WEIGHT LOSS DIETS THAT ACTUALLY WORK

 

Written by Uche

DISCLAIMER

This post is purely informational. Please contact your closest health professional for a qualified aid and prescription on which diet is best for you.

Diets have been a thing that people rush to when they want get on a weight-loss journey just after the delicious holidays. The internet is filled with many opinions of which diet is right for you and which works best for you. This is where self love and body confidence has to come in because if you love yourself and body, you will automatically do what is right for you.

Now you can try to do it the ‘exercise-only’ way but according to some health and fitness articles, the key to losing weight effectively is 20% exercise and 80% diet. This does not mean, you down play the part of exercise, it just means, you greatly consider making sure your diet is in line with your health goals.

Exercises not only help with weight loss but can help with certain health conditions like foot pain and back pain. Check these out:

Low Back Pain

Foot Pain

Just as we humans are different in size and shape, similarly diets are not one size fits all. Because you are basically controlling what you eat and how much you eat, diets can have direct impact on your health. It is important to consult a professional, like a dietician, who will help you alter your nutrition based on your medical condition and of-course, your personal needs.

Thanks to our many gorgeous celebrities, we have a lot of motivation to keep us going when we feel like quitting. You will be happy to know that some of the diets that have been proven to actually work have been tried and tested by your favorite celebrities as well. 

Gwyneth Paltrow has tried ‘The Clean Program’ where she detoxifies her body for 2 – 3 times a year and each time for up to 3 weeks. This 21 day program was developed by Alejandro Junger who is a cardiologist by profession. You will have to eliminate gluten, dairy, sugar, eggs, alcohol and you must consume two of your daily meals in the form of liquids like fruit smoothies and soups.

Jessica Biel has been on the ‘Paleolithic’ (Paleo for short) diet which is also known as ‘The Stone Age’ diet or ‘Caveman’ diet. She credits her weight-loss to this strict diet in which you have to eliminate all types of grains, legumes and dairy. You rather eat fresh fish, lean meats and vegetables.

Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z have been part of Marco Borges’ ’22 day Nutrition Challenge’. In this 22-day vegan’ diet, you stick to a heavy plant based diet which allows you to consume fish sometimes.

The ‘Clean and Lean’ diet was done by supermodel Lara Stone to get her body back into shape after her first baby boy. This low carbohydrate diet recommends for fresh, unprocessed foods throughout. It is broken into stages: the first 14 days consists of meals planned around heavy proteins and the second stage (after 2 weeks), allows you to add in fruits and a little dairy back into your diet.

Another celebrity who used a diet to get back into shape after pregnancy is Kim Kardashian-West who swore by the ‘Atkins 40’ diet for weight-loss. This diet also recommends a lot of protein based meals and healthy fats like avocadoes while totally eliminating carbohydrates.

The ‘Alkaline’ diet which was done by Victoria Beckham tries to maintain your body’s pH level between 7.35 and 7.45. This is achieved by the dieter aiming for meals with 80% alkaline ingredients (fruits, legumes and nuts) and 20% acidic ingredients (wheat and meat). This diet has the added benefit of increasing your body’s energy levels, improving recollection and preventing heart problems and cancer.

Angelina Jolie can be your inspiration as she did the ‘Ancient Grains’ diet to maintain high energy levels. Her snacks consisted of quinoa, spelt, millet and chia seeds which also keep your skin radiant and glowing as well as giving you shiny, healthy hair.

The ‘5-factor’ diet was developed and recommended by Megan Fox’s celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak. This 5 week plan is great for foodies because it allows you to eat 5 meals a day with 5 ingredients per meal consisting of proteins, healthy snacks, healthy carbohydrates, fibres and sugar free drinks. You are allowed 1 cheat day to eat whatever you like.

The common thing a lot of these diets have is the low carbohydrates and high protein intake. 

So that is a good thing for our meat lovers because it isn’t all veggies and besides the meat, I think it all comes down to the preparation of the veggies. It can still be delicious; it just takes some getting used to a different kind of tasty flavor.

So I have compiled and will discuss some of the diets that have been proven by experience to actually work in reducing weight. As a physical therapist I would suggest that as well as doing this diet, we should also add in some exercises to them. Most of the diets that I will talk about are a low carb, more proteins and ironically more fats diets.

Why are fats good for you but not carbohydrate?

Apart from being an essential part of a balanced and therefore healthy meal, fats are actually useful as they provide the body with much needed fatty acids. The body needs these fatty acids but cannot make them itself. Another plus for fats is its use in absorbing vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E which all need fats in order be soluble.

I think it is good to clarify that carbohydrates are not

bad for the body but they do need to be chosen carefully. Carbohydrates provide the body with fiber that allows for a healthy digestive system. In other words, incorporate less white flour and rice and more whole grains.

So which diets actually work?

1. The South Beach diet was created by Arthur Agatston who also explains it as lowering your carbohydrate intake but increasing your lean meats, your unsaturated fats and your low glycemic index. Foods that have low glycemic index release glucose slowly therefore reduce blood sugar. This is a diet that you can actually get onboard with as it allows you to eat 3 regular sized meals a day with 2 snacks added. It does not completely cut out carbohydrates just the bad refined ones.

2. The Paleolithic diet is a caveman kind of diet that aims to replicate meals that people in the Paleolithic era would prepare. In this diet you are basically eating what you can imagine stone-age hunters and gatherers would eat.  It has evolved to allow some animal products but leaves out processed foods.

3. The Zone diet also talks about low carbohydrates but it comes with a specific ratio you can follow: 40% carbohydrates 30% fats and 30% proteins. Having a ratio gives it an upper hand in the ‘low-carbs, more fats and more proteins’ diets because it helps you better plan your meals. A scale can come in handy in your kitchen so you can weigh accordingly.

4. The Dukan diet, created by Pierre Dukan, is also a ‘low carbs high protein’ diet but comes with its own list of foods and comes in 4 phases. In the ‘Attack’ phase, Dukan dieters can only eat from the pure proteins list and can last from 2 – 7 days depending on how much weight needs to be lost rapidly.

In the ‘Cruise’ phase, the dieter now adds vegetables to their meals and aims to gradually lose weight. This phase lasts 3 days for every pound that needs to be lost.

The ‘Consolidation’ phase aims to prevent weight gain but allows starchy foods back into meals. It does require 25 minutes of exercise per day. If you like skipping then you can do that as your 25 minute exercise. You can also make you own skipping rope with this DIY:

DIY Skipping Rope

The ‘Stabilization’ phase is the last phase which is a long term phase. Only one day, every week, the dieter does a pure protein only diet like in the ‘Attack’ phase. The rest of the week is not forced.

 Having the diet in phases helps you attain milestones which also acts as an encouragement and has a push to continue and see your diet through.

5. The last diet I am going to talk about is the 5 to 2 Diet also known as the Fast diet was made popular by Michael Mosley, a British journalist. This diet is one I could actually do myself. It talks about how 5 days of the week you can eat normally (but let's not go crazy) then two out of the seven days of the week you have to eat a quarter of what you actually need to take (calorie-wise). It is proven that for this diet, a woman would take 500 calories a day for the 2 days while a man would take 600 calories.

Which diet interests you the most? Let me know in the comment section.

Cheers

XOXO

                                                                                    

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https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/meal-plans#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3

https://www.verywellfit.com/nutrition-vs-exercise-80-nutrition-wins-3121406