The Atkins’ diet has been a craze for a couple of decades. Here’s how you can gain from it.

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All of you who are reading this article right now have definitely been on a diet at some point or the other of your lives. The battle of the bulge is an ongoing problem and we are always on the lookout for various means to win this war.

Along with exercise, our diet and nutrition also plays an important role in reducing our weight. Hence, this obsession persists in all of us to undertake some form of dieting. But going on a diet is definitely not an easy thing. What to eat and what to stay away from is always a perennial problem.

One of my friends told me that she ate the normal menu which she cooked for the family, but her weight loss recipe is “portion control.” This is a really simple diet plan. In this plan, you cut down on the portion of food you consume. For example, if you usually have two pieces of toast for breakfast, you should eat only one piece. If you normally eat two cups of rice for lunch, cut it down to one cup. In this way, you are automatically reducing your calorie intake by half.

Another popular method of dieting is to stop all intake of fatty foods and sugar. In this diet, you cut down on your oil, butter and ghee intake which automatically reduces your fat deposits.

While I was leafing through a magazine, I read about one of our Hollywood celebrities following the Atkins’ diet. This immediately aroused my curiosity about the diet. Though I have heard about the diet many times, I had no inside knowledge about it. So, I immediately set to work on it and found out certain basic facts’ about the Atkins diet which I want to share with my readers.

The Atkins’ diet made its first appearance in 1972 and was invented by its namesake, Dr Atkins. According to him, this method enables us to lose weight by inducing a change in metabolism. Our body burns both fat and carbohydrates to provide energy. If we reduce the intake of carbohydrates significantly, our body starts burning only fat to provide energy. This method is called “lipolysis”, which in turn induces ketosis. In ketosis, our body burns fat as fuel. Atkins also felt that ketosis will affect insulin production which will result in less fat being formed. And, once your body enters ketosis, your cravings for carbohydrates will reduce significantly which, in turn, will reduce your body weight.

The major difference between Atkins’ diet and other types of diet is that, while most diets restrict calorie, intake, the Atkins’ plan encourages us to eat more. While most of the diets recommend low fat, high carbohydrate intake, Atkins’ does just the opposite. Instead of carbohydrate and sugar, this diet wants us to consume plenty of fat and protein.

The core principle of the Atkins’ diet is that, by limiting carbohydrates, our body is forced to burn its stored fat, rather than carbs for fuel.

The Atkins’ diet has a four carbohydrates stage plan induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. With the help of these four stages, you can reduce as well as maintain your weight throughout your life.

Induction – phase 1: This phase lasts for two weeks, by the end of which you can obtain significant results. Another point is that, in this diet plan you can begin at any of the phase. But it is recommended to start with induction. As you cut back on your carbohydrates significantly in this phase, you will jump start your weight loss programme. In this phase, only 20 gm of carbohydrates are allowed and hence your weight loss is significant. As you drastically cut down on carbohydrates your body shifts into high gear and starts burning fat. This takes about 48 hours to occur and you may feel hungry and irritated for the first three-four days. But don’t worry, as soon as your fat starts getting converted to fuel, you will feel fit as a fiddle. Induction will strengthen your immune system and also improve our long-term health.

Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase 2: In this phase, the weight loss pace slows down as you add nutrient-rich carbohydrates to your diet. During this period, you will boost your body’s ability to burn fats as well as understand your body better. You will find the right amount of carbohydrates which you can consume and still lose weight. Your body will also prepare itself for permanent weight management. The amount of carbohydrates which you can eat is increased to 25 gm per day for the first week and increased in five gm instalment for the next few weeks. If your weight loss is significant, you can increase your carbohydrate intake. A person has to be on OWL till he or she is within three-five kg of their goal weight.

Pre-maintenance – (phase 3): Pre-maintenance is a practice run for lifetime maintenance. In this phase, you are fast approaching your target. As long as you continue to lose weight, you can increase your weekly allotment of carbohydrates by another 10 gm. You will be in this phase till you reach your goal and stay on it for one month. The ultimate goal here is to achieve a state of balance called Atkins’ Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE). The ACE is your individual level of carbohydrate intake wherein you neither gain nor lose weight.

Lifetime maintenance phase 4: In this phase, you have to focus on your individual ACE and strive to stay within two kg of your ideal weight for the rest of your life. By following a sensible eating plan, you gain energy, better health and confidence in yourself.

By following these four phases, you not only achieve your dream weight but are also able to maintain it throughout your life. You can learn more about this diet by reading the book, Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. But, as with any other diet, this plan also has its pros and cons. The good point is that this diet recommends exercise as a vital part of the weight loss programme. Another point to be noted is that you cannot start on carbohydrates after you lose weight as this will result in your gaining back all that you have lost.

Medical experts advise that people who have gout, kidney problems, diabetes or are pregnant women should not follow this diet plan. As this diet is very stringent, do consult your doctor/dietician for proper advice.

Your dietician will provide you with a proper menu chart as to what should be eaten, in what quantities, etc, based on your eating habits and general lifestyle.

Happy dieting and hoping to see slimmer and fitter readers.

Almost everyone trying to lose weight will start going on a diet at some point. Unfortunately most dieters are not able to permanently keep weight off. This is because it is often difficult or impossible to commit to a diet and keep up with a weight loss plan. However, there are other options for those who want to lose weight.

Unlike a diet, hypnotherapy will help motivate you to naturally have a healthier diet and get more exercise. Here, I will discuss some popular diet plans, the keys to losing weight, and how you can achieve weight loss using hypnotherapy.

The high numbers of searches for dieting advice and online diet plans indicate that many people are looking to lose weight. Some popular diet plans are:

The Atkins diet, which is a popular low carbohydrate diet, is centered on the limited intake of “refined carb” foods such as sugar and white bread. By restricting carbohydrate consumption, this weight loss program is supposed to make the body switch from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat (a process called ketosis).

The Ornish diet is a very low fat, vegetarian diet, is an entirely vegetarian diet, and when followed diligently, a scant 10% of total calorie intake will come from fat. The Ornish diet also strongly encourages stress-management and exercise, and has been used successfully to help reverse heart disease in many dieters.

The Suddenly Slim diet program involves taking diet pills and meal replacement shakes with the goal of stimulating the body’s metabolism to use up more calories. The products include many ingredients typically found in diet pills. The Suddenly Slim diet is supposed to work without more exercise or making other major lifestyle changes, although exercise and better eating habits will increase results.

The Zone diet balances carbohydrate, fat, and protein intake, with 30% of calories coming from fat, 40% from carbohydrates, and 30% from protein. Like the Atkins diet, this diet is frequently considered to be “low carb.” The Zone diet pays close attention to calorie intake and physical exercise to deliver results.

The Cabbage soup diet is a component in numerous diet plans and is largely considered to be a fad diet. It consists of eating only low calorie cabbage soup for seven days. Following this diet will usually lead to some weight loss, but when you resume normal eating habits, the weight will usually come back. Furthermore, staying on this unbalanced diet plan for more than a week may lead to poor nutrition and poor health.

There are countless diet programs all promising fast results, but what many of these popular diets claim is not what they actually offer. They are based on meal plans that are unbalanced, unsustainable over a long-term period, or downright unhealthy. The truth is permanent weight loss is rarely achieved through a short, one-time diet session.

Successful dieters know that the keys to success are not in fad diets or even diet programs, but in portion control, selecting nutritious and filling foods, and exercising regularly. This sounds simple to do, but it can be difficult to stay motivated to keep healthy habits and undo a lifetime of bad dietary choices.

We often lose our motivation to exercise and eat right. Hypnosis can be used to change our bad habits and lack of motivation. Hypnosis weight loss programs work by tapping into the power of your unconscious mind to motivate you to exercise and treat your body right.

Even the best free diet plans will fail if they aren’t followed through. Research shows that most diets fail because dieters just can’t stick to them. After years of eating oversized portions, many of us compulsively overeat and our appetites are out of control. This is where hypnotherapy for weight loss is especially effective. Hypnosis weight loss programs are highly successful in helping to control food cravings and control the appetite.

For many people, another component to losing weight is stress management. Many people overeat because of emotions. We eat food in response to our feelings, such as when we are bored or sad. This emotional attachment to food can make it easy to gain weight. We can use hypnotherapy to develop better strategies for coping with stress and to quit associating food with our emotions.

It is easy to learn hypnosis by yourself with a good self-hypnosis program. There are weight loss hypnotherapy programs specifically developed to help you achieve your goal of permanently losing weight. With simple techniques from self hypnosis CD programs, you can quit struggling to lose weight and become naturally enabled to shed pounds.

Nutrition is a huge part of you health and appearance. Some professionals will attest that as much as 70% of your weight loss and fitness results are based on what you eat. The word alone can make people cringe  as the guiltily think of the drive thru lunch that they just ate. Nutrition is a subject that people spend their careers studying and takes volumes of books to explain. My objective is to teach you how to eat a healthy diet that encourages your body to burn fat rather than store it. You dont need overwhelming science to get this.

A healthy diet needs to be well rounded with the proper amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. The RDAs recommendation for daily intake of such things is a good place to check your optimal intakes.

The first thing that you need to know about nutrition is this fact: Eating small meals every 3 hours will increase your metabolism and reduce fat storage. This is a proven fact that bodybuilders, models, athletes and lean people in general abide by  and so should you.

Eating right when you wake up is vital to breaking the fast your body enters every night. About 3-4 hours after you eat your body shuts down your metabolism and acts as if it needs to store food. This is a great function to have if a famine breaks out and you dont see food for weeks. After all, if theres famine youre going to want your body to work efficiently by storing fat, and using it slowly.

However, you dont want your body to store fat and burn it slowly now, right? Since there is no food shortage or famine at the moment (and there likely wont be one any time soon) then it is pretty annoying when your body starts packing on the pounds. So, in order to communicate with your body that it is healthy, well fed, and not in need of extra fat storage you need to reprogram your metabolism. Heres how to go about it. Start your day off with a small meal and continue to eat small meals every 3 hours or so.

What should you eat? In this article, I am just going to give you general guidelines  These suggestions are a basic guideline to healthy meals that do not promote fat storage. Protein: 20% Fat: 15% Carbs: 65%

Each meal that you consume needs to have calories coming from protein, carbohydrates and fat. Your body needs each of these in small amounts throughout the day.