Diet to Lose 25 Pounds in a Month

Don't think of this plan as a diet, but as one of the necessary steps you must to take on your way to a newer, healthy way of living. Diets aren't meant to be a pledge to temporarily starve or deprive yourself; rather, they are a commitment to change your general eating habits to make healthier food choices. No diet alone, in the absence of an active lifestyle, will be enough to melt the pounds away. It is, however, an essential component to an overall weight losing strategy.

You Have to Start Big

• To lose 25 pounds in a mere 4 weeks, you have to start big. This means that you need to begin with a significant amount of excess weight in order to lose this many pounds so quickly, and in a way which actually promotes an improvement in your health rather than a weakening. Lost (and gained) weight comes in 3 forms: water, muscle, and fat. The type of weight you want to focus on losing is fat. Lose fat, build muscle. Remember this mantra, for the loss of muscle weight will have a detrimental effect on your fitness, not a benefit.

Eat, Eat, Eat

• It cannot be stressed enough, in order to lose weight in a healthy way you have to eat. But what you eat has to be wholesome and nourishing. You cannot starve your way to good health. Starvation will only promote malnourishment and a sluggish metabolism. Without a steady replenishment of nutrients, your body will go on a raid. It will break down muscle and pull from resources (which can little stand to be taken from) in order to sustain systems which are absolutely vital to life. It's robbing Peter to pay Paul essentially. And it's not a way to build long-term health. You must eat, but eat healthy.

High in Fiber

• Fiber is a type of carbohydrate which is virtually indigestible. It is found exclusively in plant-based foods and offers a wealth of health benefits. Fiber-rich foods are very effective in satisfying hunger because they slow down the eating process (which can prevent overeating).

  The bulk offered by fiber, not only contributes to a feeling of fullness after eating, but also serves to slow down the digestion and absorption of your food so that sugar (glucose) enters the bloodstream at a moderate rate. Sugar that flows into your system too quickly has an increased probability of being converted and stored as fat if your body has no immediate use for the energy it provides.

Low in Calories

• A calorie is a unit of energy supplied by food. If you want to lose weight, then you have to burn more energy than you consume. It's basic math. And if you want to force your body to burn fuel from its fat stores to meet its energy demands, then you have to actually create that demand. If you're constantly supplying your body with all the energy it needs from the food you consume, there will be no need for your body to deplete its fat reserves in order to make up for a fuel shortfall. So part of the balance you must learn to strike in your diet is to eat foods which are modest in calories, but rich in nutritional value.

Proteins, Vitamins, and Minerals

• Proteins have the highest thermic value of any other food type, which means they consume more energy to digest; this makes proteins calorie neutralizing to a greater degree then either carbs or fats. Proteins are also essential to the health of every cell in your body for they provide the amino acids necessary to build and maintain them. If you want to maintain good muscle composition, you must supply your body with adequate protein.

  Your diet should also be vitamin and mineral rich, for these nutrients also perform vital functions in the body. Vitamin or mineral undernourishment can trigger food cravings which can sabotage your weight loss goals.

  Try to incorporate all of the preceding nutrional considerations into your diet makeover.