Weight Loss Diet - How to Find a Diet Plan That Really Helps You to Become Slim and Stay Slim

Losing weight without a proper diet plan is almost impossible. You can't continue eating like you used to and lose weight. But most diets out there don't work either. 95% of all people enrolling in diets never lose weight permanently. Are you one of them, stuck with dieting and fed up with diets letting you down?

The reason why these diets fail you is: They are short-term diets. They never meant to make you lose weight permanently. But they don't tell you that, of course.

If you want to find a diet that will not only help you to lose weight, but also to keep it off effectively, then you need to watch out for one that meets the following four criteria. Further, it should take your personal situation, needs and preferences into account and not expect you to rigidly follow their plan.

4 things that a good weight loss diet plan must have:

A balanced and healthy eating plan
Tips how to adopt healthier habits
Slow and steady weight loss
Information about weight management




If a weight loss diet plan does not meet these criteria: Dump it! It's not worth the effort, and it won't solve your weight problem.

1. A balanced and healthy eating plan

Calorie reduction should be achieved by eating foods high in nutrients and low in calories (like grains, whole grain products, vegetables), not by minimizing portions. When you starve, your body will think something is wrong and try its utmost to restore your old weight (its supposedly normal weight) after the diet.

No foods or food groups should be forbidden, since all foods provide important nutrients that your body needs. Instead of banning certain foods, your diet plan should teach you to eat the right amount of everything, and how to reduce calories whilst still getting all nutrients you need.

A good diet plan is simple and easy to follow. It should show you how to make healthy food choices and how to eat healthy and balanced without complicated calculations about calories.

2. Tips how to adopt healthier habits

This includes your eating habits, but it should also pay attention to increasing your physical activity so that you can get maximum effect of your weight loss. Helpful tips are, for example, how you can reduce calories in your favorite meals so that you don't have to give them up. Or healthier eating habits, like snacking fruits, regular meal times, tricks how to prevent overeating and making healthy choices when eating out.  

3. Slow and steady weight loss

Aim to lose half a kilo to a kilo per week. If you lose weight too fast, this can negatively affect your health. It has a similar effect like losing weight during a heavy illness: leaving you weak and exhausted. Your body needs slow changes, and it needs time to accept the new weight as its "default weight" to prevent that you gain the weight back. Also, when you lose many kilos each week, you mainly lose water and muscle, whereas for successful weight loss you need to lose fat.

4. Information about weight management

Your diet program must teach you how to maintain your new healthy weight. If your diet fulfills the first two criteria I mentioned, it is teaching you effective weight management whilst losing weight. In fact, you lose weight applying the same principles that will prevent you from gaining it back. All you need to do is to stick with this lifestyle.

At the bottom line, a good diet plan must be one that you can easily follow every day of your life without feeling deprived of anything. It should be a healthy eating approach, not a classic weight loss diet plan. Eating healthy is the best way to lose weight in a save and effective way, and to maintain this weight successfully. Choose a diet plan that educates you how to make healthy choices and that easily can become part of your life, then you will succeed in getting to a slim healthier you.

Bettina Berlin is a health professional specializing in healthy weight loss approaches. Losing weight can prevent diseases, improve recovery and bring relief for chronically ill people. Are you tired of diets letting you down? Visit elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/slim-habit-say-goodbye-to-diets-forever.html elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com to discover how you can achieve permanent weight loss whilst enjoying your life to the fullest! Get elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/slim-habit-say-goodbye-to-diets-forever.html The Slim Habit NOW, the weight loss program that teaches you to change your lifestyle instead of torturing you with diets!