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Obesity is a physical state that refers to excessive body fat. Chances are you have experienced the frustrations of dieting at least once in your life, if you have problems with your weight. Close to a hundred million Americans go on a weight loss diet in any given year and up to ninety-five percent of them regain the weight they lose within five years. Worse, a third will gain back more weight than they lost, in danger of “yo-yoing” from one popular diet to another. The conventional approach to weight problems, focusing on fad weight loss diets or weight loss drugs, may leave you with just as much weight and the additional burden of ill health.

Today, an estimated sixty-five percent of all American adults are obese or overweight. Our culture obsesses about staying thin even as we grow fatter, but this isn’t about appearances. Obesity is known to be a precursor to many debilitating health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder disease. Obesity contributes to as many as 375,000 deaths every year. In addition, the public health costs for obesity are staggering. According to researchers at Harvard University, obesity is a factor in 19% of all cases of heart disease with annual health costs estimated at 30 billion dollars; it’s also a factor in 57% of diabetes cases, with health costs of $9 billion per year.

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No doubt you have fallen for one or more of the weight loss diet schemes over the years, promising quick and painless weight loss. Many of these quick weight loss diet programs undermine your health, cause physical discomfort, flatulence, and ultimately lead to disappointment when you start regaining weight, shortly after losing it. Fad or quick weight loss diet programs generally overstress one type of food. They contravene the fundamental principle of good nutrition – to remain healthy one must consume a balanced diet, which includes a variety of foods. Safe, healthy, and permanent weight reduction is what’s truly lost among the thousands of popular diet schemes.

Some of the weight loss diet schemes reign supreme briefly, only to fade out. While some wane from popularity due to being unproductive or unsafe, some simply lose the public’s curiosity. Examples of such fad diets include the South Beach Diet, Atkins diet, the Grapefruit diet, Cabbage Soup diet, the Rotation diet, Beverly Hills diet, Breatharian, Ornish Plan – the list goes on and on. These fad diets advocate a specific technique (such as eliminating a certain food, or eating only certain combinations of foods) in conjunction with the basic idea that the body makes up the difference in energy by breaking down and utilizing some part of itself, essentially converting matter into energy. This self-cannibalism, or catabolism as it is referred, typically starts with breakdown of stored body fat.

More than deadlines to meet and clients to satisfy, the pressure to look good is far more intense these days. Women hanker after hourglass figures and men need to be Greek Gods. It is no wonder that every second person on the street is on a weight loss diet. Weight loss diet is the topic of conversation in public places, private parties, on buses and cabs, by the beach and the dinner table.

Before you plunge in to any form of weight loss diet, few issues need to be sorted out. Embarking on a diet to lose weight doesn’t mean indiscriminate slashing of calories. It is true that you need to cut down on the calories but at the same time, you cannot compromise on your nutritional intake.

There are representatives from all the food groups in an ideal weight loss diet plan to ensure that all forms of nutrients enter your body. So there are actually not many don’ts in a weight loss diet. However, you need to steer clear of junk, fried and fast foods, chocolates, candies, cakes and aerated drinks.

Proteins form the building blocks of your body and as much they form the prime ingredient in any lose weight diet plan. One gram of protein per pound of body weight is recommended for every individual whether you lead an active or sedentary life. Meats, sea fish, milk and egg whites are good protein sources.

Any weight loss diet plan will advise you to go green. Fruits and vegetables abound in minerals and vitamins and are low on calories too. Gorging on them will make you healthy, without making your calorie intake spiral out of control.

While harping on the theme of a weight loss diet, a myth needs to be expounded. All fats are not bad. Fishes and nuts are excellent sources of good fats.

Open any newspaper or magazine and you will find a weight loss diet plan peeking at you from every nook and cranny. But most overlook the role of water.

Water is life and in your diet to lose weight, water should be the backbone. Water flushes out the toxins from your body and revitalizes you. Deprive yourself of water and you will soon find your entire mental as well as physical states in shambles.

In essence, a weight loss diet plan counsels having all types of food, but moderation should be the key. Gorging and starving are equally bad. Mix and match your foods so that your taste buds are not weary and be sure to have 1200-1500 calories daily.

The path to a perfect figure is waylaid with temptations in the form of fad diets, single-food diets, protein and liquid diets. Each one claims to be a fast weight loss diet. There are no shortcuts to losing weight and their tall claims should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The perfect weight loss diet aims to keep you healthy while endowing you with a flattering figure.