weight loss
How to make a 1200 calorie diet work for you without feeling deprived!
There are a goodly number of us Americans who need to lose weight. According to the latest statistics, fully one third of us are overweight or obese. We all know that those extra pounds will ultimately compromise our health, or even shorten our lives. When those unwanted pounds have crept on over a period of years, it becomes harder to shed them. Many women gain significant weight during pregnancy – if you’ve had a few children in close succession, each birth has probably brought a few more pounds you’ve not gotten rid of – making weight loss a challenge indeed. One day, you say, “I’ve had it! I’m going to lose this weight, once and for all!” For all your determination, when D (for diet) day comes, panic sets in. While a 1200 calorie diet is usually only recommended when you’re facing serious threats to your health, it’s nonetheless sometimes necessary.
If you decide that losing a lot of weight quickly, on a 1200 calorie diet, is to be your goal, always, always pass your plan by your doctor to be sure this is both necessary and safe for your particular health condition. If you get the green light from the doc, here are some tips to help you achieve your goal without feeling like you’re starving and deprived. If your 1200 calorie diet is carefully planned, packed with good nutrition and leaves you feeling satisfied after meals, you’re far more likely to succeed.
One of the mainstays of the 1200 calorie diet should be fiber. Why? Foods high in fiber are filling and typically low in calories. Now is the time to embrace those 5-9 servings of produce each day. You’ll want to go for nine! Fiber requires effort, happily in the form of burned calories, for your body to digest. High fiber fruits, such as bananas, and veggies such as broccoli, should be consumed in abundance. In some cases, you can realize a negative calorie content by simply burning more calories digesting the food than it contains!
Another plus for produce is the fact that they are nutrient dense foods, guaranteed to do your body good. Within a couple of weeks of beginning to consume those nine servings, you’ll notice a definite increase in energy.
You’ll also want to drink every one of those much touted eight glasses of water. Three of them should be consumed before you sit down to eat. Water does give you a hint of fullness and also prepares your stomach to receive food, promoting good digestive function. And all this time you thought that water glass, sitting to the side of the wine glass, was just a prop! If you’re one of those who abhors water, learn to like it. You can flavor it with lemon or lime, add a splash of club soda, or try one of the commercially flavored waters.
As for meat, if you’re seriously overweight, fatty meats are your enemy. Chicken and fish are excellent sources of protein and are low in fat – remove the skin and fat from chicken. To make up for the lack of flavor, spice up your chicken with salsas, marinades and barbecue sauces.
Here’s another easy trick to help you stick to the 1200 calorie diet: eat slowly. Don’t hurry through your meal. Enjoy the flavor of each bite and set your fork down between bites.
Snacks? Snack time is when you squeeze in one of those nine servings of produce. Dress up a fruit cup with a dab of non dairy whipped topping. Make a fruit smoothie with juice and/or yogurt if you’re really feeling famished.
Dessert. Ah, the nemesis of many a dieter and a major contributor to failure. There are now a number of candy makers who offer an array of bite-sized chocolates made with Splenda(TM) with diabetics in mind. These candies taste like the real deal. There’s no reason you can’t live it up a little, even on a 1200 calorie diet! Follow these guidelines and you will lose weight. Think of the clothes shopping trip for the new you!
Tags: 1200 calorie diet, splenda, diet
Looking for weight loss help? You may be surprised to find your most effective resource!
Some of us seem to be on a diet more often than not, which can be quite discouraging. Lose ten, gain ten. This never ending merry-go-round of dieting can drive you crazy – so much so, that you may just give up in the end. It doesn’t have to be that way. Both men and women have unwanted pounds creep on as the years go by, almost unnoticed, until it reaches the point where you’re more than a few pounds overweight and your clothes are a couple of sizes larger than they were ten years ago. This is when most people get serious about finding real weight loss help, help that works! Here we offer some tips to help you get rid of the excess weight and restore your youthful, trim and fit body. Really.
Your most effective, caring and compassionate weight loss help is as close as your mirror. That’s right. After all, it’s your body and you’re in charge of it. As with any other goal, it’s got to be your choice. All the well-wishers, pushing you to lose that weight – “You can do it!” – rings kind of hollow when you’re the one who’s giving up the sweets, gravies and fries! The desire and determination must come from you. Sure, encouragement can be helpful, but at the end of the day, it’s all up to you. Getting your brain around the right mindset is the secret.
So, how do you do this? Successfully? Give your weight loss project the same enthusiasm and attention you’d give to planning a fabulous vacation, say to Paris.
For example, if you were able to spend a month in Paris, you’d be ferreting out every travel guide book and online resource you could find, to be sure you’d get the most out of that trip. You certainly wouldn’t spend time and energy visiting seedy neighborhoods or touring hospitals. You’d want to hit the Eiffel Tower, take dinner on a boat on the Seine, visit the Louvre – that sort of thing. So what’s this got to do with weight loss help?
Look at your diet as a fabulous adventure trip, to a new you. Get a good nutrition reference book and read it. Find out what good nutrition does for the way you look and feel. Learn why you really don’t want to eat sweets and fries. Get a calorie counter book and plan menus made up of foods you like, even if they’re low in calories and good for you! Go to some of the online recipe sites for new ways to prepare those foods. Brainstorm on various forms of exercise you actually enjoy and pencil them in on your calendar as a scheduled event. Get excited, not morose!
If you have a friend who also wants to lose some weight, why not partner up as weight loss help ‘buddies’? When you start to contemplate that big bag of cookies the kids left sitting on the counter, give your friend a call and commiserate. This strategy can work well. You can laugh off the cookies and talk about that size eight dress you have your eye on.
In the end, the best weight loss help you’ll find is in your own mind and attitude. A little help from your friends never hurts!
Tags: weight loss help, weight loss, diet
