Diet Program

Dieting without regular exercise generally does not help weight loss and keeping it off. In fact, most people would be better off not going on a diet at all. Because the failure rate is very high, and when you fail you will gain more weight than before. When you lose weight up to 25% are muscle loss, but when you gain the weight back almost all of them are fat. If you already establish a daily exercise routine of 30 minutes or more then you are ready for the diet program. Actually, just like you can create your own exercise routine, you can also make up your own diet program to fit your lifestyle, as long as you follow a few important principles (mentioned in "My Success"). Almost all the diet programs provide recipes, but we (my wife and I) only use them as references if we want to learn to cook certain food. We usually like to cook or prepare in an oriental ethnic way.

You can always lose weight if you take in fewer calories than your body needs. Most of diet programs aim at reducing your carbohydrate and saturated fat intake. Actually, the right kind of carbohydrates, lean meats and good fats should be the main components of a healthy diet, and they can be found in all major food groups. Low glycemic index and glycemic load carbohydrates will replenishing glucose and glycogen slowly to avoid blood sugar and insulin spike. Lean meats will supply amino acids to your muscles and amino acids can convert to glucose (catabolism of amino acids will produce energy in citric acid cycle, just like glucose) if needed especially for the brain in low glycemic state. Good fats include unsaturated fat and omega-3 fatty acids. Having the right mix and different varieties of food is very important. A small amount of high glycemic index food (white bread, rice or noodle), mixed with vegetables, lean meats or unsaturated fats, becomes low glycemic index food because of slow absorption of glucose. Different varieties and whole natural foods also ensure that valuable nutrients are included in your diet. Lacking certain nutrients can make you hungry even if you already have an adequate calorie intake.

There are 3 phases in this diet program. The first phase usually will reduce about 10 lbs. in 2 weeks. Because of reduced carbohydrates intake, the initial weight loss is mainly water loss due to glycogen depletion (stored glycogen holds 3 to 4 times more water with it). Fat burning will begin in the later part of this phase. You can skip the first phase if you think the diet is too restrictive even for just 2 weeks since fruits, beans and whole grains are not allowed. An alternative is to start from the second phase right away and simply have slower weight loss initially. Some experts actually prefer slower weight loss from the beginning, in order to minimize your body's muscle loss (explained in second paragraph of "My Success"). The second phase will reduce 1-2 lbs. a week for as long as it takes to achieve your desired weight. With the help of exercise and a proper diet, you will successfully burn fat. Third phase is to maintain your new desired weight. This means developing a sensible eating plan for your life, after you have stopped dieting. Instead of dieting, you can rely on your own good eating choices, right timing and right food mixture. If necessary, you can still repeat this diet plan from the first phase again. I have given a different name to each phase to express what it does.

1. Quick loss phase. 2. Fat burning phase. 3. Lifetime phase.