If you've tried dieting before and failed, you are not alone. Millions of people start some new diet every day, yet few of them ever reach their ideal weight, and fewer still manage to maintain it. But if you've struggled with yo-yo dieting in the past, you could change all this by following a properly planned low carb diet.
Why A Low Carb Diet?
A low carb diet has been proven to be about the most effective way to lose weight there is. This is because it addresses both aspects of what causes you to be overweight in the first place.
Most diets just focus on ensuring you eat at a calorie deficit, because we all know that if you eat fewer calories than you expend you'll lose weight. And if you eat a low carb diet you'll not only be cutting out a lot of calorie dense foods, you'll also reduce your carb cravings as well. So you'll find you'll automatically be eating fewer calories. However there is another factor involved too - your hormones.
Insulin is the main hormone that causes you to store calories from your food as body fat. And carbohydrates cause you to secrete a lot of insulin. So by eating fewer carbs you'll reduce the amount of insulin you produce, which will make it easier to lose weight.
However, if you are on a diet of this sort for too long, it will gradually become less effective as your body adjusts to it. So after a while you'll find your metabolism will slow down, you'll start to lose muscle tissue and your energy levels will drop off. Obviously your rate of weight loss will then slow down and stop too.
So if you want a diet that will keep working long term you need to take a slightly modified approach...
A Low Carb Diet For Long Term Success
The way to do this is to have an occasional day of eating higher carbs. This is known as a re-feed day, and it has the effect of giving your metabolism a boost, so that when you return to eating low carbs you can once again start burning off fat and losing weight effectively. You may also benefit from having two or three re-feed days in a row occasionally too.
So if you eat low carbs for six days each week, and then on the seventh day eat higher carbs, you will get much better results long term.
On your low carb days you would eat mostly protein foods with vegetables. You can eat as many vegetables as you want. But have some fruit, nuts and beans occasionally too, as these will provide a small amount of carbs, because you don't want to cut them out entirely.
Then on your high carb days, reduce your fat intake somewhat and add in some starchy carbs, like whole grain bread and cereals, oats, brown rice, potatoes etc.
And do bear in mind that, whilst fats are your main energy source on this type of diet, you should only eat these in moderation, and ensure they come mostly from healthy food sources.
Also, as with any weight loss plan, it's important to drink plenty of water, as this is required to flush away all the toxins that will be released as your fat cells are broken down to be used as energy.
If you follow a low carb diet in this way you'll find it an easy, enjoyable and highly effective way to lose weight - and more importantly you'll keep it off too.
David Welburn is a biomedical scientist who has been involved in health and fitness his entire life. You can find out more about how to lose weight with a low carb diet plan, as well as other aspects of natural health and fitness at http://www.thenaturalhealthservice.net/
