Some facts about diet plans

09 January, 2013

Many of us make resolutions each year to lose weight. In this context, diet plans are becoming extremely popular with both men and women, and many of them are following different programs that help them to look fit and slim. There are several types of popular diet plans available in the market, but most of them may not suit you.

A COMMON misconception with most of us is that a diet plan is a way to lose weight gained by an individual. But a diet plan is not just about losing weight. It can also lead to weight gain. It is basically a means of providing the required amount of nutrition to the body by planing your meal by referring to a food plan or an eating guide.

The fundamentals of weight loss diet plans is to lose the extra calories and for the weight gain diet plan, it is vice versa. To maintain a normal weight you should consume the same amount of calories as your BMR number. Consulting a doctor before opting any diet plan is advisable.

There are variety of diet plans available such as low-fat, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet plans, and one can also opt for high calorie diet plans to gain weight. Nowadays, with this increasing craze for diet plans, the market has came up with branded diet plans such as 'weight-watchers', 'Jenny Craig', and 'Atkins Diet.'

But mostly, these diet plans fail in providing the desired result. Jessica Bartfield, MD, internal medicine, who specializes in nutrition and weight management at the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care, in the US, has come up with four reasons behind the failure of diet plans.

The first reason is underestimation of the amount of the amount of calories consumed per day. Next reason is that typically a person needs to cut an average of 500 calories per day, and only exercising and having a diet plan is not enough to cut down those extra calories, it needs 60 minutes or more vigorous activity every day.

The third reason is failing to provide a steady stream of glucose throughout the day to the body, as this is required to maintain the optimal energy in the body, and to carry out metabolism. Finally, the people who sleep for less than six hours, produce a hormone 'ghrelin' in extra amount, and this stimulates the appetite, and in turn leads to weight gain, reported Zee News website.