Free Weight Loss Programs Slim Fast Diet Plan
INTRODUCING THE SLIM FAST DIET PLAN
Are you scared of stepping onto a weighing machine? Have you been buying a lot of loose dresses of late? Are you afraid of facing the room mirror, thinking that your body might block the back view of your room? If the answer to these questions is ‘YES’ then your body mass index graph is moving northwards .You need to control your diet instead of your diet controlling you, before it is too late. For losing weight, motivation and determination are most important. Many people try to starve themselves for losing weight; which causes further health complications without any benefits. Subsequently, they lose all the hope and return to their normal diet. They keep on gaining weight and losing health and confidence.
To break this vicious cycle of failure and hopelessness, welcome to the “Slim Fast Diet Plan”. For over 30 years, Slim- Fast has been helping dieters to lose weight with its ‘Meals-On-the-Go’ plan. This plan encourages consumption of healthy meals, protein bars and healthy shakes to achieve weight loss. It also recommends strict adherence to a specific exercise program of 30-60 minutes for individuals daily.
A closer look at the Slim Fast Diet Plan reveals a track record of 20 years of successful results. The plan is made easier by the meal replacement shakes, especially in today’s busy schedules when preparing special diet foods is a real challenge. Slim Fast is not just a line of protein bars or diet shakes, it is a company that has set a benchmark in the development of innovative products such as pasta, snacks, soups and meal-in-one-bars, with acknowledgement of the fact that meal replacement products can be instrumental in helping people lose weight.
Weight gain and obesity is the common lifestyle disorder in contemporary times. It is caused as a result of greater intake of calories than their expenditure. Keeping this fact in view, the Slim Fast website outlines four pronged approach to losing weight which is similar to others. These include :
• Laying stress on protein control
• Eating sensibly
• Regular exercise and
• Motivational support.
According to the website, sticking to the plan enables you to lose a remarkable amount of weight in a relatively shorter span of time at an astonishing rate of 1-2 pounds per week. The approach of Slim-Fast is backed by significant amount of research. Protein control and use of meal replacement products have been shown to be of immense help in losing weight.
Eating With Slim Fast Diet Plan
It involves taking six snacks or meals daily. Slim-Fast products are advised for one daily snack and two meals everyday. According to the Slim-Fast website, there are no restrictions on foods or eating your favorite dishes and no calorie counting is required. However, it is better to choose healthy foods while cooking at home or eating out. Consumption of vegetables, fruits and lean protein is emphasized.
The Concept Behind The Plan
It is based on the already-established principle that controlling carbohydrates, fats and proteins amounts to controlling calories, while, burning more calories than one eats ultimately leads to weight reduction. The products of Slim-Fast ostensibly make the program easier to stick to. At the same time meal plans provide a framework for one to keep track. The plan provides enough flexibility in satisfying one’s lifestyle and personal tastes .
Advantages Of Slim Fast Diet Plan
The goals for weight loss have been set, keeping in view the government’s safety guidelines for weight loss. With this plan one can lose a significant amount of weight i.e. at the rate of 1-2 pounds per week, you can lose 10 percent of the body weight in the first 6 months itself.
• Doing a moderate physical exercise for just half an hour everyday makes the physical activity feature more workable, as busy schedules limit the scope for extensive exercises.
• The Slim-Fast website also provides medical guidelines to the medical practitioners whose patients or on the Slim-Fast Diet Plan.
• The website also includes interactive features such as online discussions and chats, message boards and success stories of those who have benefitted from this plan. It also includes features such as direct interactive session with a dietitian in “ Ask The Dietitian” section.
Using The Slim Fast Diet Plan
• The plan involves having a diet shake for the breakfast and another shake for the lunch. It recommends vegetable and protein rich diet for the dinner. The plan also allows you to have slim bars and a couple of fruits during the day. The increased intake of protein in the meals decreases the share of carbohydrates in the diet, which means reduced intake of calories, besides helping in making the body leaner, fitter and stronger. However, the plan recommends dieters to consume at least eight glasses of water daily , which helps in flushing out excessive protein from the body .
• It is often observed that strict diet reduces the scope for vitamin intake, leading to various vitamin deficiency disorders to the dieters. The Slim Fast diet plan recommends addition of adequate amount of vitamins, especially the fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamin A and D) to the diet to avoid deficiency disorders.
• Physical activity, alongside the diet plan is recommended to increase the benefits of the plan. One needs to choose the exercise that one finds comfortable with. The exercise should be done quite regularly if not everyday.
• Finding a suitable diet plan that synchronizes perfectly to one’s lifestyle is a critical factor for successful loss of weight. Use of Slim-Fast plan helps dieters to ‘Feel Great by Losing Weight. It is advisable to stick closely to the plan so as to adjust your body to the diet.
Instructions For Using The Plan
The instructions for using the Slim-Fast plan include:
1. Signing up for free Slim-Fast online community membership on the Slim-Fast website enables you to make personalized diet and individualized fitness plans on the website.
2. Figuring out the slim fast products that one can use after evaluating the personalized meal plan.
3. Breakfast should be replaced with one Slim Fast Shake.
4. Lunch of almost 200 calories, needs to be chosen sensibly. It should include a Slim-Fast shake, along with a vegetable.
5. Dinner meal needs to be created which would have a total of 500 calories. Depending on the number of fruits and vegetable consumed during the day, at least one or two vegetables should be included in the dinner.
6. Snacking habits should be changed. A fruit and a vegetable that helps one meet the total of a minimum of four servings should constitute a snack. Vegetable or fruit snacks should be combined with Slim Fast nutritional snacks. Snacking should be limited to thrice a day.
Preparing To Begin The Diet Plan
1. Includes obtaining a package of meal replacement bars, Slim-Fast shakes and Slim-Fast snack bars that are available in a range of flavors. Including strawberry, cinnamon, cheesecake and creamy milk chocolate.
2. Selecting a meal replacement bar or shake for breakfast, which provides around 200 calories. Additionally, shakes and bars are available that are rich in protein and low on carbohydrates, as well as easily digestible bars.
3. A Slim-Fast meal replacement bar or shake should be combined with 200 calories of healthy whole foods. Yogurt, vegetables, grains, legumes and cottage cheese are good choices for whole foods. A cup of broccoli, half a cup of black beans and 1/3rd cup of cooked quinoa should be combined for the whole foods portion of lunch.
4. Dinner should be sensible .It should not exceed 500 calories. A starchy grain or vegetable, fruit or vegetable salad and a lean protein source will make a healthy dinner. A suitable sample meal includes: Green beans, salmon, sweet potato, frozen blueberries and a small garden salad.
5. Consuming three Slim-Fast snacks a day helps maintaining faster metabolism as well as warding off hunger. Snacks need to be positioned midway between the major meals as well as post-dinner, if the hunger is persistent. However snack should not be more than 100 calories. Small servings of fruit and Slim-Fast snack bars make up more convenient options.
6. Registering on Slim-Fast website enables members to utilize their support options. The website has many features that enable members to calculate their Body Mass Index and Basal Metabolic Rate, using calculators and charts which helps them to prepare personalized menu plans. Registered dietitians offer advice and evaluate dieter’s feedback on the website.
7. To increase overall longevity and best health, Slim-Fast Diet Plan needs to be complemented by daily exercise. Stretching, cardiovascular exercise and strength training are critical components of healthy and successful fitness program.
Advice For Getting The Most Out Of The Diet Plan
1. Slim-Fast products should be bought at least two weeks in advance to prevent running out of meals or skipping meals.
2. Extra shakes or bars should be kept at workplaces or cars for convenience.
3. Flavors and diet options should be switched regularly to avoid dieters’ boredom.
4. Each meal should be enjoyed by taking time to chew the food properly. Proper mastication is key to the dietary process.
5. Plenty of water should be taken to ward off hunger and cravings for food.
6. Physician’s approval should be sought before the beginning of any diet or weight loss program.
7. Dieters, who are on Slim-Fast diet, enjoy the freedom of having their diet and meals planned in advance. There is two-fold advantage in consuming liquid diet i.e. The diet plan is easy to follow and Likelihood of cheating is substantially reduced by taking the choice of diet away from the dieter & in favor of a master plan that is impartial and healthy. Although this apparently limited freedom of diet is enjoyable in the beginning, it can eventually lead to discomfort through repetition or boredom of the plan altogether. Though altering the basic model of the plan (a healthy dinner and two shakes) is not possible, a wide spectrum of Slim-Fast food products can brighten things up to a certain extend, while making the boredom less severe. It would help in changing the flavors of the shake daily or weekly to spice up the taste buds.
8. Usually, the dieters who are on a restricted diet plan try to psychologically unhinge the progress by assuming the lack of success of their diet plan to taking them nowhere. The slim fast plan rectifies this problem to a large extend. Slim – Fast Diet plan dispels all weaknesses in motivation, the moment they crop up , by offering choices to compliance to . Meal selection for the healthy dinner is more critical than anything else for the diet plans and Slim-Fast Diet plan gives due consideration to this fact. It is easier to rationalize poor meal selections, while being compliant to rules at one time and bending the rules at other times can take dieters nowhere with the progress, that is why this plan lays emphasis on the fact that healthy dinners do not have an alternative as they are critical for any diet plan to succeed. So bending the rules amount to falling into the self-spun trap, which need to be strictly avoided. Healthy dinners need to be strictly stuck to.
9. Intake of carbohydrates except the ones found in vegetables and fruits needs to be minimized. It doesn’t take much time to turn one bread into five or one whole grain piece into two. It undermines the success of the diet plan and sabotages the progress of dieters.
10. Nothing motivates the dieter more than watching the efforts bearing fruit. While dieters often get discouraged upon failing to observe any significant changes through scale or mirror. It needs to be understood that dieting is a long process and results should not be expected instantly. Therefore it is advisable to take the necessary measurements of one’s thighs, waist, hips, neck and chest. One needs to weigh oneself and record the numbers into logbook prior to following the diet plan. Observing one’s progress in numerical form helps in remaining vigilant and provides motivation at the time of occasional lapses in will power.