1200 CALORIE DIET
Are you one of the millions of people currently fighting the battle of the bulge? Have you tried every fad diet (including a 1200 calorie diet) known to mankind with nothing to show for your efforts but frustration and weight gain ? The reason for your lack of success may not be due to bad genetics or a lack of willpower. The trouble is you are suffering from the dreaded disease known as mis-information. Your solution is waiting for you in the form of some sound nutritional advice and the subsequent path to better health and weight management. The most important lesson to be learned here is that a 1200 calorie diet WILL NOT help you reach a healthy weight. Furthermore, it will not help you to maintain a healthy weight for the long term.
Nutrition Basics
A proper nutrition program should be one that can you realistically follow for the rest of your life and significantly improves your overall health. This, of course, will eliminate a 1200 calorie diet and other quick fixes. The best nutrition program will make a priority out of getting in all the macro nutrients in their purest form and in appropriate amounts for your age, gender, body weight and activity level. The macro nutrients carbohydrates, proteins and fats. These are your most important energy sources that are each in their own way crucial to a completely healthy diet. Notice the order in which the marcro nutrients were listed. This is the priority you should give them when setting up all of your meals. A healthy diet will consist of 55-60% carbohydrates, 20-25% protein and 15-20% fat. Every meal, every day should be constructed following this guideline.
Role of Macro Nutrients
Each of the macro nutrients plays a crucial role in your nutrition program. Your body needs protein for tissue repair and building. With plenty of variety available it will be easy to choose a protein that provides all of the essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are building blocks of protein that can only be obtained by ingesting them. Popular protein sources include; lean beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, dairy, and soy.
Carbohydrates are your body's main source for fuel. By ingesting only whole foods, including plenty of raw fruits, vegetables and whole grains, you will be getting the best sources of carbohydrates. Variety of carbohydrates is really important for complete intake of vitamins and minerals. No supplement will be better absorbed than the actual food, so be sure to add several servings per day of fruits, vegetables and grains. Remember that it is the refined foods, which are loaded with sugar, that cause you to increase body fat stores. Contrary to public opinion, carbohydrates do not make you fat. Fat makes you fat. It is the consumption of too many total calories each day that causes weight gain. Recently carbohydrates have taken the bulk of the blame but if people simply reduced their total caloric intake and moved more (daily physical activity) they would lose weight and be able to maintain a healthier body weight for the long term.
Fat is another essential macro nutrient that plays a key role in many metabolic processes. Some ingested fat is necessary to utilize existing fat stores for weight loss and should be part of your daily nutrition program. There are many healthy and delicious fats that offer essential nutritional value. Variety is key so include as many of these as possible: nuts, olives, olive oil, and avocado. You also get healthy fats from fish (salmon), tofu, and nut butters. Although there are many readily available choices it is best to use fats in moderation as they are high in calories. While the RDA for fat is no more than 30% of your total caloric intake, someone attempting to decrease body fat stores should strive to make fat account for no more than 20% of total calories. This will give you the fat your body needs without being excessive. Avoid the obvious; animal fats, junk food, and fast food.
Why 1200 Calorie Diet Plans Fail
Most quick fixes, or a 1200 calorie diet plan, work on the simple premise that if you starve yourself you will lose weight. What 1200 calorie diet plans, in particular, forget is that every body is different and the nutritional needs of one person may be dramatically different than another. Authors of the 1200 calorie diabetic diet assume that the nutritional needs of each dieter are the same. This could not be further from the truth. Your good intentions may be setting you up for physiological starvation and ultimately failure. With regard to long term weight management, the most dramatic effect a 1200 Calorie Diet will have on your body will be the down regulation of your metabolism which will result in you burning fewer calories during each 24 hour cycle. Go back and read that last sentence again...it is that important!
Weight loss is based on the formula that if you burn more calories than you take in the net result will be a loss of body weight. The only way to experience long term and healthy weight loss is to do it slow and steady and with sufficient calories to maintain normal metabolic function. Quick weight loss results in losing muscle and water which, in turn, decreases your metabolism and increases the likelihood of gaining back all of the weight you lost, and then some.
While your body can lose more than 2 pounds in a week, IT CANNOT LOSE MORE THAN 2 POUNDS OF FAT IN ONE WEEK. This is a concept that is lost on most people. The diet that your neighbor is following that has allowed him/her to lose 10 pounds over the weekend is unhealthy and setting that person up for failure. They will become a victim of the yo-yo dieting cycle. It is a downward spiral that you want to avoid at all costs. It involves quick weight loss followed by an even greater weight gain and wreaks major havoc on your metabolism. It will make it harder for you to lose weight with all future dieting attempts.
Hopefully you are getting the idea. You see, for most people there is no such thing as a healthy 1200 calorie diet. Use this as a guide to help you on your way to better eating and increased health. Give yourself a little more time to lose the weight and you will have a better chance of finally keeping it off! Check out other links on this site for more information on fitness and dieting-the healthy way. Do not get tempted to follow a 1200 calorie diet sample menu.
Great fitness and diet help resources:
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