The low carb diet plan, more commonly known as the Atkins Diet, has been popular with dieters since the 1970's. This diet offers rapid weight loss because starchy foods such as pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, peas and corn are not allowed.

Unfortunately, this weight loss plan has gotten a bad rap in recent years because it has made a number of people ill. This is mostly because people forget to use their heads when making food choices.

Here are the 3 most common pitfalls of the low carb diet plan and how you can avoid them.

1. Choose your protein wisely. Just because you are reducing your carbs, that doesn't give you free reign to overindulge in bacon, sausage, cheese and other high fat proteins. This is the single biggest mistake most people make.

The Fix: The best choices are skinless chicken breasts, seafood, and extra lean cuts of beef or pork. Bake, broil or grill for the lowest fat content. You might also include whey protein powder or low fat cottage cheese.

2. Eating too few carbohydrates for too many days in a row. This is the second biggest mistake made. Cutting carbs to less than 100g for days or weeks at a time results in fatigue, mood swings, mental fogginess and the dreaded weight loss plateau.

The Fix: For every 3 days of low carb eating, take 1 day to add a serving of healthy carbs to each meal. This helps your body refuel and will help keep you from hitting a weight loss plateau. Remember, this is a low carb diet plan, not a no carb diet.

3. Not eating the right type of fat. Closely related to the #1 pitfall of eating too many fatty meats is not eating enough of the right kind of fat. The right kind of fat with help you lose weight faster.

The Fix: Cook with olive oil or coconut oil and supplement with fish or flax oil. I recommend fish oil because the body doesn't have to convert it to a usable form. These are much healthier alternative.

A low carb diet plan can be a very effective tool for weight loss, but only if it's done right.

By: Ariel Knight
If you're serious about losing weight through diet and exercise and the low carb diet plan doesn't seem to be right for you, I suggest you check out the 10 top diet plans available.

Being permanently successful at the weight loss game involves eating right and exercising regularly with a plan that fits your lifestyle. Read outlines and opinions about the 10 top diet plans. Make an informed decision when you pick your perfect diet plan. Reach your goal weight this year!

If you go on a fad diet and it helps you lose weight fast and get results, what's wrong with that?

I'm sure you've seen many ads on the internet and in magazines promising you huge weight loss in only a few days time.

Is this type of weight loss really possible? Yes - but ... in almost every case the weight loss from a fad diet is temporary and usually due to loss of water weight. Our bodies are made up of a large percentage of water so as soon as your body rehydrates itself you'll put that quick weight loss right back on.

What are some of the reasons a fad diet is bad for you?

#1 A fad diet usually tells you to focus on a single food type and avoid all others. This means you miss out on the nutrition you really need and can get from a more balanced diet approach. Quite often these fad diets will even tell you to take vitamins and supplements to make up for all the nutritional deficiencies you experience while on that fad diet. However, your body will not be able to absorb the nutrients from the recommended supplements unless you take them with food. And many of the foods that help you absorb nutrients are banned on fad diets.

#2 Fad diets are usually so restrictive and unappetizing that, after as little as one day, you'll begin having overwhelming cravings for other foods and most likely you'll give up. This can also wreak havoc on your self esteem if you beat yourself up for not having enough willpower to stick it out with the diet.

#3 Fad diets are temporary solutions to your weight problems. Even if you do follow through to the end with a fad diet you have not made permanent, healthy changes to the way you handle food in your life. So fad dieters tend to be yo-yo dieters that go back and forth between extreme low-calorie fad diets to periods of bingeing on food groups that were missing from the fad diet. So fad dieters will inevitably end up on a roller coaster of gaining and losing the same pounds, over and over.

No matter what you see in the media about quick weight loss fad diets, realize that these diets will never work long term.

The best way to lose weight and sustain that weight loss (so you never have to diet again) is to eat a variety of healthy foods, avoid overeating, and do regular exercise. This simple formula works every time.

By: Keira Adams
Keira Adams is publisher of The Internet Spa at http://www.internet-spa.com.
Get the information you need to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit.

It might not seem possible but there really are fast ways to lose weight - and keep it off.

There are all sorts of short term things you can do to quickly drop some pounds but they aren't feasible for the long term, of course. But the best way to lose weight quickly and for good is to eat small meals several times per day.

Now, by small I mean they shouldn't exceed a certain number of calories. Yes, you'll have to start learning how many calories are in foods. You won't lose weight otherwise.

First you have to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your ideal weight. If you are female take your ideal weight and multiply by 12. That is the number of calories you should eat per day. If you are male, take your ideal weight and multiply by 14.

It's best to eat those calories throughout the day in small meals. Sure, you could blow all your calories at once on a super sized Big Mac meal and eat calorie-free food for the rest of the day but that would defeat the purpose.

When you eat regularly, in small portions, your body doesn't store fat. It knows there's food right around the corner and doesn't store fat by thinking there's a famine.

When you start paying attention to the calories you'll find that you also start learning more about nutrition too because you want to get the most nutrition for your calories. The technical term for this is Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition (CRON) and there is all kinds of research supporting the health benefits of this type of eating.

Don't worry: you'll quickly start memorizing the calories and soon it will become intuitive. You'll look at a dish and automatically know the proper size and roughly how many calories are in it. You won't have to walk around with a charge or calculator.

You will steadily lose weight until you reach your ideal weight. After you reach your ideal weight you will continue to eat the same amount of calorie in order to maintain that way. And as I know from experience, being in the position of maintaining your weight, instead of having to lose it, is a wonderful feeling.

By: Hannah Graham
Want to try a calorie restriction diet that's actually fun and easy to learn? Go to http://www.sixworddiet.com. This little 60 page booklet has been flying off the shelves. Why? Because you get to eat whatever you want, 12 times per day.

Submitted by:
Josh Truegood
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