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What do you think of when you hear the word “diet”? Well, if you’re like most people, you probably think of a diet to lose weight. We’ve all heard about the famous one’s such as the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Cabbage soup diet, and the list goes on and on. These are all what I like to call “fad diets“. They come and go and more often than not, once failed, usually lead to more weight gain. If there is one thing that I have always told my clients, it is this: the best diet for weight loss that I recommend is a HEALTHY one. By this I mean reducing your caloric intake which people usually accomplish by reducing the high-calorie fats in the diet and little else. Just out of curiosity, do you know how many calories are in a Big Mac from McDonald’s? Are you sitting down? A whopping 540 calories!! Let’s put this into perspective for a moment. Your biggest meal of the day (which should be breakfast) shouldn’t be more than approximately 350 calories or so. The Big Mac contains 10 grams of fat…which amounts to 50% fat! That’s just in one meal. It’s like eating a chunk of lard for a meal!  :( I only used this example because most of us are familiar with the burger icon. You can go to www.calorieking.com for more info on nutritional breakdown of foods. Don’t take this to mean that you can never eat fast food, but a big part of having a healthy diet is making better choices, most of the time, wherever you are at.

So now that I have your attention, and perhaps a little disgust, there is a rule that I try to implement in my clients heads. It’s the 80/20 rule. Ever heard of it? Eat healthy 80% of the time and treat yourself to “cheat” foods only 20% of the time. During that 80%  is when you want to eat the healthiest. So on to the fun stuff!

The Low-Carb diet: this involves the near exclusion of carbohydrates. The diet touts that the average overweight person should lose about 7 pounds in the first week. Yikes! You should always be suspicious of any diet that promises fast results in which you are losing more than 2 lbs a week. With this diet, you are free to eat all the protein you want, which personally is enough reason to question it! Where do you think the bad cholesterol comes from? When you eliminate carbs from your diet, your blood sugars levels drop. On top of that, halitosis (very bad breath) is common in this type of dieter. It’s good to eat healthy carbs because your body needs them! When you do, try to stick with the whole grain types or veggies. For example, brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, raisins, bananas, sweet potato, squash and spinach :)

A wise man once said, “To think carbs make you fat is wrong. You’re fat because you’re not exercising.”

~Chris Carmichael

The High-Protein diet: unless you are in aerobic or muscular fitness training, you don’t need the extra protein. When you eat more protein than your body needs, and you’re not exercising, it is actually gets stored as fat! Now I’m not telling you to completely restrict your protein diet, but any diet, such as the low-carb one, that restricts you from eating the recommended daily allowance doesn’t make any sense. If you’re going to eat protein though, and it happens to be meat, just be sure to eat leaner cuts such as sirloin or even fillet mignon! Some common places that you will find protein are meat, beans, cheese, chicken, fish, peanut butter, milk, pizza and protein shakes.

The Reduced-Fat diet: Good as a concept, but not if you get ridiculous with it. We need fat in our diets, but up to a certain point. Not only is fat high in calories, but it also contributes to chronic conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer. But some fat is good for us. Healthier fats (unsaturated) can come from avocados, skim or 1% milk instead of 2% or whole, more fish and white meat from chicken or turkey instead of so much red meat. Using monounsaturated oils such as canola or olive when you cook. Try to reduce your normal fat intake, which typically is about 40% in this country now, to 25-30%.

Below I’ve broken down the math stuff to make it even easier for you to follow!

Some food for thought: 1 pound = 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound per week, you need to eliminate 3500 calories during that week. Simple. To put it in a more reasonable way of looking at it, (because it’s NOT impossible) be sure to get regular physical activity each day. If you were to burn 1750 calories each week through exercise, and cut 1750 calories from your diet through holding off on those extra cookies or that cheeseburger, or your favorite Starbucks beverage (check out the link!) you can reach your goal of losing 1 pound per week easily! Let’s simplify it even more :) Exercise 5 days a week burning 350 each time. You’ve now burned 1750 in exercise! Now cut back on an extra 350 calories for 5 days, and there is the other 1750 calories, AND you’ve got two cheat days to boot! PLEASE do not cheat ALL DAY LONG though. Just a nice reward without going overboard is what you want.

It’s just a little treat :)

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