by hugovk

Low Carb Diets For Quick Weight Loss! Get The Facts – Lose The Weight!

Lots of people think that low carb diets are the best way to get started and if you choose to start with a low carb diet, you will usually see results very quickly. The weight loss usually starts happening right away and continues at a fast rate. Seeing quick results can be very motivating and help you to stay with the diet.

With that being said – before you start any diet you should know how the diet works, what you should eat and what you should not. Without all of the facts you may stop as quickly as you start because of some nuance of the diet that you didn’t expect and can’t handle. Losing weight quickly is great but if you can’t or won’t stick to the diet then it won’t matter how quickly you lose the initial weight – you will gain it back.

In a new two-year study on dieting, the LOW CARB DIET had the MOST Weight Loss and Lowered Cholesterol levels!

Usually the first thing someone thinks of when they hear about low carb diets is how do they really work? Here is the simple answer: since our bodies can and will convert excess carbohydrates into fat, and store that fat for future use, eating too many carbs leads to unwanted weight gain. If you eat less carbs, your body will start burning some of the fat that it has stored, and you will start losing weight. Low carb diets are really that simple.

The main thing that you need to do is avoid certain foods that contain “Simple” carbs. Included are refined sugars, refined flours and grains and white potatoes. If you miss breads, pastas, rice, and potatoes, you can substitute whole grain breads and pastas, whole grain brown rice, and sweet potatoes or yams. There are also a lot of low carb meals and foods on the market that are made especially for low carb diets that you can substitute for all of the things that you will be missing. Also, since refined sugars are out, and if you have a sweet tooth this could be difficult, you’ll have to cut out desserts, soft drinks, and candy. Try to satisfy your sweet tooth with fruit and fruit juices. Not to worry though, there are plenty of low carb snacks out there also!

Of course, if you cut back on your carb consumption, you’ll need to make up the extra calories someplace else. You should make up most of the carb calories you’re cutting with proteins. While your body is burning off the stored fat, the protein will help you to continue to build muscle tissue. As with any diet, you should get regular exercise – strength exercise is especially good since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. The extra muscle will provide a nice boost to your weight loss efforts. The main sources of protein are chicken, beef, turkey, eggs, milk, cheese, etc. These foods will give you the necessary energy that you will need to get through each day while dieting. By increasing your proteins, you’ll be sure that your body gets enough calories and you’ll have plenty of energy and your body will function at its normal speed, if not better than it did before.Also you won’t feel hungry or deprived, and soon, the weight will start to come off, which will help your motivation to stay on the diet.

The Top 3 Low Carb Diets

1. The “Atkins Diet “

The Atkins Diet, in the minds of most people, IS low-carb dietingin”! Just as “Kleenex” is to tissues, “Band-Aids” is to first aid adhesive strips and “Coke” is to cola – when people think low carb they think Atkins. Actually Atkins is often called the “Father of Modern Low-Carb Diets”. The basis of the Atkins program is:

a) a diet of low carbohydrate intake to mediate into what Atkins believed to be the underlying causes of being overweight

b) mechanisms with which to tailor the diet to the individual

The Atkins diet has four phases and the length of each phase depends mostly on how the dieter responds to the diet and how overweight a person is. The phases are – Induction, Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL), Pre-maintenance, and Maintenance. You can begin Atkins at any of the four phases, however Induction will jump-start your weight loss since you cut back significantly on carb consumption in that phase. Carbohydrate intake is counted with not much regard to where the carbs come from although, as is the norm with most low carb diets, added sugars and refined grains are pretty much out of the picture for the rest of your life.

2. The “South Beach Diet“

The South Beach Diet was created by Arthur Agatston, M.D. who initially designed the diet to help his patients who had signs of “insulin resistance syndrome” (a risk factor for heart disease) since the traditional “heart-healthy diet,” which is low in fat and high in carbohydrates, was not working for them. The South Beach Diet, in a simple & easy-to-follow way, combines some of the basic elements from Atkins, Protein Power, and the Zone.

There are 4 phases to the diet and it starts out with a lot of restriction in Phase One, which lasts two weeks. After that phase there is almost no structure and the diet becomes progressively less restrictive. Dieters are encouraged to eat three meals and three snacks per day. Phase One excludes most carbohydrates, including all fruit, most dairy products and sources of saturated fat.

Phase Two lasts until the dieter has completed their weight loss. During this phase they are staying at a carb level where they are still losing and must monitor their weight.

Phase Three is maintenance and individuals are eating at a carb level that allows them to maintain their weight. Carbohydrates are progressively added after as dieters proceed through the phases – focusing on foods with a low glycemic index. Dieters are encouraged to go back and forth between phases as needed.

3. The “Zone” Diet             

The “Zone” is based on “favorable” and “unfavorable” types of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, as well as proportions of each. It may be the most misunderstood of the reduced-carb diet plans. Ideally, carbohydrates are low glycemic, protein sources are low in saturated fats and fats are primarily monounsaturated (with a lot of Omega-3 fatty acids). Conversely, the diet is low in most vegetable oils, grains, fatty meats, added sugars, starchy vegetables, other sources of saturated fat such as butter and egg yolks.

There is a lot of structure with the Zone – don’t eat more than 500 calories at a time, eat within an hour of getting up and don’t go too long without eating. The diet consists of five meals and two snacks per day, each with a “good” carb, protein, and fat selection. There is an individual variation in protein requirement and everything else is built around that – with an ultimate goal of 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat. There are no phases and the diet doesn’t change much unless your protein requirement changes or you near your goal weight, then you would add fat to the diet.

Also, there is a pretty steep learning curve unless you go with the ultra-simplified version (which is suggested at first). You must learn how much food is in a “block” of protein, carb, and fat, and how to combine them. It’s also recommended to learn about the glycemic load of carbohydrates.

So Now What?

OK, so now you have some facts and ideas about how the whole Low Carb thing works. An important thing to consider is that the only diet that will work for you is one that you can feasibly do. Someone who just cannot live without lots of bread and pasta will probably not be able to pull off a Low Carb Diet. If you can’t afford the Jenny Craig meals then you should not even get started down that road. As I stated in the beginning of this article – if you can’t or won’t stick to a diet then it won’t matter which diet you start. The bottom line is that if you can find what works for you and fits into your lifestyle then you will be much more successful than trying to force something that is not you.

If the Low Carb method of losing weight seems like it would work for you then you should investigate further and get started soon! Remember that before starting any weight-loss or exercise program you should consult with a doctor to ensure safety, especially if any health problems are already present. Also, healthy weight loss is characterized by losing about one-half to two pounds a week, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Losing weight quickly is nice but too quickly can be dangerous!

If you are considering Low Carb dieting, or want to investigate that option, here are some great tools to help get you started:

Visit LowCarbLowdown.com Now to get information and other resources for Low Carb diets like Atkins, South Beach, Etc. You’ll find professional diet information, FREE recipes, background, nutrition, research, support forums, tools and MUCH MORE.

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