The Five Commandments Your Diet Plan Must Obey

When looking for a diet plan, how can you make sure you pick the right one for you? You can drastically increase your chances if your diet plan adheres to the following five guidelines.

Thou Shalt Achieve Satiety

Satiety is the feeling of fullness.  Most diet programs leave people feeling very hungry.  When you feel hungry, you are more likely to binge the next time you eat.  Hunger can also lead to depression, anger, and headaches.

A diet can tackle satiety in several ways - for example, spacing your meals no more than 4 hours apart.  This is a feature of most diet plans on the market today for good reason - eating smaller, more frequent meals has been proven to help burn fat and keep your metabolism revved up. Besides eating every 3-4 hours, your diet needs to be rich in 4 components known to make you feel "fuller" but also contribute to fat burning - protein, fats, fiber and water.

Thou Shalt Achieve a Calorie Deficit

For fat loss to occur, you must burn more calories than you take in.  There are several components to creating a calorie "deficit" (not just eating less), and using them all together will be the most effective.  Plus, you won't be starving yourself like you usually do when you diet. 

How do you create this calorie deficit?  It is a combination of watching your intake along with the right combination of exercise types, which burn calories not only during activity, but also after, as long as 36 hours after completion!

Thou Must Exercise Portion Control

As noted above, in order to achieve fat loss you need to create a calorie deficit, and one of the ways to do that is through portion control - but how do you do this while not feeling hungry?

Consuming lean proteins, healthy fats and fiber as part of each meal, and spacing your meals 3-4 hours apart BEFORE hunger sets in, will achieve satiety.  You will also notice that you will feel fuller with less food, so you will be controlling your portions without really focusing on it.

Thou Shalt Maintain Regularity

You must include fiber-rich foods in your diet (like beans, peas, apples, grapefruit). A major advantage of fiber is the effect on weight control. Since fiber-rich foods are filling and, for the most part, low in fat, you'll feel more satisfied with less food and lose weight more easily.

It is recommended that between 20 and 30 grams of fiber be consumed daily and at least eight glasses of water to aid the movement of food through the digestive tract.

Thou Shalt Remain Hydrated

Dehydration inhibits fat loss. Most people don't get enough water on a daily basis, never mind for training / fat loss.  When you don't have enough water, your bowels will also slow down.

Here are a few suggestions to getting water into your program:

1. Never let yourself get thirsty - thirst is your body's way of telling you that it needs water.  Drink enough that you don't feel parched.

2. If you exercise, drink one ounce of water for every ounce of body weight lost during exercise.  So if you weigh one pound less after exercising, you should drink 16 ounces of water.

3. If you are a goal-oriented person, get yourself a half-gallon jug of water at the supermarket, and carry it around with you - your goal is to drink it all by the day's end.