What Every Person Should Know Before Starting a Diet

by Mary Mason-Shields

Before starting a weight loss program, you should know why losing unwanted pounds is so much harder than gaining. You should focus more on your health than the loss of pounds alone. Just before you start any diet or weight loss plan, you should set your weight loss goal. Make sure your goal is realistic, one that you can stick to until you reach that goal.

Just before you start any diet or weight loss plan, you should set your weight loss goal. Make sure your goal is realistic, one that you can stick to until you reach that goal.

Your weight loss plan should not be structured in a way that you are losing weight too fast. Losing weight too fast will produce unhealthy and unsuccessful results. Oftentimes, the weight you think you are losing is fluid, not fat. It is hard to control the cycle of weight loss and weight again if you are on a quick weight loss plan.

Before starting a weight loss program, you must be cognizant of the media. The media preys on your emotional senses. The media will give you so many weight loss choices it will be hard for you to make a realistic choice. You need to have some knowledge of what type of diet will give you the desired results.

There are several ways to lose weight. You can lose water or fluid weight, lose muscle weight and you can lose body fat. Losing water weight is probably the easiest to do but it comes with some risks. You could reduce your water intake, thus losing water weight, which will lead to dehydration. This is definitely not a healthy way to lose a few pounds. When you return to drinking water, the weight you thought you lost will be regained.

Reducing your caloric intake too much causes your body to slow down your metabolism. When your metabolism slows down, your body gets its energy from your muscle tissue because you have stopped losing fat. In this instance you are losing muscle weight.

Before starting a weight loss plan, evaluate each of the statements above so that you can become knowledgeable in planning your weight loss. In order to lose weight successfully, you simply need to burn more calories than your caloric intake and maintain your metabolism level. Keep in mind that the maximum healthy weight loss is between two and five pounds per week. Anything more is considered unhealthy and unrealistic.