While weight loss process, diet is the most essential factor to look upon. The only exercise might not give justice to your aim of losing weight. Along with exercise, one must have a good diet way and guidance to achieve a balanced weight. A good diet not only helps you in losing weight but also prevents you from so many health hazards. Instead of skipping meals, having a plate full of a healthy diet can be more effective and at the same time help you cope up with your immunity. It’s very important to know what kind of diet one needs to consume and what sort of food will help them. A good diet will keep you full of healthy food and won’t force you to skip a meal while making it unhealthy.
- Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting means a pattern of dieting that involves eating and fasting. This cycle can easily balance calories in your body that ultimately results in balanced body weight. This pattern requires alternate days of fasting. Studies show that this pattern for 3-12 weeks can reduce body fat up to 5.5 kg.
Though, it has a lot of forms, Like there is the 16/8 method. This method limits your calorie intake to 8 hours per day. There is another method called the 5:2 method. This restricts your calorie intake to 500-600 for two days a week. That if you are adopting this method, you’ll be fasting twice a week.
Basically, intermittent fasting means restricting your eating hours. It can help you in losing weight only if you don’t eat too much in the allowed hours or normal days. Intermittent fasting has also been linked to anti-ageing, improving brain health, reducing inflammation, and many other benefits. Also, studies say that intermittent fasting is safe for all age groups.
Although, it is advisable that, people having diabetes, underweight issues, eating disorders, and pregnant women, should consult their doctors before doing intermittent fasting.
- Plants-based Diet
Plants-based diet basically means eating plant products only and avoiding animal-based products. We can say that this kind of diet promotes a Vegetarian or Vegan diet. However, there is an easy way out too. There is a flexible version of the plant diet also, which allows eating animal products in moderation. This type is known as the flexitarian diet.
The vegetarian diet version means avoiding all products that include animal meat like poultry, chicken, fish, etc.
Whereas, on the other hand, a Vegan diet means avoiding all the products that come from animals like dairy, honey, gelatin, whey, etc. There are no specific or rigid rules to follow in the Flexitarian diet. It’s more like a lifestyle change instead of just a way to diet. It promotes eating fruits and vegetables more with having animal products moderately. It helps in limiting high-calorie food, which may result in weight loss.
Some researchers including 1,151 participants state that people who were on plant-based diets lost an average of 4.4 pounds (2 kgs) more weight than those who were consuming animal products too. People on a vegan diet lost 5.5 pounds(2.5 kgs) more than people not having plant-based diets.
Plant-based diets are a rich source of fiber, that’s how they can help in weight loss. Not only, weight loss but plant-based diets also prevent many chronic diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, diabetes. Plus they can be a savior if we count it from an environmental perspective. Though there can be a drawback. A plant-based diet may cut out some important nutrients that come from animal products like iron, Vitam B12, Vitamin D, calcium, Zinc, etc.
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- Low-Carb Diet
Low carb diets are diets that include more potions of protein and non-starchy vegetables. It generally limits, grains, fruits, bread, sweets etc. However, some low-carb diets do allow fruits, vegetables, but in small amounts.
Low carb diets are one of the most popular diet types when it comes to weight loss. Examples, Atkins diet, ketogenic (keto) diet, and low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet.
As said above these diets are high in protein which limits your appetite, increases your metabolism and makes you feel full. Though some plans reduce carbs more drastically than others like the Keto Diet. Keto diets reduce card to 10 percent of total calories, whereas other types of diets make it to 30 percent.
In very low carb diets like Keto diets, the body starts depending on fatty acids rather than carbs for energy by converting them into ketones. This process is called Ketosis. Studies show that low-carb diets are more effective for weight loss than low-fat diets.
This type of diet prevents people from heart diseases, fluctuating blood pressure levels and also improve blood sugar level and insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
But it’s very important to know that there might be some negative sides of this diet too. In some diets may raise bad cholesterol levels. Very-low carb diets are difficult to follow and may cause digestive upset in some people. In very rare cases, adopting a very-low carb diet may cause a dangerous metabolic condition known as “ketoacidosis”
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- Low-Fat Diet
As the name tells, low-fat diet refers to a diet that cut off your fat-giving products.
Like low-carb diets, low-fat diets also bring the level of fat to 30 percent of total calories. In the case of ultra-low fat diets, this figure can be brought down to 10 percent. This diet restricts fat intake because fat provides about twice the number of calories as protein and carbs. As it reduces calorie intake, it can help in weight loss.
A conclusion derived from 33 studies including over 73,500 participants came out as that a low-fat diet led to less but relevant changes in the weight loss process. An ultra-low fat diet is effective in weight loss, especially when adopted by obese participants.
A low-fat diet also reduces the risk of heart diseases and stroke. It may also reduce inflammation. But as every coin has two sides. Similarly, a low-fat diet can be risky too. Restricting too much fat can lead to some long-term health issues. Fat is essential for hormone production, cell health, and nutrient absorption.
- WW (Weight Watcher)
Weight Watcher is a very popular weight loss program. It’s basically a point-based system. People on WW plan what to eat within their setpoints daily. Basically, WW is a point-based- diet system, that restricts your eating habits in a point-wise manner, like what to eat when to eat, based on its calorie value. In order to lose weight, you must eat within set points. If you eat by breaking your point rules, you might not feel any change. So, in order to achieve your goal, you must follow the set point rules.
Though, WW can be costly as you have to take a subscription for it.
These are some of the most efficient and popular diet plans. It’s very important for anyone to know that what sort of diet can help them out and suits their body type. A good diet will provide you with a safe experience of weight loss. You can also consult a dietician in order to know what diet will be appropriate for you. It will surely help you out with losing weight while keeping yourself self and healthy. But a point to keep in mind is that, don’t continue to push yourself in following any particular diet plan if it is harming you or affecting you.
