subject: Which Are The Best Weight Loss Programs? [print this page] Is one diet plan better than another? Can they really all be the best weight loss programs that they claim to be? Should you engage in low calorie, low carbohydrate or perhaps low common sense approaches? For those who have struggled with weight issues, these and other questions are a constant plague.
Foods to Avoid on a Diet Program
Lets start off with the basics. Any diet program that encourages you to abandon real food in exchange for prepackaged, pseudo food has an agenda. That agenda is to sell you a product, not improve your health.
Next, any program that suggests that you will do well to stop eating a complete food group for an extended period of time is, quite simply, wrong.
Additionally, if you find a diet plan that insists upon you getting several hours of exercise every day, pass on it. Unless you are single, work set hours and have no social life, you will never be able to maintain your pace.
Look for the Following Qualities in Your Weight Loss Program
The things you want to see when looking at a weight loss program are balanced nutrition, short duration intense workout recommendations and real food. There should be sufficient scientific evidence to back up the information provided, and no outrageous promises.
How do those things translate into a real world setting? In regards to eating, you want to see an awareness that not every metabolism functions the same way. Some people need more protein, others more carbohydrates, and by tailoring eating to those needs, weight loss programs work better. Additionally, you should see that the foods recommended are healthy.
Healthy foods come from unspoiled sources. That means you really want to eat organic, unrefined ingredients. Whether we are discussing sea salt instead of refined, iodine enriched salt, or we are considering wild salmon in comparison to Atlantic farmed salmon, there is little question that unprocessed is better for you.
Grass fed meat has lower levels of fat and cholesterol than grain fed meat. The fats it does contain are better balanced and healthier. The same is true of organically raised whole eggs, raw milk or organic poultry, and while there is some debate over whether or not organic produce contains more nutrients, there are no questions about it carrying less of a chemical load.
Why Not Exercise a Lot?
Exercise is one of those mixed blessings for those trying to lose weight. Long bouts of cardiovascular exercise may be great for your endurance, but they can actually make it harder to lose weight. Your body quickly figures out that it needs fat reserves to power those extended workouts and stores fat more readily. This kind of workout also serves to make you feel hungrier, making it harder to stick to a meal plan.
The best exercise, when it comes to fat loss, is actually short duration, high intensity activity that takes place 3-4 times a week. If you dont know how to weight train or what exercises are best for high intensity bursts, hire a trainer that does and learn.
So, what does all this mean to you? It means that the best weight loss programs are those that provide you with good nutrition, proper exercise and great support so you can reach your fat burning goals successfully.
