Although there are many different diets for weight loss, the most effective of them are not at all in the calculation of calories – but in the control of carbohydrates. Such diets help not only to lose weight quickly, but are also suitable for maintaining a stable weight in the future.
In particular, having vegetables, proteins, and enough of the right fats in the diet creates a stable feeling of satiety – helping to keep the diet without feelings of hunger and mood swings. How to choose a diet for weight loss – and how to make a daily diet menu?
Nutrition strategy for weight loss
A weight loss diet is a weight loss diet that either creates a calorie deficit or limits carbohydrates on the menu. In the first case, the body achieves weight loss by utilizing its available fat reserves due to a lack of energy, while in the second case, weight loss occurs through changes in metabolic processes.
The glycemic index of carbohydrates is also important. Simple carbohydrates dramatically increase blood glucose levels – and lead to excessive production of the hormone insulin for its utilization. If a person regularly eats sweets and moves little, this leads not only to weight gain, but also disrupts metabolism.
In addition, although dieting is the key to effective weight loss, cardio will definitely accelerate the process. Including, by accelerating metabolism and increasing blood circulation – which normalizes appetite and accelerates the burning of internal fat.
How to lose weight correctly:
- moderate calorie reduction diet
- rejection of fast carbohydrates
- fat burning cardio
How to lose 10 kg in a month?
With a halving of the calorie intake (by about 1000 kcal per day), a person will lose about 100 g of fat per day or 700 g per week. In total, for a month of following the diet, he will lose weight by about 3 kg. However, even such a “small” figure can easily cause a number of negative changes in metabolism.
A sharp reduction in calories increases the production of the hunger hormone ghrelin – whetting the appetite and making you think only about food. It also increases the level of the stress hormone cortisol, which lowers the immune system. Moreover, the more often a person follows a “hungry” diet, the more they disturb their metabolism.
In other words, it is impossible to lose 10 kg per month solely by following a diet (even an extremely strict one). The maximum figure that a person can achieve without harming their health and without losing skin elasticity is about 400-500 g of fat per week or 1.5-2 kg per month.
Effective diets for weight loss
Research suggests that carbohydrate-restricting diets are the best. Such diets not only provide stable weight loss but also help maintain the achieved result in the future.
The reason is that excessive consumption of fast carbohydrates (in particular, sugar and sweets) disrupts the normal production of insulin – affecting not only the feeling of hunger but also activating the deposition of excess calories in fat depots.
The role is also played by the fact that visceral fat, accumulated inside the abdominal cavity and squeezing the stomach forward, can produce the hormone leptin. Although this hormone provides satiety, chronically high levels of leptin provoke resistance – that is, the body no longer understands that it is time to stop eating.
1. Ketone (keto) diet
After a complete rejection of carbohydrates, for about 2-3 days, the blood sugar level drops to the minimum values, and the body switches to ketosis mode, starting to use the energy of body fat for the needs of the current metabolism.
Initially, the keto diet, which induces the body into ketosis mode, was used to treat chronic diseases, but now it has become one of the most popular diets for weight loss. The advantage of the keto diet is that it does not require calorie counting and does not cause hunger – it is enough to completely eliminate carbohydrates.
The disadvantages include the monotony of the diet and the difficulty of choosing dishes when eating out – the menus of most canteens and restaurants have an extremely limited number of carbohydrate-free options (for example, even cutlets can contain carbohydrates in the form of breading).
2. No carbohydrate diet
In fact, a no-carb diet is just another name for the keto diet. For weight loss, it also implies a complete rejection of carbohydrate foods. The no-carb diet allows only protein and fatty foods with a minimum amount of vegetables.
For example, breakfast recommendations include fried eggs with bacon, lunch should consist of chicken breast with a minimum amount of vegetables, and dinner can be meat or fish without a side dish. As a snack and a light snack – nuts or cheese.
3. Protein diet
The protein diet is also the name of the carbohydrate-free diet. The basis of the daily diet is meat and fish in all possible variations. The downside is the lack of control over the amount of saturated fat – theoretically, this can lead to an increase in blood cholesterol levels.
Additionally, the diet’s lack of fiber (found exclusively in plant foods) can cause digestive problems.
4. Low-Carb Diet
A simplified version of the no-carb diet. The total amount of carbohydrates in the daily diet should not exceed 50-60 grams – eggs and one fruit for breakfast, chicken and a small portion of buckwheat for lunch, meat and stewed vegetables for dinner.
In practice, following a low-carb diet is much easier, since it does not impose strict restrictions on the list of products – you just need to monitor the amount of carbohydrates.
5. The 16/8 diet
Strictly speaking, the 16/8 diet is not a diet. At its core, it represents the method of intermittent fasting – it divides the day into 16 hours when food is prohibited and 8 hours when you can eat. Usually, this is skipping breakfast, a big lunch at noon, a full second lunch, then an early dinner (no later than 8 pm).
There are no restrictions on the calorie content of the diet or on the carbohydrate content. Fasting the remaining 16 hours achieves slimming and weight loss.
6. Gluten-free diet
Gluten is a key component of wheat protein that can cause food allergies in some people. Going gluten-free and going gluten-free means eliminating bread, pastries, pasta, and a whole host of other foods.
Ultimately, the diet allows only meat, vegetables, fruits, and some grains. A diet like this can help you lose weight by reducing calories and eating more responsibly.
7. Paleo diet
A diet that involves the complete rejection of “modern” foods and the transition to food known to man during the Paleolithic period. The Paleo diet bans all types of bread and wheat, legumes (including lentils and soy), sugar, dairy, and processed vegetable oils.
Sweets and semi-finished products are also prohibited. Weight loss is achieved due to the almost carbohydrate-free list of allowed products.
How to calculate the diet?
A sharp transition to a diet for weight loss almost guarantees that in a week you will return to the usual menu. Creating a weight loss meal plan should start with an analysis of what your current diet is based on. Exclude harmful foods and retain useful ones.
For example, to lose weight, you will have to give up sugar, sweets, starchy foods, as well as mayonnaise and other foods that contain a high amount of saturated fats. Recall that the problem of sweets is not so much in the calories themselves, but in the fact that sugar dramatically increases blood glucose levels.
Nutrition rules for weight loss:
- reduction in daily calorie intake by 15-20%
- avoiding high glycemic carbohydrates
- limiting saturated fat
- cutting out fast food and other sources of trans fats
- eating a lot of fiber
Useful and harmful products
Devote the first week of following a diet for weight loss to a thorough analysis of your menu. Study the calorie content of foods, and the sugar and fat content in them. Try replacing mayonnaise with fat-free cheese sauce, and sweet desserts with natural fruit.
At the same time, healthy foods are not necessarily expensive – you can effectively lose weight on lean meat, eggs, fish, low-fat cottage cheese, oatmeal, buckwheat, and ordinary vegetables (beets, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, pumpkin). The main advice is to cook food at home and try to use as little fat as possible for frying.
Effective diets for quick weight loss either involve a moderate reduction in calorie intake (no more than 15-20%) or limit carbohydrates in the diet. At the same time, it is impossible to lose weight by 10 kg per month without harm to health – the process of getting rid of excess weight should be smooth and gradual.