Are you a bit of a risk taker when you want to lose weight? If you are the 500 calorie diet may be just what youre looking for. The truth about this diet is it is considered an extreme form of dieting; but is highly popular. Low calorie diets are common and 500 calories is at the lower end of the scale.

A diet is considered low calorie if it involves ingesting no more than 1200 calories per day. The idea of a low calorie diet is to lose weight quickly. If not administered correctly they can be dangerous and as such it is important to plan your 500 calorie diet with a professional dietician or nutritionist before starting. This article will help you to decide if the 500 calorie diet is right for you.

It is well known that the way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. However a very low calorie diet can actually do more harm than good. When your body is craving more calories (energy) it can affect your metabolic rate. This means your body actually starts to eat away at your muscle mass.

It is doing this for the purpose of converting the muscle mass to energy, since there are no food reserves to take from. Because gaining muscle is the path to losing fat, this can have a highly detrimental effect on your body.

500 calories per day may be sufficient for some people depending on their:
– Gender
– Activity level
– Height
– Body type
– Overall health and well being

For other people though, particularly overweight people, consuming only 500 calories a day is almost like starving yourself. Your body is more than likely used to taking in over 2000 calories per day and up to 5000 or more. If you all of a sudden drop to 500 calories or less your body moves into starvation mode. Your metabolism then slows down to conserve energy.

While you are on the 500 calorie diet your body will learn to live with fewer calories. That means if you go back to your old high calorie habits (as all too many people do) you will have a sudden gain in weight, which is more than what would have occurred, had you not gone on your low cal diet.

The only real way to determine your ideal daily calorie intake is by using a bmr/amr calculator. You will then know how many calories you need to be healthy and to support your lifestyle. If you take 500 calories away from this, then you have the ideal number of calories, to take in per day to help you get your weight down.

As men and women are obviously different their ideal calorie intake is also different. This of course means while the average woman may need only 1200 to 1300 calories a day to survive, her male counterpart may need from 1500 to 1600. Again this is why it is so important for you to consult with your physician before starting any diet.

In conclusion a 500 calorie diet can be dangerous. However, if proper precautions are taken, such as a physical, to determine your overall health fitness, you can lose weight quickly.

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There is no doubt that the market place is filled with countless programs that claim to be the last word in healthy eating diets. One plan may allow you to eat all of the whole grains and vegetables you want, while the next may all but eliminate them. The problem is that there is no way they can all be right, and not all of them can be wrong; this leads to confusion, and this confusion is often all the excuse people need to not try any healthy diet at all. How are you supposed to tell which ones are good or bad; and which ones should be avoided versus which ones are worth trying?

What may surprise you is that some of the most popular diets are not necessarily the most healthy. The truth is that a lot of them are based around a gimmick of some kind, and the rest of the diet relies on some basic principles found in all healthy eating diets. This creates the illusion that the gimmick makes it work, but the harsh reality is that the gimmick is often the least healthy aspect of such diets.

Still, it’s hard to convince people that a certain diet doesn’t work. There is a lot of psychology that goes along with it, but the simple explanation is that these people are invested in believing their diet of choice works, and that the gimmicky portion is the secret. However, there are many people who don’t resort to fad diets to get healthy. Instead, they develop a well-balanced plan of their own by taking the best elements from several healthy eating diets.

One of the fad diets to make a big splash recently was the low-carb diet. These diets really did work for a good number of people. How they worked, and whether they’re a good long-term option remains debatable, but they did work. The catch is that there are very few people that should b restricting carbohydrate intake to this degree. Sure, it’s a good idea to get rid of the “bad” carbs found in white flour, white rice and sugar, but it’s not a good idea to give up the “good” carbs which are high in fiber and loaded with nutrients that can’t be found anywhere else.

So, a low-carb diet may help somebody to lose weight, but it can’t really be counted among healthy eating diets because it falls short on fiber as well as various important nutrients. But, somebody can take a part of the typical low-carb diet and use it to create some of their own specific plan.

Of course there are tons of other diets that say you should do this or do that, or not to do it at all. But healthy eating plans don’t have to rely on gimmicks, they simply rely on common sense. Instead, it’s just a matter of eating a variety of wholesome foods and keeping them on balance, and in this day and age, that may be the biggest gimmick of all.

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Let’s face it, going on a diet isn’t anybody’s idea of having a good time. At least not for the countless number pf people who have been on and off many diets. Now, they all have something in common, and that’s good intentions. Everybody that starts a diet has high hopes, and thinks they’ll be able to stick to it…this time. But then something happens and they slip a little. Then they feel bad and that leads to more slipping, and pretty soon you’re completely off your weight loss program and may even weigh more than when you started.

If this sounds like you, then you are not alone. In fact, it’s safe to say that more people go off their diets than stick to them. However, the good news is that there are some things you can do to greatly increase your chances of sticking to your diet, for good.

It’s all about preparation, and that comes in two forms.

1. Be prepared. You are going to be tempted to eat “forbidden” foods any time you change your diet. Therefore, you have to either not have any forbidden foods or you have to avoid them.

It all starts with which weight loss plan you choose. The best thing you can do is to select one that allows you to eat as many different foods as possible. This way you won’t be tempted to splurge, as the splurges will be built in. One of the most popular diets says you have to basically eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. Sure, it may be effective, but it’s next to impossible to stick to. Think about it, it’s not asking you to give up one or two foods, it’s asking you to not eat an entire group of foods! That’s almost begging for the diet to fail.

Of course we all have some foods that we just can’t seem to get enough of; foods that we feel addicted to. Maybe you can’t limit yourself to only one or two chocolate chip cookies, or maybe you always eat at least half a bag of potato chips. Whatever the case, you know yourself best, so your best line of defense is to not have those particular foods in the house.

2. Prepared foods. If you are used to eating fast food, or ready-made foods from the supermarket, then switching over to eating healthier can be a real chore. Chances are you will be eating more fruits and veggies, whole grains and lean protein. This usually means cooking from scratch. But it doesn’t have to be inconvenient. You can buy pre-cut frozen fruits and vegetables, making preparation just as easy as any convenience food. Food makers are also getting wise to the idea that people are concerned about their health. It used to be the only frozen dinners you could get were high-fat, calorie-laden fare such as meat loaf or fried chicken; and they didn’t taste all that great either. Times have changed. Now you can get low-calorie frozen meals that not only help you to lose weight, but taste great, too.

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With the sudden boom of dieting in the country, different diet programs have been introduced in the country. Although many experts believe that proper exercise and not only diet can lose those pounds in a healthy way, many people still believe in the power of diet programs and diet plans. One of the most controversial kinds of diet plans is the low-carbohydrate diet program, which focuses on the reduction of carbohydrate consumption in the body.

According to the theory, when carbohydrates are no longer being taken in, the body will be forced to use fats and water as alternative sources of energy; thereby helping to shed off those unwanted pounds.

Fats, unbeknownst to many, can actually be converted to energy. The body just doesnt use it as the first priority because it is more complex in structure and therefore, harder to break down and convert into energy. Among the popular low carbohydrate diets in the country is the Atkins diet.

Despite arguments from its critics, low carbohydrate diet has proven its effectiveness in terms of losing that extra weight. To date, it counts millions of followers not only in the country but also outside America.

Actually, cutting down on carbohydrates in the diet is a practice that people have been doing for years. When people cut down on their rice or bread or do not eat rice at all, they are reducing their carbohydrate intake. Of course, because it is not an official diet plan they are not really restricting themselves completely. When you are under a diet plan, you are not allowed to eat any kind of carbohydrates.

One of the advantages of low carbohydrate diet is the fact that it can actually increase the levels of good cholesterol in the body. This is really good news to people who have a heart problem. This is perhaps the reason why Atkins diet was used for cardio patients. This diet plan can also reduce the amount of triglycerides in the body. Triglycerides can be dangerous when combined with a high level of LDL or bad cholesterol. Both can increase the risk for heart attack and heart disease.

Low carb diet plans are also found to be good in balancing mood swings. They will not be prone to extreme lows such as depression or extreme high. People who are under the program are found to have fairly stable energy levels unlike those with high carbo levels.

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