Basic rules of slimming diet. Everything you need to know!

Only around 15-20% of people who are trying to lose weight achieve a durable effect of body mass reduction. The rest is coming back to previous bad nutritional habits, and therefore, scales are quickly showing the same amount of kilograms as before the diet or even more. Is there any solution for that? Yes - a well composed reduction diet.

How does proper dieting work? It’s about energetic value of our diet which has to be lower than organism needs. Constant energetic deficit of around 1000 kcal per day enables body mass reduction in a rate of 1 kilogram per week.

In practice that means following a diet with energetic value on level of around 1200 kcal/day for women and around 1500 kcal/day for men.

Bigger caloric restrictions are risky because they cause metabolic rate decrease and that means we can have problems with keeping body mass after finishing the diet. 

But counting calories is not enough. Every reduction diet has to be well balanced, in other words it has to provide basic nutritional components in good proportions - proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Obviously it should be based on basic nutrition rules. What does it mean in practice?

● Regulating the number and frequency of meals - consumption of 4-5 meals a day, eating every 3 hours, including the last meal not later than 3-4 hours before sleep.
● Limitation of simple carbohydrates sources: sugar, sweets, cakes, desserts, sweet drinks.
● Eliminating the products which contain bad fat: fast food, soft cheese, cheese spread, fat meat and cold cuts, also snacks like crisps, chips, salty sticks, crackers, chocolate and so on.
● Choosing non-processed cereal products - whole grain bread, a brown loaf, cereals, oatmeal, barley cereals, natural rice, groats. Complex carbohydrates should be a caloric base of a slimming diet.
● Including a proper amount of vegetables (over 0,5 kg/day) and fruits (1-2 fruits medium-apple size/day).
● Consuming a proper amount of proteins from: lean meat, fish, cold cuts, low-fat milk and dairy products, eggs and legumes.
● Using a moderate amount of good fats consumed from olive oil, oils, seeds and nuts.
● Preparing meals with healthy techniques: cooking in water, steam cooking, braising, baking in foil or grilling. Avoiding deep frying in oil.
● Drinking beverages without sugar (mineral and spring water, tea and herbal brews without sugar, vegetable juices).

Rules given above will seem obvious for most of you. At the same time a lot of people aren’t able to respect them. Maybe that’s the reason why slimming diet seems to last forever, without giving any results. Sometimes it’s worth to humbly go back to basics...

*This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment.