It wasn’t all that long ago that the South Beach Diet was the hottest diet plan around. But then, as often happens, other diets started getting more attention. However, you may be surprised to know that the South Beach Diet is still being used by a lot of people to lose weight. It may not be the one getting the most notice, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether or not it’s an effective diet for losing weight, and on that count it works very well.

A good place to start is learning a bit about how the South Beach Diet works. It’s a fairly basic concept, but one that other diets have overlooked. What it does is change your cravings. You will retrain your body to stop craving bad food, and start craving good food instead. The other thing the diet does is it slowly lowers the amount of bad fats and carbohydrates that you are currently taking in.

Doing it this way allows you to make the needed changes to your diet without feeling like you are being deprived. That means you are much more likely to stick with it for the long term, and not only can you lose weight, but you will also keep it off. That’s certainly a good thing as far as diets are concerned.

The South Beach Diet has often been compared to the Atkins Diet, but they are not the same. Yes, they are both high protein diets, but that’s where any similarity ends. The Atkins Diet is noted for allowing people to eat as much fat and protein as they want, with the idea that calories aren’t the main problem. But this overlooks the fact that the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. The South Beach Diet let’s you eat plenty of eggs, cheese, vegetables, beef, fish and poultry, but there are also portion sizes (though these are generous).

The diet is divided into phases which are designed to help you make the transition from unhealthy eating habits to healthy ones. For example, the first phase will help you to get rid of things like white rice and bread, ice cream, alcohol (including beer), and baked goods. Now, that may sound like a tall order, but it can be done if you follow the diet. Remember, one of the aims of the South Beach Diet is to actually reset your cravings. If it helps any, Phase 1 of the diet is made to last for only two weeks.

Once you are done with Phase 1, you move on to Phase 2. You will be able to eat a wider range of foods, but there is no time limit on this second phase. That’s because Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet is meant to be followed until you reach your target weight. But the whole beauty of the diet is that Phase 1 actually sets you up to succeed at Phase 2.

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Most of us have had to wage our own little battle of the bulge at one point or another in our lives. To increase your odds of success the next time, here are some tips on the fast ways to lose weight.

Now, be aware, that these tips are going to be the best options you will have for fast ways to lose weight, the healthy ways only. Some of the tips I will give you may actually be a little borderline but they should be ok if you only use them for a short time to jump start to your weight loss.

Here are some important things to keep in mind:

1. Many times you can jump start your diet with a cleanse and / or a fast. Of course, before you start any type of diet, cleanse or exercise program you absolutely should talk to your doctor first. There can be dangerous side effects and that can be compounded if you already have some health issues.

A cleanse will enable you to cleanse your body of a buildup of fecal matter and toxins. It may sound gross but it can be a good way to lose some weight right off the bat.

Be aware, though, that this type of weight loss is almost always water weight. As soon as you start eating solid food again, you will just gain it all back. It is more about cleansing your body that any real weight loss.

2. Many people can actually benefit from eating more. That may sound weird but few people eat enough good food throughout their day to keep their metabolism firing hot all day long.

When I started eating 6 small, nutritious meals a day I lost weight. I lost 6 pounds in one week. It was challenging at first but it did work.

The best part of it was that I was giving my body what it needed… in other words I was losing weight in a healthy way.

3. Drink more water. Few of us drink as much water as we should. It’s recommended that you drink half of your body weight in ounces of water everyday.

For example, if you weigh 200lbs. you should drink 100 ounces of water daily. It can’t hurt to discuss this with your doctor too. Believe it or not it can be dangerous to drink too much water too. Find out what the right amount is for you.

4. Exercise. If you hate the idea of going to the gym than you must rearrange your thinking. There are a lot of exercising options that don’t require a gym membership. Find one or more that you like and then do them on a daily basis.

In our society we tend to over think things. We seem to think if we can’t do a marathon we can’t workout at all. Not true. Even small changes can make a big difference over time. Start small if you have to, but start.

The most important tip I can give you is to have realistic expectations. Fast ways to lose weight may be possible depending on what you mean by fast and how much weight you have to lose. But in most cases slow and steady weight loss, in a healthy way, will get you where you want to be and will make it easier for you to keep the weight off.

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