The most popular weight loss diets today are the Atkins diet, South Beach diet and the GI diet. However, more traditional low fat diets still have a great deal to offer. While the more popular diets, or fad diets, are mostly based on lowering the intake of carbohydrates and actually recommend the intake of some fatty foods, many dieticians have long been of the opinion that a low fat and high fiber diet is the best combination for weight loss and health.

There are countless diet books that cover the low fat weight loss diet. Most maintain that a very low level of fat together with an increased amount of dietary fiber, such as whole meal bread, pasta, and brown rice, would aid weight loss and help you to maintain an ideal weight.

Here are five easy ways to jump start your low fat weight loss diet:

1. One of the easiest ways to start a low fat weight loss diet is to cut down on the amount of fried foods that you eat. There are alternative ways of cooking most foods that are normally fried. For example, french fries can be baked in the oven thereby using a very small amount of fat as compared to deep-frying.

2. Another easy way to get a good start with a low fat weight loss diet is to buy a steamer. This is a very quick and efficient way of cooking foods with a minimal loss of vitamins and minerals. Steaming is a great alternative to the deep fat fryer and provides a simple way of cooking many healthy meals.

3. Lowering your intake of butter and margarine is another simple way to lower your intake of fat and help with your weight loss plan. You dont even have to change what you eat. You can make a big difference by either spreading the butter or margarine very thinly or just leaving it our altogether.

4. When cooking meat make sure to remove some of the fat before you start cooking. Also, if you grill the meat instead of frying it, you have removed a substantial amount of fat and this will help you meet your weight loss goal.

5. Cutting down on eating pastry is a great way to help with weight loss. Pastries contain a large amount of fat, so just by choosing a lower fat alternative you can make a significant difference.

There are some fats that many dieticians believe are good for you, such as olive oil and oily fish and these can and should be included in any low fat diet. It is really a question of balance. A good low fat weight loss diet can be a very healthy way to lose weight and maintain your ideal weight. Your doctor should be able to provide you with good advice on the best way to choose a diet and how best to make it work for you.

Just remember, reducing fat in your diet does not have to be complicated and there are some very simple things that you can do to make a difference and meet your weight loss goal.

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What Is The South Beach Diet?

The South Beach Diet was developed by cardiologist Arthur Agatston to help his patients lose weight and maintain a healthy diet for a lifetime.

The South Beach Diet is designed in phases, like the Atkins Diet, with different eating recommendations in each phase of the diet.

All phases of the South Beach Diet have the same underlying philosophy, though…weight loss and maintenance depends on establishing a balanced diet that avoids ‘bad’ fats and carbohydrates.

The proponents of the South Beach diet claim that you can lose weight and maintain the weight loss without counting calories, weighing portions or depriving yourself of good-tasting, satisfying foods. This is accomplished by cutting out empty, high-carbohydrate foods like sugars, potatoes, rice and white bread. Each phase of the diet is specially designed to accomplish a particular goal.

Phase I of the South Beach Diet: Adjusting your Metabolism

In Phase I of the diet, you eat three meals and two snacks daily, eating until you are no longer hungry. Phase I of the South Beach Diet lasts two weeks, during which time your body will shed 8-13 pounds.

These items are not allowed during Phase I of the South Beach Diet: bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, baked goods, fruit, candy, cake, cookies, ice cream, sugar or alcohol

Phase II of the South Beach Diet: Weight Loss

The aim during Phase II of the South Beach Diet is to lose weight, with weight loss averaging 1-2 pounds per week. During this phase of the diet, you will gradually add the restricted foods from Phase I back into your diet, but you will eat less of them. The daily diet on Phase II should consist of:

All the protein you want
Minimum of 4 1/2 cups of vegetables
Up to 3 servings of fruit
Up to 3 portions of starch
1 1/2 cups of milk/dairy (including yogurt)
3 tbs. fat

In real terms, a typical menu for a meal on the South Beach Diet might include something like this:

grapefruit
2 scrambled eggs mixed with Monterey Jack cheese and salsa
1 slice of whole grain toast
Decaffeinated coffee or tea, fat-free milk and sugar substitute if desired

The eating plan recommended by the South Beach Diet emphasizes low carbohydrate foods, restriction of sweets, processed starches, white sugar and ‘unhealthy fats’, and all the protein you want. It specifies minimum amounts of low carb vegetables to be eaten daily that are remarkably close to the recommendations made by the USDA and the American Diabetes Association.

A key concept in the South Beach diet is the Glycemic Index. Foods are ranked on a scale of 1-100 according to their Glycemic index – the amount by which they raise blood sugar levels after meals. The focus of your diet should be on foods low on the GI level, such as yogurt, cucumbers and broccoli and whole grain cereal, while avoiding those high on the GI scale such as white bread, potatoes and pretzels.

In addition to the above, the South Beach Diet offers the following guidelines:

* Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water and other decaffeinated beverages per day (excluding fruit juices)
* Limit your intake of caffeine-containing beverages to 1 cup each day
* Take one multivitamin and mineral supplement daily
* Take between 500 and 1,000 mg of calcium daily

Phase III of the South Beach Diet: Lifetime Maintenance

The lifetime maintenance phase of the South Beach Diet is nearly identical to the weight loss phase of the diet, with more portions of foods allowed.

Dr. Agatston cautions that patients being treated for diabetes, impaired kidney function, pregnancy or other chronic illness should consult their physician before embarking on any weight loss regimen, including the South Beach Diet.

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Is weight loss after pregnancy going to come easy?

Most women start their lives as a new mom with an extra 8 to 15 pounds that they didn’t have pre-baby.

There’s a very good reason for that. God designed our bodies with nurture in mind. Part of that weight gain during pregnancy was meant to nurture your baby AFTER birth. While your body requires an extra 300 calories a day to keep up with the nutritional demands of your baby during pregnancy, a breastfeeding mother requires at least 500 extra calories a day to produce enough milk and remain healthy. Your body stores up a little extra nutrition for after the birth just in case there isn’t enough food for its needs when it’s time to feed the new little critter.

If you’re breastfeeding, that’s part of the good news. You’ll automatically be burning an extra five hundred calories a day – which will make it considerably easier for you to lose the extra weight. In fact, you may not need to do anything special at all to lose weight. Just focus on eating a normal, healthy, well-balanced diet. If you’re not breastfeeding, you won’t find it quite as easy. Your focus should still be on healthy eating, with moderate exercise to burn extra calories.

Here’s more good news for new mothers. Exercising is easier. Actually, that’s not quite right. Burning more calories is easier. Walking alone for an hour burns 200 calories. Walking while pushing a stroller ups that figure considerably. Push a stroller uphill, and it’s even higher. You’ll get extra duty out of things you never thought of like lifting the stroller and car seat in and out of the car, carrying the baby up and down stairs and just plain carrying the baby.

Still, if you find it difflcult to lose the weight gained during pregnancy, exercise and a moderate reduction in calories is the way to go. Just like pregnancy isn’t the time for weight loss, just after pregnancy isn’t the time to stress your body further with severe dietary restrictions. Aim for losing about a pound a week, though chances are you’ll find it coming off faster than that. Being a mom is a high-energy proposition!

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