Diet Plan For Weight Loss

Obesity is one of the most important health problems which imposes a huge burden on the global economy every year. It is one of the main causes of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, each of which kills millions of people worldwide each year. Obese people are also more likely to develop cancers, bone diseases, inflammatory diseases, and sex hormone problems.
Based on WHO reports in 2016, 1.9 billion people aged 18 and over were overweight, and of these, 650 million adults were obese. In 2019, 38.2 million children under age 5 were overweight or obese.
Obesity is a multi-factorial problem, and various factors can play a role, such as genetic, environmental factors, and lifestyle. Among these factors, changes in the genetic predisposition of individuals to obesity are beyond our control, but the other two factors are easier to control. The best way to weight control is to improve lifestyle, including having a good and healthy diet plan for weight loss, being active, and avoiding stress.

There are several approaches to help obese patients to lose weight. Among them are:

1. Diet plan for weight loss and physical activity
2. Supplements to reduce appetite, boost metabolism, and help fat burning during a weight loss diet
3. Surgical methods like bypass
4. Weight loss medical machines

Once patients refer to dietitians to lose weight, the first step is to help them change their lifestyle. As we say above, the best way to lose weight is to improve your lifestyle. Lifestyle includes physical activity and changing dietary habits.
The main reasons for the increasing rate of obesity worldwide are a sedentary lifestyle and having an unhealthy diet plan. So, by modifying these two factors, we can control obesity successfully.

Between environmental factors that involve obesity, dietary habits are more important for weight loss. Fast foods, high-calorie snacks, refined carbs, fried foods, low intake of vegetables, and high-fat dairy are the main suspects of obesity. Increasing per capita consumption of fast food is one reason for the increase in obesity in Western societies. So, by changing dietary habits, we can help ourselves to lose weight. But how? Let's learn.

The first step to changing dietary habits for weight loss is improving eating habits. Here are some common eating habit mistakes that you may make and recommendations for healthy eating habits:

1. If you are trying to lose weight, don't watch TV while eating meals because it will disrupt you and lead to overeating.
2. Don't talk with your family or friends or on the phone because it will distract you and lead to overeating.
3. Don't prepare a variety of foods. Just eat a single food in every meal because variations make you excited to overeat.
4. Minimize side dishes because too many side dishes will increase your appetite and lead to gaining weight.
5. Don't drink beverages between meals because they lead to dyspepsia (Upper abdominal discomfort or pain that often occurs after eating or drinking), and squeeze the foods in your stomach. Finally, you feel that you can eat more and more.
6. Eat salad and vegetables half an hour before meals; it fills your stomach and decreases your appetite.
7. Eat less starch at every meal.

Is it true that some foodstuffs can help you to lose weight?
There is little evidence that eating certain foods can cause weight loss. There is no magic in foods if you don't stop eating more than your need. So, as we said before, the main way to lose weight is to control eating and have a proper weight loss diet. So, if you are looking for a shortcut to bypass the main way, I have to disappoint you.
Some foods can increase your metabolism and help your body convert what you eat and drink into energy. Here are some of the most important ones to know about.

Coffee
The caffeine content of coffee can enhance metabolism, and drinking a cup of coffee 1 hour before exercise can accelerate fat burning. But if you serve it with cream or sugar, it's not helpful for weight loss and leads to obesity. We do not recommend drinking coffee for people who have gastritis or peptic ulcers.

Green Tea
A couple of claims introduce green tea as a potent fat burner. It can increase metabolism and decrease appetite and lead to weight loss. But there is not enough evidence for that. Green tea contains anti-oxidants and is a good source for preventing cancer. If you suffer from low blood pressure, take anti-hypertensive pills, or have a history of kidney stones, don't drink green tea before consulting your dietitian or doctor.

Black Pepper
It contains capsaicin which increases metabolism and helps fat burning and weight loss. Don't consume a lot of spices if you suffer from a peptic ulcer or acid reflux disease.

Garcinia cambogia
There is a claim that it prevents transforming glucose to fat, reduces the appetite, and finally helps with weight loss. But the evidence is controversial. It may damage the liver. Doing more research is needed on the side effects of using Garcinia cambogia.

Apple Cider Vinegar
There is a claim that drinking it before every meal or taking the supplement can curb the appetite and burn fat. But there is no approved evidence about the impact of apple cider vinegar on weight loss.

Garlic
some people say if you use garlic fast in the morning, it helps burn fat and eventually weight loss. But there is no approved evidence.

What do you think if someone claims that drinking water can help you lose weight?
When you drink water at least eight glasses per day in your weight loss diet, it can boost your metabolism and make you burn fat. And even if you are at the weight plateau level (the level that occurred after a long-term weight loss diet and you no longer lose weight), drinking water helps you pass this unpleasant level. But be careful: drinking water while eating food has the opposite effect.

There are a couple of different weight loss diets on the internet with tempting promises that mislead you.

✓ How do I get which weight loss diet is good and healthy?
Good question! The best diet plan for weight loss helps you continuously and slowly lose weight and is rich in nutrients. It doesn't keep you hungry and contains all food groups such as vegetables, fruits, cereal, meat, etc.
It is optimal to lose about 2-4 kg per month, not more. So, if someone claims that you can lose 10 kilograms per month safely by following a specific weight loss diet, do not trust that person.

✓ What will happen if you lose weight very fast?
When you lose weight too quickly, there can be consequences. Among them are:

• Fatty liver:
A massive amount of fat that is released from fat stores enters the bloodstream, circulates into the liver, and stores there, which can be the cause of fatty liver.

• Gallstone:
Cholesterol gallstones are formed because the bile is supersaturated with too much cholesterol in the bloodstream.

• Losing muscle instead of fat:
Fat cells are inactive tissues and take time to burn. When you put force on your body to lose weight in a short time, according to the calorie restriction severely, your body will burn muscle to produce glucose to protect you against the lack of energy. So, you start to lose muscle instead of fat. Now, what will happen? The metabolism decreases again, and you will gain weight easier this time.

• Getting back to the previous weight in a short time

• Metabolism slowing down

Now we understand the effect of a professional weight loss diet plan. But how long do we continue the weight loss diet?
You should follow the weight loss diet since you reach the ideal body weight. After that, you shouldn't completely abandon your diet but follow a weight maintenance diet, a diet that will keep you fit over time. If you stop the following diet, your weight will return to the base weight or the yo-yo effect.

What's the yo-yo effect?

After several attempts to lose weight, it occurs, abandons the diet, and returns to the previous weight. So, your body gets lazier, and the metabolism decrease more and more, and every time it takes a longer time to lose weight again. Several times of losing and gaining weight will waste your muscle but keep your fat stores.

As we said above, the best diet for losing weight is the one that contains all nutrients. Do you know about My Plate Plan?
USDA recommended a plate for a healthy diet. This plate contains 30% grains which are recommended with 50% whole grains at least, 40% of all types of vegetables, 10% fruits, 20% protein, which is suggested to be provided more than white meat, eggs, and legumes, and also accompanied by a small number of dairies like a cup of yogurt or a glass of milk. This plate well describes a healthy and balanced diet.
Many diets can be effective if followed by a nutritionist but can be life-threatening if taken in without dietitian control. One of these diets is the ketogenic diet that may you heard its name.

What Is the Keto Diet?

The keto diet is a diet based on increasing fat intake and decreasing carbohydrates. This diet is a strategy to reduce the number of seizures in people with epilepsy, but it is also used as a losing weight diet. As we know, the main food of our brain is glucose, and in an emergency situation, when the blood glucose is very low, the brain can also burn the ketone body (ketone bodies are produced in the liver from fats that the brain can use). The fat to total carbohydrates and protein ratio in this diet is 4 to 1. Due to the low percentage of carbohydrates in this diet, the body burns fat to provide fuel for the brain, so the person loses weight. But if this diet is not controlled by a nutritionist and is consumed for a long time, it will cause severe damage to the brain and the production of kidney stones and gallstones. The maximum time a person can use the diet is ten days. Therefore, using this regimen at home is not recommended at all.
Actually, the ketogenic diet is insufficient in nutrients, and following this for a long time has dangerous side effects on health status.

✔ You can read about the ketogenic diet here.

As we said before, once overweight or obese patients are referred to a dietitian, the dietitian starts by changing their lifestyle to help them. But sometimes (especially for BMI over 35), changing lifestyle can't be helpful lonely, and the dietitian needs another source to help like supplements or slimming aids or maybe surgery.

There are some supplements besides a weight loss diet that can help to lose weight; some known weight loss supplements include:

• Green tea extract supplement: it can be helpful along with a low-calorie diet. It boosts the metabolism, but please use it with caution if you have low blood pressure.
• Caraway-seed supplement: there is little evidence about its effect on losing weight. But some evidence shows that it can increase metabolism and help to burn fat.
• Senna powder: it's not a specialized medicine for losing weight. It's just a laxative drug. People, after using it suppose to lose weight, but it's temporary. Long-term use and prolonged and arbitrary consumption causes severe adverse effects on the gastrointestinal system and increases blood pressure.
• Ginger: metabolism booster
• Cinnamon: metabolism booster
• Chitosan: metabolism booster and fat burner; it also helps reduce LDL cholesterol.
• Psyllium: appetite reducer
• White bean extract: fat burner
• Yerba mate tea: the fat burner and metabolism booster
• Ginseng: metabolism booster

Some devices help with fat burning and weight loss. One of the best well-known ones is the RF-Cavitation machine. By emitting a bunch of waves, this machine raises the temperature of the water around the fat cells, and then the water hits the fat cells with great force and causes the fat cells to burst. Of course, the efficiency of this device also depends on diet and physical activity.
People with diabetes, high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, and fatty liver should not use this machine.

From all that has been said about losing weight, we determined patience as the most important thing in this process. Losing weight is a time taking process. Remember! You didn't gain weight in one day, and you won't lose it in one day.