Research has proven that people who take care of themselves are generally happier than people who tend to not pay attention to their diet and exercise regime. When thinking of improving your outward appearance, the most common things to change are your weight, your hair color, and your skin tone. It’s easy to get a spray tan and improve your self confidence with a glowing complexion, but you may also feel the need to change your weight. If you are someone trying to lose those extra 10 or 15 pounds, consider following a diet plan that’s proven to help people achieve their weight loss goals. Ignore the “fad” diets and the plans that seem too good to be true, because the truth is…they probably are. Below is a list of the Top 5 Most Common Diet Plans:
The Best Diets – Atkins
- Inexpensive
- Limited food groups
- Proven Success
If you can consider eliminating a large amount of carbohydrates from your diet, then Atkins will be a good option for you! This diet focuses on eating foods that are traditionally regarded as “rich.” Rich foods include food groups like meat, cheese, and other fats. This addition of rich foods also seems to help food cravings and reduces your appetite. Along with an increase in fats and protein, there is a severe limiting of refined sugar, milk, white rice, and white flour.
Expect low-carb consumption within the first two weeks followed by a gradual addition of sugars and carbohydrates back into your diet. This process is meant to help your body move from burning carbohydrates to a fat burn zone, something that has been proven to help people lose weight.
The Best Diets – Zone
- Limited Portions
- Strict Measurements
- Proven Success
Zone is based around the idea that food is like a drug, you have to take the right dose at the right time. Hormone balance and blood sugar are monitored to achieve a proper balance, and daily calories are capped at 1,200 for women and 1,500 for men. A special schedule of eating 5 times a day, with three meals and two snacks may be the answer you were looking for to create a consistent eating schedule. The Zone also requires you to balance your plate with 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein and 30 percent healthy fat.
The Zone diet is known to keep you feeling satisfied and full because it requires strategic snacking and that never lets you go 5 hours without eating. Zone is considered to be time-consuming and tedious, making eating out more difficult.
The Best Diets – Raw Food Diet
- Limited Food Choices
- Healthy and Added Benefits
- Proven Success
The Raw Food Diet is all about uncooked food, or food that hasn’t been heated over 118⁰ F. In addition to uncooked food, unprocessed and organic foods are given the highest importance. You may be asking, what are the benefits? When food is heated, the temperature change usually kills important enzymes your body needs to digest food. Heat also changes the pH level of food making it more acidic. In general, heating foods destroys vitamins and “live energy,” things that we need on a daily basis to feel alert and energized.
When food is kept under the recommended temperature, studies have concluded that you have more energy, you will lose weight, your skin has a better appearance, and your immune system improves dramatically.
There are plenty of resources for you to use if you are worried about how to fit your lifestyle into the Raw Food Diet. In particular, a conversion chart is helpful to compare what you eat now and how to slowly transition into a raw food lifestyle. Starting this diet is certainly challenging, but after the habit is made, the raw food diet has many benefits that you couldn’t get with any other diet regime.
The Best Diets – Weight Watchers
- Unlimited Food Groups
- Strict Measurements
- Proven Success
The Weight Watchers diet plan is centered on food choice flexibility and exercise. There are no food restrictions, but the plan does limit portions considerably. Every food and portion is broken down into Weight Watchers “points.” Dieters are given a certain amount of points to use throughout the day, as well as a weekly reserve to use when needed. This daily number of points is decided based on your weight loss goals and your body mass metrics. Weight Watchers requires measuring food and calculations in order to follow the plan correctly.
The Weight Watchers diet differs from other diet regimes because most vegetables and fruits are considered to have zero points unless mixed with other ingredients in a dish. There is an emphasis on turning to fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks instead of packaged and processed foods. Also, exercise offers extra points for times when you want to go out to dinner with friends and splurge. Weight Watchers even has an app so you can record your points on a mobile device.
The Best Diets – Mediterranean Diet
- Healthy Food Groups
- Success Still Debatable
- Avoids Processed Foods
The Mediterranean Diet is new to the diet world and considers removing all foods that are processed and unnatural. The Mediterranean Diet incorporates a Mediterranean cuisine into your daily life, meaning there is a high focus on fish with fewer high-fat meats and more low-fat plant proteins. This helps to avoid processed foods and eat more dishes that feature whole grains.
In this diet, there is a low to moderate consumption of dairy, like yogurt and cheese and a low percentage of saturated fat. Fruit is considered a dessert and drinking a glass of red wine is encouraged. The Mediterranean Diet avoids modern trends and processed convenience foods creating more required prep time and a higher expense on fresh foods.
It’s important to pick the right diet regime for you, looking at factors like food groups, portion sizes, and times of eating. All of these differences will help narrow down your search of the right plan and the right goals to set for yourself. Best of luck in your weight loss goals!