Use Food Pyramid for Healthy Weight Loss

There are tons of fad diets in the market that promises to burn fat in record time. They not only fail to meet their promises but are unhealthy too. Some of these diets claim - eat only bananas for a week and you will lose 10 pounds, drink cabbage soup for a month and you will lose 5 pounds. The claims of fad diets are interesting to say the least. Do you ever bother to remember the food pyramid that you studied in school time? That is the basis of sensible nutrition.

At the base of the pyramid are carbohydrates- rice, wheat and bread. Next comes vegetables and fruits followed by meat, nuts, eggs and the milk group. Whether a person has six or eight servings depends upon various factors. The only rule is to ensure that you get at least 1200 calories a day. The sugar intake must be kept at a maximum and fat intake must be kept at 20 of the total calories.

When you are on a calories deprivation diet that does not include exercise you shed weight extremely fast. This is because your body is burning protein for energy. Protein contains half the calories that fat does, so you double the amount to sustain the same levels of activity. Besides protein, muscle is four-fifths water. That reduces the quantity of energy derived by another one-fifth. Naturally the weighing scales seem so much friendlier! Unfortunately, by burning muscle protein the person concerned is lowering your basal metabolic rate as a result of which you will burn much less calories for the activities of daily living like sleeping or breathing. When you go back to your normal eating pattern, the weight will come back with a vengeance, because your body is now much less adept at burning calories.

To really see results you would need to exercise at least five days a week for 30 to 45 minutes at a fairly brisk pace. You should also get into some strength training. That way you will build lean muscle mass and every pound of muscle built burns 35 extra calories a day! You should not stop exercising once you have reached your target weight - you need to keep on a maintenance schedule of about 30 minutes three to four times a week.