For many of us, dieting is a form of deprivation that is extremely difficult to handle. It's tough to get through the day when you are literally starving yourself. Before you even start a diet, you're going to need to make sure that you are getting enough calories to get through the day while still reducing your current intake. In some cases, it's best to start slow and build up from there.

For example, we all know that in order to lose one pound in a week, we need to cut 3500 calories out of our diet for that week. Instead of trying to do it all in one day, find a way to cut 500 calories out of your daily diet. This can be as simple as not drinking soda or foregoing that high calorie snack. These little things can really add up. For example, if you frequently go to a coffee shop and get a latte or anything that has a lot of calories, replace this with regular coffee or even add a little non-fat creamer to it to make it taste better. You'll be carving out another 200 calories or more every single day.

These are little ways that you can go on a "diet" without making it feel like a real diet. You're not really depriving yourself of food, you're just cutting out the danger foods that contain a lot of useless calories. Once you start on that path slowly, it's a lot easier to get to the end. Remember, this is not a race. You're more likely to keep those pounds off by creating healthy habits and sticking to them.

Once you've gotten to the point where it is easy to cut these little useless calories out of your diet, you can move on to the next step. Let's say you want to lose 2 pounds a week. This requires cutting out 7000 calories to your weekly diet. You can easily accomplish this again, without feeling deprived, by targeting some of the more high calorie foods in your diet. Start writing down everything you eat during the day. You may be surprised at just how many calories one serving of a dessert or entrée can pack.

If you frequently eat out, chances are you are piling on the calories without even noticing it. Try not eating out for two weeks, and eat a sensible low calorie dinner at home. You'll find the weight literally melting off of you. In order to accomplish this, you may need to make some substations. Since we're going for the low stress, no deprivation variety, we're going to start small. Start by cutting all the fat off a cut of meat and broiling it instead of frying it. Instead of fried potatoes, go for mashed potatoes with a low fat margarine. You'll be able to easily replace all of those high calorie foods with alternatives that taste good. Add in some exercise and you're set!

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Originally posted 2008-09-29 05:57:39. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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