Fat-Burning Diet Plan Guide for Women

The U.S. Government Information Guide at About.com reports that a whopping 64 percent of Americans are overweight, so it's little wonder that so many people are on a constant search for the perfect diet to help them shed some pounds. Women, in particular, tend to spend a lot of time and energy fretting over diet issues because they not only want to be healthier but are also constantly bombarded with images from the mainstream media depicting waif-like models who supposedly represent the feminine ideal. While there are some nuances to successful dieting for women, it really all comes down to a few simple principles, as outlined in the tips and dieting steps below. A quick caveat here is that a sound exercise program is an invaluable aid to any weight-loss program, but this guide makes no assumptions about your activity level and addresses only dietary concerns. As always, you should consult with your physician before undertaking any diet, supplementation, or exercise program.

Understand the Basic Tenet of Fat Loss

At its core, losing bodyfat really does boil down to consuming fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis. No matter what supplements you take, how you manipulate your carbs or fat, or what designer weight-loss system you subscribe to, if you don't take care of this one critical step, then you're doomed to failure. Having said that, there are specific strategies that you can use to make achieving this calorie deficit a bit less painful, and that is the focus of the remaining tips here.

Establish a Sensible Weight-Loss Goal

Trying to lose weight too fast is a sure recipe for frustration, and, ultimately, failure. A decent target for most women is to plan to lose one pound or less per week. Any faster than that, and you'll likely be sacrificing lean muscle mass in the process.

Determine Your Daily Calorie Goal

To lose one pound of bodyfat in a week, you'll need to create a deficit of 3500 calories, or 500 calories per day. Assuming that you're current weight is relatively stable, then you can create your caloric deficit by subtracting 500 calories from what you eat now on a daily basis. Of course, you'll need to find your current caloric intake for this to work. In order to do that, just write down everything you eat for a few days, count up the calories, and then divide by the number of days you recorded. If your weight is NOT stable right now, then start with about 1800 calories per day, though you may have to adjust that up or down depending on your initial rate of loss.

Emphasize Unprocessed Foods

Highly processed foods, such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white bread, and fatty lunch meats are diet killers. They are very calorie dense, meaning that they provide lots of calories but very little nutritional value, and they don't really fill you up. Unrefined foods, though, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and dairy products, are nutrient dense. They provide lots of nutrients and relatively few calories, and they tend to fill you up and keep your body running smoothly. If you focus on eating unrefined foods, particularly carbohydrates, you'll go a long way toward reaching your fat-loss goals. Women tend to have a soft spot of sweets, so this is really where the battle is won or lost. Staples here should include fruits and veggies, oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain breads and cereal, and even small amounts of whole grain pasta.

Protect Your Muscle

Muscle is the body's active tissue, and it is responsible for most of your calorie expenditure. Therefore, you need to do your utmost to protect what you have while dieting, which means getting plenty of high-quality protein, such as eggs, milk, lean meats and cheeses. Shoot for at least one gram of solid protein for every two pounds of lean bodyweight per day. If you don't know your lean bodyweight, aim for 50-75 g of protein per day and adjust up or down if you need to later on. Women often have a nagging fear of carrying too much muscle on their bodies, but, in reality, it is vitally important to your health and fat-loss goals, so don't neglect your protein.

Get Your EFAs

Despite its bad rap, dietary fat is not necessarily evil. In particular, essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are, well, essential for your wellbeing, especially when you are following a diet somewhat restricted in calories. We won't go into all of particulars of EFAs here, but great sources to include in your diet are salmon, nuts, and olive oil. For a more complete EFA discussion, a great starting point is the related Wikipedia article.

Eat Every Two or Three Hours

Maintaining stable blood sugar throughout the day will help you to avoid the urge to binge on sugary foods. To accomplish this, divide your planned food intake for the day into three meals and two or three snacks. Make sure that each "feeding" includes some protein and carbohydrates.

Drink Your Water

We all know that water is important for health, but water takes on extra importance during a fat-loss diet, as it can help flush out waste products. Aim for at least 6-8 glasses per day.

Adjust Your Calories As You Go Along

After a few weeks on any diet, your fat loss will likely slow down. At that point, you'll need to further reduce daily calories. Try lopping off another 100 calories per day and see if your progress resumes.

Supplement With a Daily Multivitamin/Multimineral

While on a weight-loss diet, the reduced food intake can sometimes lead to your becoming deficient in some key nutrients. To combat this possibility, it's a good idea to supplement with a woman's daily multivitamin/mineral formulation.

Follow these simple but effective guidelines (with your physician's approval, naturally), and you'll be on the road to fat loss and a lifetime of healthier eating.