So you have made the resolution that is the entire year you are going to lose weight and enter the best form you will ever have. You're not heading to stay for second best - you are going to achieve that fantasy body you've always needed.

Great information - this can be the best time to make that dedication. Why? Because you may take benefit of the powerful momentum and energy, a fresh Year brings to accomplish your weight reduction dreams.

But there is nothing worse than investing in losing weight, only to get lost among the five gazillion diets out there. It can get confusing - you may end up wasting a lot of money and effort. You may end up wondering which food is the BEST diet for you.

You may even end up feeling so frustrated that you give up on your dream of becoming slim and healthy. But it doesn't have to be that way.

To have rapid weight loss success, you have to find the best diet for you (a.k.a. the food that will speed you towards your dream body at lightning speed). You can find an incredible number of diets - but just a few that are best for you as well as your lifestyle.

The very best diet for you should have the three key features the following. Choose your daily diet with these three critical elements at heart, and you're already halfway to your bodyweight loss dreams.

#1 Proven Success Rate

Is there before and after pictures of individuals who've lost weight with that one diet? Is there customer recommendations? Have there been 3rd party tests done on the diet's success rate?

The diet you choose doesn't have to have all three of these but try to find at least some kind of proven success rate before choosing that particular program.

Finding a diet with a proven success rate not only lets, you know that the diet works, but it also helps give you the confidence that the diet will work FOR YOU.

Confidence is one of the most underrated factors in a successful weight loss program. If you've tried and failed with diets before you especially need that extra boost of confidence to carry you through the more difficult times in the diet. By reminding yourself that this diet has been proven to work - you'll be able to continue and achieve your weight reduction goals.

A related feature that gets extra factors is if the dietary plan has been suggested by a specialist or your physician. Again this increases your self-confidence that the nutritional program is effective and safe.

#2 Affordable

Losing weight shouldn't cost you thousands (unless we're discussing surgery here and that is a completely different article). The very best diet will be affordable for the average individual.

If the dietary plan costs too much, be very dubious and look somewhere else. There are way too many shady diets out there so that as a consumer, it pays to be cautious.

I'll give you an example of what I mean:

A close friend of mine went to a public weight loss clinic in our area and was told she needed to pay the annual fees in advance (around $1000 Excluding food). Also they informed her she needed to buy their food in mass (like $500 for a year's worth of-of delicious chocolate).

When the delicious chocolate gave her centre palpitations, and she needed to take it back again, they told her it was non-refundable. She was out the money for the chocolate. Plus, she feels she can't leave the program because she's paid the yearly fees (which, you guessed it, are also non-refundable).

She, unfortunately, made the mistake of ignoring her instincts and paying way too much money for a diet program. If you notice you're being requested significant fees right from the gate, warning lighting should be blinking in your thoughts.

Now on the other hands, the best diet Can cost you something. It is better if you put some money up for grabs for your daily diet program. Why? Since when we invest in something we're much more likely to stay with it. When we spend money on something, we will continue and get the results we wish.

For example, I did so a liver cleansing several months back. I'm not necessarily into liver organ detoxing, but I read articles and thought I'd check it out.

The detox package cost me an impressive $50 so when I opened up the instructions they explained I had to stop junk food for 14 days. In nearly any other universe I'd have laughed and ignored about detoxing my liver organ. But because I'd shelled out $50, I was invested - I decided that I hoped wouldn't starve from lack of junk food over two weeks and suffered through it.

If I'd gotten the detox kit for free, there's no way I would have followed those instructions. But because I was invested, I followed through and now had a healthier liver thanking me for it.

So when searching for the best diet, putting out some money on yourself and your dreams of a better body is a healthy thing. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars on it.

#3 Compatible with Your Tastes and Lifestyle

It is THE most crucial step however it's the one where most people go wrong. When choosing a diet, they only pick one and go, without considering if it is compatible with their tastes and lifestyle.

For example, if you hate feeling deprived or empty you might want to choose a program that lets you eat many times during the day, so you don't feel hungry. If you get bored quickly, you want a diet program that gives you tremendous variety and flexibility. If you don't do a lot of cooking or food preparation, you'll want to look at a program where the food is pre-made for you.

Diets are like cars - there are hundreds of different models out there, each with their unique features. And they can get you where you want to go. But your personality might gel better with specific features than others.

Dieting is hard enough. Don't make it harder on yourself by choosing a diet not compatible with who you are. Setting yourself up for success will also guarantee that you'll stick it out until you reach your goal.

And one other thing, the best diet will be one that you can get excited. Choose a diet that you enjoy, that you believe in that may be - gulp - fun.

Emotional excitement will fade in time, yes. But it can give you enough of an emotional push to get you over the initial hump. By that time your first few pounds will have come off and will serve as your continuing motivation.

So those are three key considerations when looking for the best diet. Keep them in mind, and you will progress in leaps and bounds towards your dream body. Remember, planning now may seem annoying - but it's the key to your future weight loss success.

Atkins Diet Yes or No

As of now, January 2005, more than half of all North Americans are struggling with obesity. The “quick fix” for “fat” for the last 40+ years, becoming ever more popular, has become the Atkins Diet. The Atkins Diet was first popularised in the U. S. Air Force during the 1960’s.

The Atkins Diet is very simple --- restrict your carbohydrate intake. And guess what? It works. But Dr Atkins, after the initial few years of his popularised diet, began to make modifications and refinements to the original primary diet. And several other people have taken the essential Atkins Diet, modified it just a little, and come up with a new and very workable diet.

The first thing you must understand is that, across the entire human spectrum, each of us is very different from one another in the chemical makeup of our body. Thus, each of us, individually, should have our own highly personalised, custom built diet, created by a dietician using a chemical makeup assessment, usually a $200 hair analysis, of our particular body type and individual nutritional needs. So far as I know, this technology and this dietary type assessment are still available only through individual holistic health practitioners, and it is becoming more and more expensive. As an example, it typically costs now between $200 and $300, whereas in the mid-1970’s it cost between $100 and $150.

There are three significant misconceptions about the Atkins diet. The first standard myth is many people believe these means don’t worry about the number of calories or fat you eat so long as it's not carbs. The second common myth is many people believe all carbohydrates are equally bad. The third common myth is that the Atkins “Lo-Carb” diet is a “Hi-Protein” diet. All of these, however, are huge misconceptions.

The first myth: many dieters who use this program believe that calories and fat do not matter when eating low carb food, but in some cases, this has proven to be fatal. Depending upon your particular body chemistry, when eating high-fat food, your cholesterol could climb and climb, leading to a heart attack or stroke. Also, it has now been proven that the older we become, the less our body can metabolise the “high fat” portion of the Atkins “lo-carb” diet, leading to additional dietary and health problems.

The next myth: The Atkins Diet is genuinely a “Lo-Carb” diet, not a “No-Carb” diet. What should be cut out are bread, rice and potatoes. Fruits and vegetables shouldn't be scale back, and many should be relatively increased. Finally, following the first month, you can “properly” add bread and potatoes --- in limited amounts. One friend of mine eats one bite of bread/toasts, etc., offered with his foods, such as garlic bread. One taste rather than a morsel more.

The 3rd myth: Mention the Atkins Diet & most people’s response is “Oh, yes, the ‘high proteins’ diet.” Incorrect in any way --- it’s a “LOW CARBOHYDRATE” diet - proteins consumption remains unchanged. Some carbs only, not entirely all, are limited (versus eliminated utterly); extra fat, particularly in the elderly, have to be restricted; proteins should be held to 4-6 ounce servings per meal, the low values for breakfast time and lunch. What you ought to increase is your consumption of high fibre foodstuffs such as celery, etc.

The principal reason why the Atkins Diet works is basically that your system metabolises its stored fats (sugars) to be able to burn off --- process --- the proteins, fibre and fats you are eating. The Atkins Dieters tend to omit several food groupings, including fruit and veggies, being that they are “high carb food”, and then have a tendency to get a steak instead, which includes very low sugars.

This is absurd. Why? As the elimination of sugars and the reduced amount of the fresh vegetables & fruits throws your wellbeing into a significant imbalance. Overloading your unbalanced diet by an excessive amount of protein consumption (adding that steak, above) to “raise the volume” to a gratifying level exacerbates merely this imbalance.

The actual threat of the Atkins Diet, however, is based on the fact that, for individuals who currently have health issues, the Atkins Diet worsens some conditions and creates other health issues that didn't exist before the Atkins Diet. The most severe of the is Gout. When you have a propensity to suffer gout, no matter how well managed you own it, a tight Atkins Diet will generate a severe gout condition and gout strike for you. If you merely acquired the propensity for gout without energetic gout, the Atkins Diet will precipitate a genuine condition of gout within you. A severe case of gout requires medical involvement to improve as well as long-term eating control and change. The long-term threat of gout can be an increased propensity for coronary attack and heart stroke. See Native’s Present for just one proven help for gout.

If your system type and chemical substance cosmetic are ideal for the Atkins Diet, then you should use it. Understand that there are several similar alternatives out there which might be more suitable when compared to a strict Atkins, to add a few of Dr Atkins own later work and suggestions. When you have health challenges, to add a propensity for gout or have problems with gout, or have diabetes or some of the other disorders, the Atkins diet is undoubtedly something you will need to avoid.

And not merely the Atkins Diet. Every diet which profoundly limit or eliminate one of the fundamental food groups most of us need to keep optimal wellbeing is similarly wrong. Stop the insanity and use a good diet --- the only proven diet that will work for practically everyone.

The facts? It's actually a couple of things: A food exercise and diet - yes, simple exercise, like walking a mile per day. A thoroughly well balanced, limited calorie, diet formulated with a small amount of everything. Eat three foods a day, get a sweet, carbs, vegetables, fruits, juices, proteins and keep it to 1200 calories from fat per day. Eat your breakfast time and venture out and walk your dog - if you don’t have one, take your neighbor’s. Give this specific diet a year you will ever have, consider yourself every Mon and keep an eye on your bodyweight, see what your location is with it and make the change for the others you will ever have. When you can your target body weight, you may raise the diet to 1600 calories from fat a day.

Weight Reduction Diets: STEPS TO MAKE Them Work

As everybody knows, weight reduction diets are big business. And taking a look at the statistics, you can see why. Presently, around 58 million American people are overweight (BMI 25+), of whom approximately 40 million are obese (BMI 30+), 9.6 million are significantly obese, and 6 million have problems with super-obesity (BMI 40+). Worldwide figures on overweight are similarly alarming, as shown in the new term "globesity". In China, the amount of obese people has increased from significantly less than ten percent to 15 percent in only three years.

In Brazil and Colombia, the shape of overweight is approximately 40 percent - similar with several Europe. Even sub-Saharan Africa is viewing a rise in weight problems, especially among metropolitan women. In every region, obesity seems to escalate as income raises. And the bigger the occurrence of obesity, the higher the incidence of weight-related disease, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders like insulin resistance, and cancers of the breast and colon.

CONVENTIONAL DIET METHODS

Both the US Surgeon General and the Dietary Guidelines For Americans (2005) issued by the US Dept of Agriculture emphasised the need for calorie control and increased physical exercise to reduce the overweight epidemic, but evidence suggests that conventional diet methods do not provide significant weight reduction, due to poor compliance. Surveys show that annual weight loss resulting from convention diet and exercise programs averages less than 8 pounds per annum, while in a 4-year follow-up study of plans incorporating the use of obesity drugs, behaviour modification, diet and exercise, the final average weight loss was 3 pounds. This apparent failure of conventional weight loss methods is often contrasted with the 30-40 percent average weight loss following bariatric surgery.

FOOD COMPOSITION OF DIETS

Fashion sells products, and weight loss diets are no exception. First, we had low-fat foods, which were promoted as heart-friendly ways of reducing weight. Unfortunately, this message was interpreted by consumers as "all fats are bad, all carbs are good", and led to unhealthy over-consumption of refined carbs. With the relaunch of Dr Atkins "New Diet Revolution", the fashion pendulum swung the other way. Now carbs were the enemy, not fat.

After Atkins came the South Beach Diet, which offered us a more moderate low-carb approach. Now, it is GI diets - based on foods with a lower glycemic response - that is high fashion and, being scientifically more beneficial, are likely to remain so for some time. However, while the food composition of diets may change, the fundamental law of weight loss remains unaltered: calorie expenditure must exceed calorie intake. To this extent, provided a diet is calorie-controlled and includes foods from all food groups, the exact composition of foods remains no more than a matter of personal taste.

GENERAL EATING AND EXERCISE HABITS

When assessing the effectiveness of standard dieting methods, due regard must be paid to general eating habits. In America at least, these do not look like helpful. Despite the mounting evidence of weight-related ill-health, sociable eating habits continue to develop in unhealthy directions. Value-for-money "supersizing" continues to entice customers, while fast-food sales continue to rise. And the continuing demand for "instant" food only inspires the food industry to produce more and more processed food options bulging with nutritional deficiency and calorie-overload. Is it any wonder that levels of diet-compliance among average dieters is so low? Meantime, an estimated 78 percent of Americans do not meet necessary activity level recommendations, while 25 percent are completely sedentary.

IS SUPPORT THE ANSWER?

If conventional diet programs remain less than perfect ways of tackling overweight in the face of engrained eating habits, it would be misleading to write them off completely. Not only does research data from the US National Weight Control Registry demonstrate that long-term weight reduction is entirely achievable, some diet programs, especially medically-supervised clinic-based programs, are consistently effective. What distinguishes these diets is the level of counselling support which subjects receive. Nowadays, this support can be provided in various ways, including mandatory group meetings, one-on-one sessions, online forums or chat-rooms. And it seems to work. For example, according to recent studies, the average weight reduction for a 10-12 week clinic-based obesity program involving meal-replacement diets, exercise and counselling support is 5.5 pounds.

FINDING MORE SUPPORT

If getting proper support is one way of improving conventional diets, dieters need to rethink their approach. Instead of focusing attention on finding the optimal eating-plan, they need to look for programs offering optimal support. Weight Watchers is an obvious choice but diets organised around the workplace or other social groupings may also provide natural help. Online applications with forum support might also be considered. In any event, there is no substitute for a reliable dieting partner.

ADOPTING HEALTHY HABITS

Given the fact that losing as little as 7-10 percent of body weight can improve many of the problems linked to being overweight, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, some obesity experts advocate a less formal approach to calorie control. They recommend adopting certain healthy habits rather than carrying out a specific diet. A good example might be considered a 200-calorie-a-day decrease achievable by firmly taking a moderate 30 tiny walk, and switching from (say) dairy to skimmed milk. It will save 73,000 calories from fat a calendar year - the same as 20 pounds of surplus fat. The commercial emotion to the approach has already been noticeable in programs like the "Three Hour Diet", which suggests regular eating to keep a reasonable rate of fat burning capacity. Be prepared to see more excess weight loss programs such as this, which emphasise specific behaviours.

CONCLUSION

Current degrees of overweight and obesity require immediate attention. To work, popular diet plans need to provide optimum support rather than excellent food composition, to be able to assist in diet compliance. For those who are not able or unwilling to check out a specific weight loss program, making small but specific changes may be sufficient to attain critical improvements in health.