us have for exercising during our busy days. The trick is often in discovering the activities rather than the time.

When all is said and done, dieting doesn't have to be as time consuming as you may think it is. There are all kinds of prepackaged plans for dieters however if that is the choice you feel is best for you. Whether you are going with Lean Cuisine meals, Weight Watchers frozen entrees, Jenny Craig, or the Slim Fast program there are all kinds of opportunities to work dieting and fitness into even the busiest of schedules. When planning your dieting practices be sure to consider the tips and advice mentioned above.

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