Scot’s Weight Loss Blog

Weight Loss With Low Carb Diet Plans

Low carb diet plans are very popular now, because people who are concerned with weight loss have discovered how effective low carb diet plans can be. We all love carbs, and it really is hard to accomplish significant weight loss and keep it off without restricting carbs in the diet. There are many low carb diet plans available, and the only way to decide which one is right for you, is to compare each of them side by side to see which one you can live with. There are various websites that have a ton of information available for dieters, that compare low carb diet plans and specific information on each one.

There are good carbs and bad carbs just like anything else. Bad carbs include white breads, baked goods, cereals, pastas, white potatoes, white rice, certain candies, and most alcoholic beverages. Good carbs are those that are high in fiber and low in carb count, such as, sweet potatoes, brown and wild rice, whole grain breads and pastas, fresh fruits and vegetables, and red or white wine. Each low carb diet plan is somewhat the same, except they are each unique regarding how much of each food you consume and how often you eat. Many low carb diet plans start out with a beginning phase that is more restrictive, especially for the first two weeks, and more foods are slowly added back in as the diet progresses. Each of these low carb diet plans restricts the amount of carbohydrate intake to a degree, some more than others, and fiber offsets the carb count of each food item. The higher the fiber, the lower the carb count.

The Atkins diet, for example, is focused on eating meats, protein, and good fats, and does not include any fruits or vegetables in the beginning, which may not be tolerable for some people. This diet also only allows twenty carbs or less per day, and heavily encourages the use of dietary supplements.

The South Beach Diet is somewhat easier to stick to because it allows a greater variety of foods in the first phase, including vegetables and lean meats, and does not restrict the carb count as much as Atkins.

The Zone is another popular low carb diet plan that incorporates some of the same principles of the Atkins and South Beach Diets, but the emphasis is on keeping the ratio of daily intake at 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. Meals are divided into ‘blocks’ and basically the same foods are eaten throughout the diet, the only difference being, that more fat is added after goal weight is obtained to keep the dieter from continuing to lose more weight.

Whichever low carb diet plan you chose will be effective, because carbs are what affect the insulin levels in our bodies and cause cravings. Once you have learned to eat in a healthy way, and only eat the good carbs, you will weigh less and be able to keep the weight off. Be sure to consult your physician if you need to lose a considerable amount of weight, so that he or she can recommend the low carb diet plan that is right for you.

Using a low carb diet plan may be just the ticket to accomplishing your weight loss goals.

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Bill Brine

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Many scientific researchers now believe that Atkins and other diets that encourage the use of low carbohydrates are pretty useless when it comes to keeping weight off long-term. In a survey comparing Lo-Carb, reduced fat diets and reduced calorie diets, all participants began to resume their former weight after 26 weeks, and by 12 Moons there was no statistical difference between the groups. Professor Arne Astrup of RVA University in Copenhagen, Denmark, said that there is no real proof that diets modelled on the Atkins-style are significantly any better than any other diets to help anyone fight the flab, despite the success in some cases of the Atkins diet. Ok… so perhaps this is a bit over the top, but it does illustrate a good point.

Recall the number of times that you’ve heard that to get control of your diet you must be strong. Or to put it another way, to achieve weight loss you must be a slave to severely reduce your favorite foods like cakes, eating at expensive bars, and yes, those fast foods must be avoided. If this silly advice worked in practise, the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics would no longer pick over-eating / obesity as one of the worse factors for our health!!

Initially it is appealing, the thought of trying something different, and starting the next new “rave” diet plan, fits the same mould. But unhappily, the outcome for the majority of these schemes is unsatisfactory. Once the sparkle and initial fun fade away, we’re back to square one.

Attempts to bring changes into overall diet, follow a pattern that goes something like this…

We start a new diet program. It is an exciting prospect, that of losing weight, we are fired up, we have already achieved losing some weight, and the World is a wonderful place.

- Our busy schedule gets even busier. There are demanding kids, demanding bosses becoming more demanding, and naturally there are always those new diet guidelines to learn and follow.

- Before long we find ourselves panicking because we don’t have enough hours in the day, and looking for ways to save time. We decide to postpone implementing one or two of the most time-greedy “special” meals defined as good for our health - “just this once.”

- Our “resources” of health conscious foods begins to dwindle, you don’t have the time to go down to the grocery store to restock, and you make the inevitable run to your local convenience store instead… (oops…… I never realized I had bought so much!) … a familiar story I’m sure.

So, with poor long-term results for diets, you might consider losing weight fast, but what about the dangers of rapid weight loss?

Very much a problem associated with losing weight fast is that many individuals decide not to eat at all, being too focused on losing weight fast. Abstaining from eating, even if it is only over a short period of time, can be dangerous to your health.

It is far better to cut back on the food that you do eat or concentrate on trying to eat healthier foods. By limiting your calories, it is quite possible to achieve a reduced waist size at the very minimum in the time that you were looking to.

It is just very important that you never go a complete day without eating.

Apart from a healthy diet, an additional thing to consider is exercise. Alas, many people do not understand that it will usually take approximately a week to see any appreciable benefits from exercising. With all that in mind, the worse the problem is in terms of your weight, the greater and quicker will be the improvement in your weight.

Although exercise is vital for you to lose weight, you should only proceed with exercise cautiously, especially if you haven’t had a regular exercise plan. Suddenly starting up an ambitious keep fit regime, lasting for hours, as opposed to gentle exercise over say thirty minutes, may help reduce your calorie intake, but, unfortunately, it may result in a hospital visit for you.

If you can’t sit comfortably behind the driving wheel of your car, or you can’t see your toes, or there are a string of “Xs” in the size label on your clothes, or everybody seems to be whispering about you, or if it is a struggle to ease through the shower door,  then maybe it is time to accept that your belly is too big!

Well there are 2 things you can do about that  – you can either make life more difficult for yourself, following unsavoury dieting procedures and / or starting some training and having only low-calorie snacks (which incidentally would help you live longer), or you can cover up that belly and maybe nobody will notice it.

Some of the causes of having a belly too big include anxiety, taking no account of cutting down on the amount of bread we eat, boredom, no regular exercise, having a fatty diet e.g. ice cream which is high in fat and cholesterol, and bad eating habits like stuffing food down very fast. So you happened to put on some weight. In the meantime you want to cover-up that fat belly. As expected, you are probably considering a diet but the problem won’t go away of it’s own accord. Your answer may be to consider an Atkins diet.

Many scientific researchers now claim that Atkins and other reduced carbohydrate diets are pretty useless when it comes to keeping the pounds off. In a survey comparing low carbohydrate, relatively low fat diets and calorie reduced diets, all members of the test group started to put the pounds on again after six months, and by 52 weeks there was no statistical difference between the groups. Professor Arne Astrup of RVA University in Copenhagen, Denmark said that there is no clear evidence that Atkins-style diets are better than any others in order for us to keep the weight off, despite the success in some cases of the Atkins diet. Ok… so perhaps this is a bit over the top, but it helps to explain it.

So how should we proceed with the best diet? Some good advice: Ignore the hype, find a safe and healthy diet that makes good common sense, and alter your eating habits permanently. While this is not particularly clever in its revelation, it‘s staggering how many of us on a diet become so frustrated trying to actually lose some appreciable amount of weight, believing that this latest diet is “the answer”. Hey pal, if this describes the way that you have approached dieting, you are going down the wrong direction and need to consider something different.

Take a moment to consider this fact: Gardenburger Inc. conducted a nationwide survey which estimated that significantly more than two-thirds of all ladies between the ages of 25 and 54 make a decision to try to lose some excess weight each year. In this same survey, nine-tenths of those who responded to the survey reported they were disappointed with the long-term results (some respondents actually had put on some pounds instead). You see, the actual initial losing of weight is not that difficult! Anyone on basically any diet can lose weight. The hardest thing to do is keeping the pounds from re-settling on our bodies as time goes by.

We’re continually bombarded with bad information about why we gain weight. Reasons given are the same old chestnuts like we don’t commit ourselves to a diet, no self-control, too greedy, bad planning etc. You name it, and there’s an explanation out there! But, the truth be known, when it comes to getting and staying slim, many of these half-baked “explanations” are a load of twaddle. What really, really matters long term is whether our everyday customs when it comes to eating and calorific value of food ingested are in-balance with the amount of energy consumed by our way of life.

Scott Whiskeye has created several websites which are devoted to healthy body and mind and Scott’s aim is to create stimulating articles about all forms of healthy living and problems of health which will help the visitor attain a better quality of health. There are many interesting articles about Weight Loss on Scott’s site.
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