The problem with dieting is that most diets are designed for short term, quick weight loss. They really aren’t meant to keep the weight off for more than a few weeks or months. In fact, most diets focus on tricks or gimmicks to keep them interesting and really don’t concern themselves with balanced nutrition for the long haul.
This means if you have 50 or more pounds to lose, these diets probably aren’t going to work to begin with. But if you do manage to take off the weight, then you are likely to be less healthy after spending months on the diet.
The point is to receive the massive benefits from losing large amounts of weight, along with proper nutrition – not be confused and frustrated from ‘chasing’ different diets.
In order to really shed large amounts of weight, the focus needs to be shifted from losing weight to getting healthier, and for that you need a sound nutritional plan that you can follow for the rest of your life, and not just a few weeks.
So, it is possible to lose massive amounts of weight and beat obesity – but don’t do it by dieting and calorie counting, do it by adopting a natural nutritional health lifestyle.
Design Your Own Weight Loss Plan
Being overweight means feeling out of control, not just out of control of your weight, but your life in general – and besides the self-hatred about how you look and feel, there is also a feeling of hopelessness that you can’t do anything about it. That is a reason why it believed that there are close links between obesity and depression.
Your weight loss plan starts by getting control, and getting rid of a list of foods that you need to avoid.
In order to lose your weight and keep it off, you are first going to need need to get back into control. Remember that you want permanent solutions and not quick fixes that can make everything worse in the long run.
And to lose a large amount of weight, and make nutrition lifestyle changes, takes strong determination and commitment to keep following through.
So, don’t go look for the ‘latest and greatest’ diet, and don’t go ask your friend for their diet – design your own nutritionally sound weight loss program. And then you will begin to lose weight using nutrition principles that will make you healthier, and also naturally provide weight loss.
This is also a very good approach because someone else won’t be telling you what to do; you will make all the decisions, including being able to adjust and add to the program as you have more experience and learn more.
Become Educated About Nutrition
If you are going to know what and how to make the most effective nutrition and weight loss decisions, then nutritional education is going to become your best friend. Just be sure that you are reading and learning about sound basics and principles that have science behind them, and not ‘gimmicks’ that are designed for selling books and DVDs.
And don’t get ‘sucked-in’ by the supplement companies that may be showing some ‘skewed’ studies [that they funded] to sell more supplements. There are definitely some very good and beneficial nutritional supplements – but you don’t need huge amounts of whey protein powder to lose weight and be healthy, or to grow muscles from working out.
My number one recommendation for getting started is reading Eating For Energy, by Yuri Elkaim. Yuri is a nutrition and fitness expert that lives and teaches a raw foods lifestyle that is tremendously nutritional, along with being effective for weight loss and control.
Eating For Energy Raw Food Diet Program
Getting Started With Your Nutritional Weight Loss Plan
When I got serious about nutrition, losing weight, and fitness I understood and accepted the concept of a lifestyle change –vs- dieting – and I knew that if I was going to be successful, I had to quit letting eating and food mean so much.
So, the first thing that I did was to make a list of my favorite foods, and refuse to eat them anymore. I know that was pretty drastic, but I also knew that I didn’t need these foods nutritionally – and if I could be disciplined with a change like this, then I would stop caring about ‘eating for the sake and enjoyment of eating’, and I would be successful long-term with my plan.
Since October 2008 I have not eaten any of the following: steak or hamburgers, French fries or any fried food, bread, pasta – and no candy, cookies, cakes, or ice cream [ouch] of any kind. I have also lost 55 pounds and kept it off, and I am in the best nutritional health of my life.
Besides any decisions you make for yourself specifically, here are some more basic recommendations for designing your weight loss plan, and preparing to lose weight:
- Learn everything you can about good nutrition and why your body needs certain nutrients. Knowing what nutrients your body needs and giving your body those nutrients will help to prevent hunger pangs and cravings that often derail the best laid weight loss plans. Make sure that your diet includes all 7 colors of fresh fruits and vegetables – and is heaviest in green vegetables, which are the most nutrient dense foods you can eat.
- Assemble a group of nutritionally sound and lower calorie recipes prior to starting your weight loss program. By having a series of recipes on hand that you have tested in advance and know you like, you won’t be scrounging for ways to prepare those healthy foods once you put your plan into effect – the Eating For Energy program includes many highly nutritional and easy to make recipes.
- Learn about anti-inflammatory foods and fat burning foods. Anti-inflammatory foods are not only helpful when you want to lose weight, but they also improve your overall health, as it has been shown that chronic inflammation is a root cause of most all long-term health problems. It would also be strongly recommended to begin taking an omega-3 DHA anti-inflammatory supplement – omega-3 DHA is one of the strongest natural anti-inflammatories that is known. These are beneficial to everyone, but especially to people that have large amounts of excess fat stored in their cells: Omega-3 DHA Anti-Inflammatory Supplement
- Clear out the junk food and stock up on healthy foods before putting your plan into action. The last thing anyone needs when getting started is the temptation to go eat the garbage that put you in your present condition. Being able to get rid of all the junk as your first decision, will make you feel great and that you have already accomplished something.
And do start an exercise and fitness plan, because this is absolutely part of a nutritional health and well-being lifestyle. This may not have anything to do with nutrition directly, but it is sure hugely beneficial to how you feel – and for being able to get rid of excess fat and lose weight more effectively.
When you do get started, keep in mind that you may have been gaining weight and eating unhealthy for a long time. As in all cases, making the necessary changes will take time and adjustments AND it is not going to happen overnight – so no trying to speed things up by trying to fast and eat ridiculously low amounts of calories.
Besides being nutritionally unhealthy, after a quick amount of weight loss [that is in large part water and not fat] you will plateau just as quickly, which will of course be very frustrating and make it hard to continue going forward.
Make and follow a nutritional weight loss plan that is based on nutrition and losing weight in reasonable and consistent amounts, and long-term you will be able to accomplish your goals and keep following your plan.
About Barry Lutz
