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Diet Tips for Being Very Overweight

Obese patients, or those who are very overweight, face some special challenges when trying to lose weight or diet. Patients with a large amount of weight to lose may find it difficult to exercise to help burn calories for weight loss. While the principles of dieting are the same whether you are trying to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds, a large weight loss is a longer journey, which requires patience, perseverance and dedication.

  1. Realistic Goals

    • When someone has a large amount of weight to lose, it is natural to want to lose it as quickly as possible. It is important, though, to set realistic goals for weight loss. Fad diets that promise fast weight loss do not teach healthy eating habits that are vital to sticking with an eating plan over a long time. Learning new healthier ways of eating also helps to keep the weight off at the end of the weight loss phase of a diet. A healthy diet should result in a weight loss of one to two pounds per week. Setting realistic goals prevents disappointment, which can lead to a setback on the diet program.

    Structured Plans

    • According to Brian C. Jacobson, MD, MPH, obese patients benefit more from a structured diet plan with medical supervision. A structured plan can help a patient learn about portion control and the proper food choices before he begins to make those decisions on his own. Commercial diets that plan each meal for the dieter can help to jump start the diet plan and weight loss.

    Manage Snacking

    • Starting a diet plan with the idea to cut out all snacking is an unrealistic expectation. Managing the snacks is a better approach than trying to eliminate them. Healthy snacks such as vegetables, fruits and nuts can help to make a diet more interesting. Planning for snacks also helps to eliminate binges or grabbing a snack from the vending machine when hungry between meals.

    Balance and Portions

    • A healthy diet for weight loss should eliminate 500 calories each day to lose one pound of weight each week. The balanced diet should contain lean proteins from chicken, fish and lean beef along with carbohydrates from vegetable sources. Healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts must be included in a healthy diet.

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