Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tips for a Successful Diet

When you start out on a new diet you have many things to think about. You're excited about the diet and the new food you will be eating. You also start to envision how you will look and feel as you lose this weight. These are all normal and good things that happen as you start on your new weight loss program.

With all that you need to do in the beginning of the diet there are couple of critical things to remember, the so-called tips or guidelines. When planning your program remember to never forget the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Yes if there is one meal not to skip it is breakfast as it gets the body's metabolism working after a night of rest.

This meal should have a small amount of carbohydrates about twelve to fifteen grams which equals a slice of bread with some butter. The meal should also include protein. The obvious and best protein can come from eggs and an omelet is best because you can include some fresh vegetables in the omelet and fill your vegetable requirement for vitamins. This meal will do some very important things for your diet.

The first is it will start your metabolism in the morning and with a large concentration of protein it will keep your digestive system working for a couple of hours. The other benefit of the higher amount of protein is that it will over time continually supply your body with carbohydrates as it is digested. All foods are broken down into simple sugar so the body can use them.

The other benefit of eggs or other protein is the fiber it contains and protein also makes you feel full much longer than other food groups. The small amount of carbohydrates in the morning are used for you immediate energy. The initial carbohydrate spike in your breakfast could be from a slice of toast or better yet a small portion of hash browns as these are a complex carbohydrate and will also take a little longer to break down.

Without flooding your body with more carbohydrates than it can handle also allows your body to use these carbs rather than store them as fat. If you were to have a soda and a couple slices of toast with butter this large spike in carbs will be used and the excess will be turned into stored fat. Along with the stored fat the spike in insulin will also cause you to get hunger pangs shortly after you eat. So a well balanced meal for breakfast is critical in losing weight.

The second thing your body needs when starting out is exercise. It is safe to assume that you are not very active if you are overweight or obese. You need to increase muscle mass and decrease stored fat. The best and fastest way to accomplish this is to exercise. Be smart about this as when you initially start your weight loss program do not over do the amount of exercise. Before starting any exercise program see your doctor and explain what you are planning and make sure you are healthy enough to start exercising.

There are a multitude of exercise programs that you can begin with. The easiest and the cheapest exercise is walking. You need nothing special just a pair of shoes and your ready to go. If all you can do initially is walk up and down your driveway a couple of times than do it. Your body is an amazing machine and will quickly adapt to the increase in exercise. You should also plan on both types of exercises such as walking, cycling or some aerobic exercise along with a weight training routine. Lifting weight or using dumbbells will show you results faster than any other exercise. You are forcing the muscles to use the sugar in the blood and also the stored fat which is what you want. The cycling or walking will build your stamina and strength but it will take longer. If time is an issue, lift weight or dumbbells as they will give you more bang for your buck.

These two guidelines or tips along with a well balanced diet will go a long way to help you lose weight and keep it off. So never ever skip breakfast, make the time to have a good breakfast and exercise to burn the stored fat and create a calorie deficit.



Interesting article on the subject facts about fad diets

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