Diet Diary - Diet Diary

Do you remember the Cabbage Soup Diet? When you are being bombarded by the latest diet crazes, you may be tempted to run back to the old standards that promise to get rid of 10 pounds with a quickness. There are positives about this diet, mainly quick weight loss, but the negatives are what you have to watch out for. Essentially, this diet is a modified fast. Here's what to to be careful about and expect when using this diet:

• This is a 7 day diet only. This is not a lifestyle change or a way to lose more than a few pounds
• This is a strict menu diet. Very little variation. Boredom is inevitable, but it's only for a week
• You will have to eat mostly at home, this is not a diet that offers substitutions when eating out
• The calorie count is dangerously low. You will likely be eating between only 800-1000 calories per day (ask any doctor, this low a calorie count is never recommended without a doctors supervision)
• Due to the low calories, you may not have the energy to exercise on this diet
• It is severely lacking in nutrients
• Much of the weight is water loss, and is not long term

There is more than one version of the diet, but the basics remain constant. You have minimal other foods incorporated into the plan, but you mostly just eat low-calorie soup to fill your stomach. Now that you know what the diet is about, are some tips for making the diet work:

• Follow the diet strictly - which means, you eat a lot of soup
• Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water per day
• Remember that it is for seven days only
• Supplement the diet with your favorite multivitamin
• Eat lots of soup - whenever you want, whenever you are hungry! If you don't eat frequently, you will start looking around for other things to eat instead
• You can add spices to kick it up a notch
• Print out the diet for reference and put it where you can easily see it (like on your refrigerator)

The cabbage soup diet ideal for a quick couple of pounds, and to kick start a weight-loss plan. All that cabbage, vegetables and liquid cleans you out good, helps get rid of some bloating, and makes you feel good for eating that many vegetables in a row - but the vegetables you are eating do not have enough calories and nutrients for long-term. It may do wonders for your mental state to get on the scale and see a loss for that special event you practically starved for, but losing those 10 pounds is rarely permanent. The second you start eating real food again, expect some of that weight you have lost to come back. When you need to lose more than just a few pounds, you need to look at healthier options.

How to get rid of belly fat, especially during the holiday season coming up?

It's the time of the year where we get together with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas along with a New Year's Eve party shortly after. With all the great food there's no reason to hold back on the enjoyment of the festivities right? After all, it's the holiday season!

But in the end after enjoying ourselves we realize that we may have gained a little weight in our belly right after New Year's so we make a promise to ourselves that we'll go to the gym to get rid of belly fat. The annual recurring cycle begins.

What you may not realize is that we are able to get rid of belly fat if we just make a few long term changes in our food choices throughout the entire year.

For example, if you drink a glass of whole milk each and every day for an entire year you put on roughly an extra 7 pounds of fat. Just changing from whole milk to 2% milk will reduce that amount to 1-2 pounds of fat gained in a year. If you end up doing a switch to skim milk you would have prevented yourself from adding 7lbs of fat to your body.

Little changes like that will make a difference to help you get rid of belly fat.

It's the little tiny changes that help. The concept is to apply little positive changes long term to your own life. Little changes meaning that you make changes that you can handle and won't burn you out long term. Nothing too dramatic to where you will burn out trying to get rid of belly fat and instead you end up putting on more weight.

Look at your lifestyle right now.

• How are you eating?
• How active are you?
• How are you feeling everyday?

Now, can you make tiny adjustments to:

• Eat a little healthier?
• Be a little more active?
• Feel better about yourself?

Don't diet to lose belly fat. Minimal, long term adjustments are the way to go.

If you can make minimal adjustments long term you won't be worrying about how to get rid of belly fat during the holidays... you'll be enjoying the holiday season with your friends and family.