Ready for a diet that will help you just lose weight?
This simple diet will help you drop weight, but more importantly it will help you learn how to naturally keep weight off and be healthier, something few diets even try and do.
That about sums it up. Learn more about it and the specifics below.
28 Pounds Down and Healthier Than Ever…
First of all this diet works. I have used it personally. It has also worked for many other people as well.
Second of all it really isn’t a diet at all. It is a healthier way of eating and living.
You see I needed to drop a few pounds a while back for my brothers wedding. I didn’t want to be the fat and ugly brother.
Thanks to this diet I at least took care of the fat part.
I dropped 28 pounds in just over 3 months. My wife started using it and has been dropping weight fast as well.
The best part is I use it to maintain weight and stay healthy as well (it has worked wonders through multiple traditionally big eating holidays).
Other good side affects are feeling healthier than ever and looking better than ever as well.
There is nothing special to buy & no counting calories required.
Let’s get started!
The Fat Factor – Why Are You Fat?
Before we jump into the diet we need to talk about why and how you gained that extra weight, and maybe why you are having a hard time losing it.
You have to figure out why you gained weight in the first place to successfully lose it and keep it off.
This step is essential. Without it you will be working against yourself.
There are lots of reasons why people gain extra pounds (several reasons for most people), but once you figure them out you can start to overcome them.
If it is a habit holding you back the best way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.
I personally loved to eat way too much bread and butter at dinner time (sadly it was my bread and butter…please excuse my lame jokes…).
My solution was to start eating my full balanced meal with extra veggies before I would eat bread and butter. This helped me reduce how much I ate from 5 or more pieces a sitting down to 1 or none.
Removing this one bad eating habit helped me lose my first 15 pounds.
Hopefully you can see why this is so important…
What You Eat
Fortunately this diet is simple.
Unfortunately simple isn’t always easy, and it can be hard to break old habits, but in this case it is very effective.
If you stick with it you will be much lighter and healthier overall!
Since this is not a diet, but more of a lifestyle we are starting with maintaining your weight. To lose weight instructions are below.
Each Day You Can Eat…
- 3 Servings of Grains Or Less – Grains are things like oatmeal, bread, rice, noodles, and cereal. In general people eat far too many of these. By limiting the number you eat each day you make it easier to drop weight quickly. By only eating the whole grain versions you will drop weight faster, and be healthier.
- At Least Three Servings of Fruit a Day – Fruit is great for you. It is also a great source of energy that is hard to get fat on.
- At Least Three Servings of Vegetables a Day – Vegetables are also really good for you. If you eat enough variety and quantity of these you will never need a vitamin again!
- Eat Protein Daily – Getting a variety of protein will help your body to stay in a fat burning mode all the time. I like to get protein from a variety of sources like eggs, meat, and nuts. The amount is up for debate. I suggest starting at 2 servings and figuring out what you need for your body.
That is the heart of the diet.
Everything else can be eaten in moderation (fried foods, candy, dessert, and over processed food are what I am talking about here).
Potatoes, or other starches should be eaten very moderately because they are a great way to add weight, and that is something we are trying to avoid right?
Legumes like beans and peas can also be eaten to taste in moderation.
Dairy is good for you if you like it, just don’t eat 10 servings a day stick to 1 or 2.
Eating dairy or not is a personal health choice in my opinion so figure out if you are healthier with or without it. When I am trying to maintain my weight & health I will eat 1 or 2 servings of dairy a day.
Most of my food is fruits and vegetables. They are my primary source of energy most days. After my body adjusted to the different variety and quantities of food I talk about here I have been stronger, more energetic, and get more done.
In general grains lead to you feeling bloated, tired, and often give you that uncomfortable too full feeling after a meal when you eat them in excess. Research is starting to show (& I sincerely believe) that many health problems people have are linked at least in part to their diets having far to many grains in them.
When you follow the above, initially you will drop some weight, but will also start to feel much better. For most people the biggest change with this diet will be fewer grains. Honestly we need to stop living off of grains and out of a deep fryer.
The results are worth it.
Following this diet will help you easily maintain your weight because the foods in it naturally help you lose weight, reach your optimum health, and prevent disease and other problems that poor food choices can bring about.
If You Are Trying to Lose Weight…
The Fast Plan…
When trying to lose weight stick rigidly to eating only fruits (2 serving or less), vegetables (unlimited), and proteins (3- 5 servings, more if extra hungry).
Avoid dairy, legumes, and all grains.
One day a week eat up to 5 servings of grains or legumes for a relaxed food choice day. This will help prepare your body to drop serious weight.
For a more relaxed plan…
Eat the above with 1 serving of grains or legumes each day (best to eat these earlier in the day). A single serving of dairy can be added daily on the relaxed plan.
If you need a snack eat some protein or a piece of fruit, not grains.
Calorie counting can be used to be sure you aren’t accidentally eating more calories than you intend to. Most often people eat more calories than they think! Calorie counting can help you be less likely to do so.
Calorie counting isn’t required but can be very beneficial for some.
What You Avoid
We just covered what you can eat. Now we are going to talk about what to avoid eating and doing.
These things are the best ways to put on extra weight, so please follow them.
They also aren’t that healthy for you.
Don’t Drink Calories – Avoid Soda, Booze, Juice, Milk, and anything with calories. I skip coffee as well but that’s a personal choice. Drinking calories doesn’t reduce appetite, and they can go easily go strait to fat.
Don’t Eat More than 3 Servings of Grains a Day – Yes this is a repeat from above. Excessive grain consumption is a significant cause of obesity and diabetes. Eat only 3 a day and you will lose weight!
Don’t Eat More than 1-2 Servings of Dessert or Other Treats a Week – These taste great, but will just make it hard to stay healthy and lose weight when you regularly eat them in excess!
The biggest key to this diet helping you is simply cutting out the obvious excess.
Speed Up Your Results
These are optional but are very effective at speeding up weight loss.
Individually they can also help you more easily maintain your weight. They all have brought me better health and very fast results.
- Eat No Grains At All – This will help you stay in a fat burning mode 24 hours a day.
- Add a 24 hour Fast Weekly – Starting after a meal eat nothing for 24 hours. You start eating the next day at the time you started fasting, but only a normal meal, do not eat extra calories to make up for the missed meals through the day. Learn more about fasting here.
- Have a Big Eating Day Weekly – Once a week eat more food (carbs & fat) than you regularly do when dieting. I eat my dairy, grains, and desserts on this day. These foods send the message that life is normal and there is no need to head into starvation mode. Don’t go to overboard and destroy your progress because you can’t really cheat. Just eat more carbs and fat than normal and you will get the positive results of a cheat day without gaining extra weight.
- Add in Exercise – If you add exercise to your routine you will be maximizing the effects of your diet. I suggest resistance training (lifting heavy stuff) and some intervals for maximum effect.
To Be Extra Healthy
If you want to really improve your health follow these tips.
- Avoid Artificial Sweeteners (like in Zero Calorie Drinks, and almost any preprocessed foods).
- Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup – I don’t make a big deal out of this because it is hard to avoid, but if you can do it. This stuff and artificial sweeteners are not natural and make it very hard for your body to work right.
- Eat 5-8 servings of Fruits Daily – These will replace other less healthy sources of calories. The key is variety, eating 8 bananas is hard.
- Eat 5-8 servings of Vegetables Daily – These will help you get lots of energy, vitamins and minerals, and help to increase your metabolism. Again the key is variety.
Why it works…
This diet is based on what our bodies are naturally designed to eat, and also the Glycemic Index (GI). The lower the GI rating of a food the less likely it is to spike your blood sugar levels, and tell your body to start trying to store any extra calories as fat. The higher the GI rating a food has the more likely it will be to get your body to store more fat if you eat any extra calories.
This diet works well because it is focused on eating foods that are great for telling your body to burn fat instead of storing it (low GI). Grains as you may have guessed are great at telling your body to store fat rather than burn it (high GI). Meat, fruits, and vegetables send the message to just keep burning fat (low GI).
In Summary…
Like I mentioned above, this is a good diet for losing some weight and learning how to become healthier. It is also a great diet for maintaining a healthy weight.
You will probably lose 1 to 3 pounds a week following this healthy diet.
The best part about this diet is that it works.
It is flexible, and will help you get to know your body better.
It will help you be healthier for the rest of your life.
It might even make your wildest dreams come true, just saying.
Questions? Leave them in the comments or contact me!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
without milk and yogurt and cheese i get really bad yeast infections??? what can i do if i cut out the dairy??
Tammy, I would eat the dairy things you need to avoid those infections and just cut out grains completely. And I would try eating the dairy mostly earlier in the day.
You may find that the grains could be the cause of the yeast infections overall, but that would be something you would only be able to tell with careful testing on yourself by controlling exactly what you eat.