Analyzing Britney's Drastic Weight Loss - Should You Shed Pounds like This Toxic Star?

Recently, Britney Spears, one of our favorite celebrities to scrutinize, showed off her new bod on the cover of OK! Magazine. Given her struggles with weight since she grew out of her pubescent waif-like appearance during the heyday of her career, Britney looks great. So what's her secret? Diet pills, hours of exercise, liquid diets? NO! Britney has found a relatively normal way to shed pounds. Should you follow her example? I've broken down some of Brit's diet secrets to find where you should go, and where you should stop.

15 Pounds in 1 Month

RED LIGHT!!! The OK! Cover claims that Britney lost 15 pounds in 4 weeks. If you do the math, that's 3 ¾ pounds a week. Healthy weight loss, particularly for someone like her who had only 10-15 pounds to lose, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-2 pounds per week. Any more than that and you start to lose muscle. Because muscle helps to burn fat, that's a no-no for dieters. So, if you're not a celebrity and under constant scrutiny, shoot to lose 5-8 pounds per month, and you'll be in a healthy range.

Brit Claims that Her Diet Has a Lot to do with Her New Bod

GREEN LIGHT! Brit knows what she's talking about there. Weight loss is about 80% diet, 10% exercise, and 10% genetics. If you're diet isn't sound, you can spend hours on a treadmill and you won't get the body you want. If you're not losing weight, take advice from Ms. Spears and focus on your diet.

Britney Avoids Sugar

GREEN LIGHT! Sugar is like the sneaky little brother who always gets his siblings blamed for his nefarious deeds. Too much sugar will spike the insulin in your bloodstream. Insulin, which moves glucose from the blood to the cells, can store that sugar you just ate in your fat cells, making them, you guessed it, bigger!!! Read labels carefully. Sugar hides in places you never would have guessed, like bread and lunch meat. However, Brit claims she avoids fruit as well. Big red light. Fruit has sugar, yes, but it's vitamin and mineral content far weigh out the bit that you're getting.

1,200 Calories a Day

RED LIGHT!! Unless you're under 5 feet tall, 1,200 calories is too low! That number is commonly used as a baseline number for women, which means you don't want to go below it. If you add exercise into the equation, then Britney's not getting enough fuel for her body, which could slow down her metabolism (not something you want to do). Go to one of the many helpful online calorie calculators to find a reasonable calorie intake for your height, weight, and activity level.

Britney's plan, though not without flaw, is one of the healthier celebrity weight loss plans. You can attempt to emulate her meal plan-egg whites, turkey burgers, salmon, rice, avocados, etc.-but remember some of the pitfalls her diet plan has in store.