Diet Plan Step 1.  Say Goodbye to Dieting

Forget all about dieting! In fact, you should remove the words diet and dieting from your mind, altogether. Why? Because they are getting in the way. They are preventing you from tackling your weight problem. Every time you hear these words you switch off and reach for the cookies. Result? Your weight problem gets worse.

Diet Plan Step 2.  Say Hello to Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is a much nicer phrase than dieting. Start using it today.

Diet Plan Step 3.  Put Away Your Scales

Weighing scales don't make you lose weight. They just terrorize you. Put them away now! (Actually, don't put them away until you finish reading this page, because you'll need them to complete Step 5.)

Diet Plan Step 4.  Stop Worrying About Your Weight

Here's why:

• Worrying about your weight makes you fatter
  Why? Because worry makes you miserable. Result? You eat cookies and get fatter.
• Worrying about your weight problem makes you less able to solve it
  Why? Because worry makes you feel more of a failure. Result? You are beaten before you start.
• Worrying is a waste of your valuable time
  Do something you enjoy, instead.

Diet Plan Step 5.  Take Your Clothes Off and Look at Yourself in the Mirror

Ideally, do it tomorrow morning, before breakfast.
At the same time, please do the following:

• Weigh yourself
• Measure your bust, waist, hips and thighs.

Diet Plan Step 6.  Start Looking Ahead

Don't worry about how you look next week, or next month.
Take a longer term view - say, 6 months.

• Decide what weight you would like to be in 6 months.
• Decide on a good incentive to help motivate yourself.

Diet Plan Step 7.  For the Next 7 Days Keep a Food Diary

(a) Write down every single thing you eat. (b) Write down when you ate it.

Don't waste time cheating.
The purpose of this diary is to enable you to see what you actually eat, as opposed to what you think you eat! Also, it will help you to see when you eat.

SUMMARY
So far, you have done a number of important things:

• You have stopped thinking about dieting and worrying about your weight.
• You have decided how much weight you want to lose and why.
• You have taken a good honest look at yourself and your eating habits.

Diet Plan Step 8.  Create a Healthy Eating Plan for Yourself

Keep it simple, as follows:

• Eat regular amounts of these foods
  Fruit, vegetables (fresh/frozen/canned), whole wheat bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, oats, wholegrain cereal.
  Guide: Eat a minimum of 5 helpings of fruit & vegetables, per day.
  Guide: Eat a minimum of 5 helpings of whole wheat or wholegrain foods, per day.
• Eat regular amounts of these foods
  Skimmed milk, fat-free yogurt, lower-fat cheese.
  Guide: Eat a minimum of 3 helpings of lower-fat dairy foods (milk, yogurt) per day.
  Guide: Limit yourself to a maximum of 1 matchbox size piece of cheese, per day.
• Eat smaller amounts of these protein foods
  Eggs, fish, red meat, turkey and chicken.
  Guide: Eat no more than 4 eggs a week.
  Guide: Red meat, limit yourself to 1 x 3oz portion a day (size of deck of cards).
  Guide: Re Fish, turkey or chicken, you can eat 50% more - but no fat!
• Eat TINY amounts of these foods
  Oil, butter, soft margarine/spread, mayonnaise, cream, refined sugar.
• Drinks
  Water, fruit juices, tea or coffee (but easy on Espressos!)
• Enjoy the occasional
  Pastry, cookie, candy bar/chocolate, bag of popcorn/potato chips/crisps
  Guide: 'Occasional' means (say) once a week.

Note:
If you know very little about diet nutrition, take action to find out more.
Surveys show that the more we know about healthy eating and diet nutrition, the easier it is to lose weight.

Diet Plan Step 9.  Fill Your Refrigerator With Healthy Food

We eat whatever sits in our refrigerator. So empty out the junk food and fill up on foods from Step 8.

Diet Plan Step 10.  Learn How to Cheat

Do you hate fruit and vegetables? If so, that's tough. You MUST make friends with fruit and vegetables. Eat at least 5 helpings per day, although more is better. There are no substitutions. However, you can cheat. Here's how:

• Make home made soup. Ideally, add spices, a little lean meat and lots of vegetables.
  You won't taste the vegetables.
• Make fresh orange juice
  Many people won't eat 3 whole oranges every day. But they will drink the juice!
• Make blended fruit drinks (smoothies)
  Guide: Use 1 cup of fresh fruit + 1 cup fruit juice. For extra creaminess add a little fat-free fruit yogurt.

Diet Plan Step 11.  Trim That Fat

Get into the habit of trimming all the fat off meat. All means all. This alone will dave you thousands of calories AND help you to live longer.

Diet Plan Step 12.  Learn How to Snack Healthily

Fruit, cereal and fat-free yogurt are excellent choices, so are thick sandwiches (lots of thick crusty bread, small amount of margarine/spread, lots of lower fat filling.)

Diet Plan Step 13.  Be Choosy Where You Dine Out

Frequent dining out (main meal) is one of the biggest reasons why America is so fat. So be choosy!

• Don't enter a fast food restaurant unless it's a SPECIAL treat.
• Never dine out on the spur of the moment.
• Limit yourself to one dining out experience, per fortnight.

Diet Plan Step 14.  Don't Go Hungry

Don't forget about food and allow yourself to go hungry. For any healthy eater, hunger is a crime. In fact, going hungry is the dumbest thing you can do. Never go hungry!

Diet Plan Step 15.  Be More Active

Ideally, set aside 20 minutes a day to exercise (or 2 x 10 minutes) and gradually build up to 30 minutes a day. Yes, you may hate it to begin with but, believe me, exercise grows on you! Besides, it's worth remembering that exercise leaves you with MORE energy, not less. See also Exercise for idiots.

Weight Loss Diet Tips for Vegetarians

A Vegetarian Diet is not necessarily healthy or less-fattening
It's true that no one NEEDS to eat meat.
But a no-meat diet isn't necessarily healthy or good for weight loss.

So, for best results, please follow these tips:

1. Avoid junk food

• Candy, fries, cheesy pizzas make vegetarians fat, too!
• Many instant/ pre-cooked 'vegetarian' meals are high in fat

2. Don't fry with fat

If you must fry with fat, use a fat-spray.
Otherwise, fry with soy sauce, lemon juice, water, fruit juice, chili sauce.

3. Make sure your daily diet includes a wide variety of foods
Why? Because no single plant food is as nutritious as meat. So if you don't eat meat, you must find a variety of plant alternatives to provide the same healthy level of nutrition.

Nutrients you may be lacking
Nutrients normally found in animal products that are not always found in a vegetarian diet include: iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, zinc and protein.

Here are some vegetarian foods that contain these nutrients:

Iron
Cashews, tomato juice, rice, tofu, lentils, and garbanzo beans (chick peas). 
Calcium
Dairy products, fortified soymilk, fortified orange juice, tofu, kale, and broccoli. 
Vitamin D
Fortified milk and soymilk, and fortified cereals (or a small amount of sunlight). 
Vitamin B12
Eggs, dairy products, and fortified soymilk, cereals, tempeh, and miso. Tempeh and miso are foods made from soybeans.
They are low in calories and fat and high in protein. 
Zinc
Whole grains (especially the germ and bran of the grain), eggs, dairy products, nuts, tofu, leafy vegetables (lettuce, spinach, cabbage), and root vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, radishes). 
Protein
Vegetarians must eat a variety of plant foods over the course of a day to get enough protein. Plant foods that have the most protein are lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, tempeh, miso, and peas.

4. Get to know your local health-food store

If you are not familiar with some of the above foods, get advice! For example, visit your local health-food store and ask them for advice on cooking and storage. Most stores are extremely helpful and offer all sorts of help.

5. Teach yourself about nutrition

Vegetarian eating is becoming much more common. Libraries and bookshops are full of leaflets and books about healthy eating for non-meat eaters. Take advantage!

6. Vitamin & Mineral Supplements

A balanced vegetarian diet contains all the nutrition you need. However, if (for any reason) your diet is not balanced, or if you feel tired or under the weather, I suggest you ask your doctor whether supplements are appropriate for you. But don't use them as an excuse to be lazy about your eating!

Reprinted by kind permission of Weight Loss Diet Information

Online vegetarian weight loss diets

There are many excellent sources of information about vegetarianism, vegetarian diets and recipes. To find out more, here are some search suggestions:

• Search Yahoo, Google or Open Directory.
• Check out the following sites:
  
  Eatveg.com - General vegetarian information.
  VegSoc.org - Vegetarian Society of the UK.
  Vegan.com - Vegan and vegetarian resources.
  Vrg.org - Vegetarian Resource Group.
  Veggieplace.com - Vegetarian information plus activist news!
  Vegetarian Diet Info - Weight loss & dietary information for vegetarians.

Healthy Food