Best Tips For Dieting

Best Tips For Dieting

Get that fabulous figure you've always craved by following these dieting tips.

Step 1:
DON'T ‘GO ON A DIET' : CHANGE YOUR DIET
This may seem like surprising advice but it's well known that when you cut down your normal food intake, your body goes into famine mode, and your metabolism slows down.That means that, when you start eating normally again, you store fat more rapidly than before, and put on the weight you worked so hard to lose.Many diets insist on a restrictive regime or an unusual combination of foods. There is no way that you can keep this up for long – so when you get fed up you start eating all the wrong foods and the weight goes back on again.

Step 2:
THINK POSITIVE – THINK HEALTHY
Visualise yourself as you want to be, slimmer and healthier. Dieting doesn't have to mean deprivation when you focus on what you really want.
Change how you think about food, remembering that image of you as you want to be, and focus on all the foods you CAN eat while losing weight and CAN keep on eating for the rest of your life.
Don't focus on what you CAN'T eat.
At least three times a day, concentrate on how you see yourself in future, as permanently healthier and slimmer; then think about what you will be eating today.

Step 3:
QUICK FIX DIETS ONLY WORK SHORT-TERM
Immediate results are guaranteed with quick fix diets.But most of us can't keep them up for long, and it could be that the first few pounds you lose are not fat, just excess water.
Beware the diets that cut out a major food group, or invite you to eat one type of food in isolation. You will lose weight, but to keep it off you need to find a sustainable diet.

Step 4:
KEEP A FOOD DIARY
Eat as you normally do for one week, and keep a note of EVERYTHING that you eat, WHEN you eat it and WHY you eat it.This will help you understand what triggers your desire for food. Your diary will help you become aware of these triggers so you can choose to avoid them

Step 5:
LEARN WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Throw away the faddist diet books - but do read books that advocate healthy eating combined with reasonable exercise.There's plenty of information on the web, including the UK's Food Standards Agency website.Did you know that there's a healthy weight for YOU? It's different for everyone and the eat well website shows you how to work out yours.The BBC website's Healthy Living section is also useful, with pages on weight and nutrition, giving information on sensible slimming, how to stay motivated, and how to stay at your ideal weight.

Step 6:
CHANGE THE WAY YOU SHOP
Don't go shopping when you're hungry or tired – that's when you buy the wrong foods for losing weight, the so-called comfort foods .When you are shopping, notice how you do it.. Do you do it on automatic, buying all the usual things? Now's the time to do it differently.Only buy the foods that will support your desire to lose weight. Give yourself a bit more time to explore healthy alternatives to your usual diet.Fresh, home-made food beats prepared meals hands down when it comes to dieting– no hidden fats and sugars to put weight on you. Also, keep some things to hand in the cupboard or in the freezer, so that if you don't have time to get to the shops, you can still eat healthily.

Step 7:
GET MOVING - EXERCISE IS ESSENTIAL
It's quite simple, if you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight.
The most important thing is to find exercise that you like and that you find reasonably easy to do, like walking for ten minutes a day, to start with.
You can build up what you do each week, taking it steadily. This way, you're much more likely to keep at it.
Yoga and water aerobics are two of the gentler forms of exercise. Most sports centres offer drop-in classes and you don't have to commit yourself till you've tried it.
Even if you find exercise tough at first, this will be one of the parts of your diet that will bring you a great sense of well-being.
Remember that ANY exercise you do is better than none. It will make you feel happier and more energetic because it releases endorphins, the body's natural highs.

Step 8:
NEVER SKIP A MEAL – ESPECIALLY BREAKFAST
Set yourself up for the day by eating something that takes a long time to digest, like muesli, or eggs and wholemeal toast.
If you're one of those people who just doesn't fancy eating breakfast, make sure the first thing you do eat is along these lines, rather than a sugar-rich snack mid-morning.
This will keep your energy levels more constant, and won't leave you prey to sugar cravings later.

Step 9:
TAKE TIME TO EAT.
You already know that one of the secrets of dieting lies in changing your relationship with food.
Sit down to eat and take the time to enjoy it. Remember, if you rush your food, you hardly notice that you've eaten, and you end up feeling hungry again long before it's really time to eat.
That's when you tend to want a fatty, sugary snack, just what you don't need.

Step 10:
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
Why does drinking water help you to lose weight?
We often confuse thirst with hunger. Sometimes you may reach for food when what you really need is a long drink of water. Try it.
When we don't drink enough water, we retain fluid. Paradoxically, the more water we drink, the less fluid we retain; when we don't drink enough water, the body holds on to fluid, causing bloating.
So aim for six to eight large glasses of water a day.

Step 11:
EAT FIVE PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES PER DAY
Fruit and vegetables are what you need to eat to get all your vitamins and minerals. They also contain lots of water, and fill you without fattening you.
They are the stars of the slimmer's diet. Five portions a day is the minimum suggested.

Step 12:
EXERCISE PORTION CONTROL
Slimmer people tend to eat smaller portions.
A sensible sized portion would be about the size of the palm of your hand, not including your fingers.
Experts recommend a good balance of protein and carbo-hydrate, with a little fat.

Step 13:
YOU CAN EAT SNACKS ON A DIET
The key to losing weight is to keep your energy levels constant and you can only do that if you eat regularly.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon are the times we experience a drop in energy levels. That's when we need a healthy snack.
Good examples of healthy snacks are:
Some fruit and a few nuts
Raw vegetables and a tasty dip
Rice cakes or oat cakes with low fat cheese or humus
The key here is to keep it a snack-sized snack.

Step 14:
SOME FATS ARE GOOD
Fats are essential to a balanced diet – use those that are found naturally in unprocessed food, such as olive oil, sunflower oil, oily fish, nuts and seeds.
Go easy on the fats found in red meat, cream, butter and cheese.
Avoid hydrogenated oil – it contains trans fatty acids, which have no known nutritional benefit.
Some major food retailers have already started to keep this off their shelves.
And be careful when you're buying ‘low fat' foods, they may be high in sugar or salt instead. Read the labels
Remember, it's all about having a balanced diet.

Step 15:
AVOID REFINED SUGAR
It's not just the sugar you might put in tea and coffee, it's all the sugars hidden in processed foods and readymade meals.
Two reasons for cutting down on sugar – one is, it sharply affects blood sugar levels, so you get a feel-good surge followed by a slump in energy that makes your body crave more sugar.
The other is that the body converts sugar to glucose, and, if you're not doing physical work to use that glucose, the body stores it as fat.

Step 16:
CUT DOWN ON ALCOHOL
Don't worry – you don't have to cut out alcohol altogether BUT remember this:
Alcohol is high in calories, which convert quickly to glucose and can be stored as fat.
To slow down this process, have something to eat when you have a drink, and try and restrict your drinking to a couple of glasses, two or three times per week.

Step 17:
TRY SOMETHING NEW EACH WEEK
Don't get bored.
Eating needs to be interesting when you're developing new, healthier habits, so experiment with new foods. Look out for things you haven't cooked before, and try them.

Step 18:
BREAKING YOUR DIET IS NORMAL!
Don't try to be perfect. Everybody needs a break from a restrictive diet sometimes.
Whether you're going out for a special meal, or just in need of a break, enjoy it and don't feel guilty because you've already made the commitment to healthier living.

Step 19:
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL.
Losing weight is about eating fewer calories than you burn off in your everyday life and to lose a pound a week, you need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day.
So make small changes – for example, eat some fruit instead of a chocolate bar, or choose the low-fat alternative to your normal food, and take two brisk 15 minute walks a day.
The rate at which you lose weight will vary.
Most medical experts agree that it's healthy and sustainable to lose one or two pounds a week and as long as the overall trend is downwards . . . . you're doing well.

Step 20:
REWARD YOURSELF
Keep yourself motivated by rewarding yourself each time you lose, say, five pounds.
Choose something that has nothing to do with food –– something that makes you feel good, to remind you how proud you are at what you have achieved.