Identifying the Right Weight loss Diet for Your Goals

Are you onboard? Americans are pacing the shift towards healthy lifestyles. And nutrition experts are responding with several weight-loss strategies to help you achieve your goals.

According to the CDC, between 2015 & 2018, 17 percent of U.S. grownups aged 20 and above “were on a special diet on a given day,” and the numbers are rising. Many people resort to a premade weight loss diet hoping it’ll ease their journey to losing the extra pounds.

And while some see real results, others have discredited them for one reason or another or simply failed to benefit from them.

Types of Weight Loss Diets

Our list of nutrition and weight loss plans can help the body cut weight in two different ways;

  • By reducing appetite.
  • By restricting calories, fats, and carbs

It can be challenging to pick one of the two for obvious reasons. But remember, one person’s meat is another one’s poison, so this should be an entirely personal decision.

That being said, below are the most popular weight loss meal plans and how they can help you cut weight.

;Common Weight Loss Diets and How They Help You Cut Weight

Discover the nine common weight-loss strategies and how they help people cut weight.

1. The Paleo Diet

This is an ancient science diet that believes you should stick to the foods that your ancestors fed on.

The argument behind this theory is the close relationship between most current diseases and the western diet. The Paleo diet has been linked to many impressive health benefits.

In this diet, whole foods are highly emphasized, for example, leafy green vegetables, nuts, lean protein, fruits, and whole grains. The Paleo diet discourages the consumption of sugar, processed foods, and dairy products.

Advanced Paleo diet allows the eating of dairy products like butter and cheese and tubers like sweet potatoes.

Users of this meal plan see a reduction in waist size and significant weight loss. This diet involves eating fewer carbs, more protein, and a calorie range of 300–900 in a day.

Paleo diet is useful because it reduces cardiac-related illness by minimizing risk factors like cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar, and triglycerides.

2. The Vegan Diet

This type of diet restricts the eating of animal products because of environmental, health, and ethical reasons.

Veganism prohibits cruelty and exploitation of natural resources like animals and plant products. It is said to be the strictest form of vegetarianism.

Besides eliminating meat from the diet, it also eliminates eggs, dairy, and other animal products like honey, casein, gelatin, and albumin. This diet suits those checking on their weight because you don’t have to count on calories.

The diet comprises fiber-rich foods and low fats, making one feel full for a longer period. It ranks as the best, put side by side with others due to consistent links to lower BMI (body mass index) and body weight.

Lastly, it is based on cutting calorie intake as it eliminates meat consumption, thus is associated with a lower risk of heart illnesses like Type 2 Diabetes

3. Low-Carb Diets

This meal plan has helped many balance their weight for years. There are many types of low-carb weight loss diets, all of which aim at limiting the rate of carb intake.

This diet’s primary goal is to ensure your body burns more fats for fuel than carbs as its energy source.

When the body’s carb levels are lower, fatty acids are transported to the liver through the blood. In the liver, some of the carbs turn into ketones. Therefore, the body depends on fatty acids and ketones as a primary source of energy in the absence of carbs.

Low-carb diets play an important role in people who are obese and overweight. Other functions include: reducing the abdomen fats, which can be dangerous when the clog around body organs.

They also promote appetite loss, making one feel less hungry hence an automatic fall in calorie intake. Ketogenic diets cause more than twice the weight loss compared to a low-fat or calorie-restricted diet.

Low-carb diets protect you from disease risk factors like triglycerides, insulin fluctuation, cholesterol, blood pressure, and sugar levels in the body.

But a low-carb diet isn’t everyone’s cup of tea; while others feel super cool on it, others may feel miserable.

This type of diet is safe, but with some rare cases of increased “bad” LDL cholesterol among users.

4. The Dukan Diet

The type of weight loss diet has four phases.

  • Two weight-loss phases, and
  • Two maintenance phases

The Dukan diet comprises a low-carb weight loss and a high protein intake plan.

The average period spent in a phase depends on the weight you intend to lose. This type of diet focuses on the intake of high protein and oat bran. The remaining steps of the Dukan diet involve some carbs, fats, and nonstarchy vegetables.

Though the Dukan diet has not undergone tests, it may cause weight loss and lower your metabolism rate, resulting in loss of muscle mass.

5. The Ultra-Low-Fat Diet

This diet restricts the intake of fats to under 10% of calories/day. A low-fat diet produces approximately 30% of its calories as fat. The effectiveness of this approach reveals in the long term.

The ultra-low-fat diet argues that the rate of fat intake should remain under 10%, and traditional low-fat diets aren’t as low enough.

This diet derives fewer calories from fat and concentrates on plant products while limiting animal foodstuffs.

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As a result, it’s very rich in carbs and low in protein, making it the right weight loss diet for obese people.

The other benefits of ultra-low-fat diets are: controlling the risk factors for cardiac diseases, high blood pressure, inflammation, and shooting cholesterol levels. Plus, it helps in managing diabetes type 2.

Its only disadvantage is that it limits the intake of several healthy foods and lacks variety making it difficult to adhere to. It also restricts fat, a practice that may cause long-term health problems since fats are useful in many body processes.

6. The Atkins Diet

This is another well-known and widely used low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss.

Atkins diet advocates insist that one can lose weight by eating as much protein as fats while keeping off carbs. Low-carbohydrate plans are effective for weight loss because they reduce appetite.

And with this meal plan, one can take fewer calories without any worries.

How Atkins works

The diet is divided into two phases, namely:

  • The induction phase: At this point, you must eat less than 20 grams of carbs in a day for two weeks.
  • Gradual reintroduction: Here, you begin retaking healthy carbs once your weight goal nears.

According to studies, Atkins diets are so far the fastest weight loss diet. They also play a significant role in getting rid of abdomen fats. Other health benefits include reducing several diseases-causing factors like triglycerides, insulin levels, cholesterol, blood sugar, and pressure.

8. The Zone Diet

The Zone Diet is considered a low glycemic (low-GI) diet. Still, several studies indicate that its benefits are inconsistent.

The Zone diet boosts several essential health markers and decreases the risks of cardiac illnesses. It recommends the intake of carbs with a low glycemic index (GI).

The glycemic index’s (GI) role is to estimate the extent to which the food you take raises your glucose levels.

In the past, it was meant to reduce inflammation resulting from a diet, decrease the risk factors of chronic conditions, and cause weight loss.

The Zone Diet recommends having meals balanced with ⅓ protein and ⅔ fruits, veggies, and fats like olive oil, almonds, and avocados.

The diet limits high-GI carbs, like rice, bananas, and potatoes; hence, its major drawback is eliminating such healthy food sources.

9. Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting involves giving your body cycle breaks between fasting and eating.

It is an effective weight loss technique with several health benefits. Instead of restricting yourself from eating specific foods, it only controls when to have these meals.

As a result, many people view it more as a feeding pattern than a diet.

Below are some ways to do intermittent fasting:

  • The 16/8 Tactic

It involves restricting your daily eating period for up to 8 hours and skipping breakfast. And lastly, fasting for the rest of the hours remaining for the day to end (16 hours).

  • The feed-stop-feed strategy

Here, you are required to eat today and skip tomorrow.

  • The 5:2 approach

Here, calorie intake is restricted on two non-consecutive days a week.

  • The Warrior Diet

This involves eating raw fruits and vegetables in the day and one heavy meal at night.

It is a highly recommended weight loss method because of its calorie restriction.

The benefits of the diet include increases in the rate of metabolism and less muscle loss.

Additionally, it reduces blood sugar levels, cholesterol, inflammation, and blood triglycerides. Intermittent fasting is said to promote human growth hormone, boost cellular repair, and increase insulin sensitivity.

Its primary disadvantage is that it doesn’t suit everyone since fasting is only for the healthy and well-nourished.

Final Words

Which weight loss diet would you like to try? Do adequate research and ask a professional to help you choose a plan that will bring real results.