The 1000 calorie diet

The 1000 calorie diet

It seems like the trend of these days is to lose weight as fast as possible. Many people think that the perfect thing would be to go to bed at night and wake up in the morning much lighter. As that is not possible, they turn to all kind of methods to lose the excess weight they hate so much.

It's good that you want to take care of yourself, get slimmer and be healthier, but you need to pay some attention to the road you take in order to get there. If you never went to gym, and you are not an active person, you can't expect yourself to do 500 push-ups and 1000 crunches at once without your heart failing.

You need to take it slow, with baby steps, and maybe try walking on the treadmill for 15 minutes before you enroll yourself to the marathon.

The same goes with what you are eating. If you have a somewhat balanced diet, meaning that you consume the amount of calories that you should per day (1 300 - 1 500 for women, and 1 500 - 1 800 for men), but you do it by eating junk food, you won't be able to start a 500 calorie diet because you will starve yourself and give that up by the end of the day.

You could however, follow the 1000 calories diet, which will allow you to feel full, lose weight, and be healthy at the end of everything. Due to the fact that the human body is designed to lower its functions when it is not fed properly, it will try to lower the metabolism in order to cope with the lack of calories. Meaning that if you had a 1 500 calories per day intake and you cut to 1 000, your body will long for the other 500 calories.

In order to be able to stick with the plan, not feel hungry and remain healthy and energetic, you need to get those 1 000 calories from healthy foods like: big bowls of salads made from 2-3 leaves of salad, half of tomato, half of carrot, a few slices of cucumber, one or two red radish and one spring onion; or you can make a salad with half of tuna can in water, 2-3 slices of salad, one spring onion, 20g of corn, 20g green olives and half of boiled egg (a really small one that you cut in half). The dressing should always be made from a little salt, half of teaspoon - to a whole teaspoon of olive oil, a pinch of black pepper and a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice; don't use bought sauces, mayonnaise, or anything else that is fat or not specified above.

Always have some healthy snacks with you to chew on when you feel like you are getting hungry. Try carrot and cucumber sticks, apple slices, a handful of almonds, or choose one fruit that is not all that ripe (don't choose bananas). Ripe fruits have more fructose (sugar) in them which will sabotage your efforts.

It is preferable to have a fuller lunch that will give you energy through the day, rather than a big dinner. You can choose a small piece of lean meat (poultry, fish, veal) cooked healthy (steamed, roasted, grilled), garnished with some steamed vegetables (a handful of steamed carrots and broccoli) and a small salad. Never combine meat with potatoes. You can also eat fat free dairy products. If you choose yogurt, buy the plain one and add fruits yourself. Never buy the one that already has the fruits in, as it is filled with sugar.

As a last advice, choose water for your thirst. Coffee will make you feel hungry and eat more, so you should replace it with green tea (home made not bought), and juices are filled with sugar (even if they say they are fresh, natural or anything else).

Author : MIKE KAY