Tuesday, September 30, 2008

How Long Should I Diet to Lose Body Fat?

By Ricardo d Argence

How long should I diet if I am looking to lose weight fast? When you are trying to lose weight, these questions always come to mind: For instance, what you ought to be eating and when, or what diet plan you ought to try. I'll let you know the duration of a diet and how your success on it will be affected by that particular period of time.

So what's the real answer? The simple answer would be for as long as it takes for you to reach your weight loss goals. Well that might be the simple answer, but the truth is its wrong. When most people think about dieting they plan on doing it for a short time and then going back to their old eating habits. The problem with this is, if they go back to their old eating habits all their hard work dieting will be undone.

The true answer is: make a healthy diet a new habit, where you do it for life. You, see a diet shouldn't be a temporary fix. It should be a lifestyle change.

This common mistake is generally the reason why post dieters end up gaining more weight than they just lost.

Fact is, in order for a successful dieter to retain your new slimmer shape you must remain on a similar diet plan for the remainder of your life, perhaps not as severe, but with certainty a daily diet which does not exceed your necessary caloric intake. No more spontaneous dipping into the cookie jar to enjoy all the cookies you want.

The post dieter's daily diet must contain the amount of energy necessary to support the leaner shape. If calories are in excess, that excess gets stored within the fat cells which in turn adds pounds to the weight scales.

The main reason you are overweight to start with are your unhealthy eating habits. Don't ruin your accomplistments by going back an doing the same thing over.

Remember that weight maintenance isn't easy and demands smart monitoring and commitment just like weight loss.

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