Weight watchers now have a helping hand in this quest for promoting health and fitness. CompleteDietInfo.com has all the information you need concerning health, as well as tips on how to lose weight and stay fit.

Even if you do not belong to the popular Weight Watchers company where paying customers are guided through a weight loss program and six-weeks of weight maintenance, you can still learn to be one of the more proficient weight watchers and identify potential health problems before they set in.

How to Become Fit and Slim

There are many known methods of losing weight. Many of them are truly effective and safe, while some are doubtful and should not be meddled with. Do not make an experimental set-up out of your body! To be sure that your chosen weight loss and fitness method is safe, refer to reliable sources only.

The advice that weight watchers often give to people who want to lose weight is to exercise and burn off the extra pounds. Along with the proper diet, you can reach your desired weight in a couple of weeks. Do not hope for overnight transformations. These things take (and need) time. This is also a challenge for you if you want to fit among the ranks of weight watchers.

If you can overcome the challenge of achieving your goal weight, you may have what it takes to tackle the next and more difficult challenge: staying fit and slim.

How to Remain Fit and Slim

Weight watchers are blessed with the perseverance and discipline to stay fit. These two qualities are necessary for a person to maintain his/her desired weight. Staying true to the following cardinal rules in staying fit and slim has brought success to many weight watchers.

First cardinal rule is to develop healthy eating habits. It is a sacrifice for most people to forget about fast food and go for the salad. However, if it is already a habit to eat healthy food and let go of the junk (or at least limit junk food intake) it will no longer seem very hard to keep up with the healthy eating habits of weight watchers.

The second cardinal rule is to get moving to stay in shape. Exercising is not the first and last stage of staying fit. You don’t have to sign up for a gym program, although this would be much better because you can meet other weight watchers there. Go for daily walks, jog, and do labor-intensive chores such as sweeping, gardening, cleaning, and walking the pets. At the very least you may delay arthritis and rheumatism because of the exercise.

The Atkins diet plan, restricts the dieter to eat carbohydrate rich foods such as breads, pasta, starchy vegetables, as well as cakes and cookies. Having a grasp of the plan complete diet info ensures a dieter to shed off extra pounds while maintaining good health. A typical day of an Atkins diet consists of a fried egg and bacon plus a cup of cup of decaffeinated coffee with single cream for breakfast. For lunch, the Atkins diet plan allows a meal of chicken breast topped with melted mozzarella and 170 grams mixed lettuce leaves tossed with olive oil. During dinner, an 8oz pan fried rump steak is served with 80 grams of spinach that is topped with soured cream. The dieter also eats 2 slices of ham as a snack. The whole days meal supplies the dieter with an overall 1245 calories, 75 grams of fat (34 grams of which is saturated), 129 grams of protein, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of fiber.

Being low in calorie, the menu would normally result to a weight loss of approximately 1-2 lbs weekly and since the meal plan allows the dieter to consume various servings of protein, the dieter continues to feel healthy and energized.

Beginnings
Both were developed by medical doctors (cardiologists) who — according to reports — were trying to help Americans lose weight given their high carb diets.

Atkins Diet was the first to be developed and is thus, the more popular. It was developed by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins as early as the 1972 but became more widely popular — despite the oppositions — in the 1990s.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, also a cardiologist but from Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach, Fla., is known as the father of the South Beach diet. His work came a lot later through his book: “The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss” published in 2003.

Similarities
Both popular diet plans advise dieters to avoid carbohydrates and follow stringent steps to ensure that the significant weight lost during the program does not come back.

Both start with the so-called induction phase where the body of the dieter is “trained” for the routine.

Both diet plans come with suggested food lists where dieters can mix and match foods to suit their tastes. Of course, like other diet plans, both plans advise dieters to stay away from food not included in the lists.

Among the “dont’s” in Dr. Atkins’ list are fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and some dairy products except cheese, cream, and butter.

Aside from fruit, bread, pasta and vegetables, South Beach dieters are also advised to stay away from potatoes, cereal, rice, and corn, especially for the first two weeks of the induction or introductory period. After this period, these can be slowly re-introduced into the body, albeit in smaller amounts.

Both diet plans have a lifetime “maintenance” phase where hopefully dieters will be so accustomed to either plan that they hardly recognize that they are dieting at all.

Differences
While both diet plans restrict carbohydrate intake, the South Beach diet is said to be more forgiving by not totally eliminating carbs. It distinguishes between “good” and “bad” carbs and even “good” and “bad” fats. South Beach encourages intake of “good” carbs and fats.

Low-sugar carbs with low glycemic index are “good” carbs under the South Beach plan. Food rich in fiber are also recommended.

Atkins’s diet routine helps the body to burn fat instead of carb. The goal is to help the dieter achieve good health. Atkins’s diet plan involves four phases while the South Beach plan has three phases.

In both plans, the introductory stage aims to condition the body for some changes to prepare for the program. In Atkins diet, the body is trained to burn fat instead of sugar to help curb the cravings for sugar and break addiction to some foods.

In South Beach diet, the initial phase involves cutting on high-carb foods, which can be gradually re-introduced in small amounts in the next phase. In this case, South Beach debunks myths that this approach prevents dieters from getting healthy mix from all food groups. Atkins dieters go through the next following phases: ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. The last two phases of South Beach diet are called re-introduce the carb and diet for life.

What’s key in the maintenance phase in Atkins is to keep portions of food at small amounts. Atkins diet guarantees no hunger deprivation because its long-term goal is healthy diet. South Beach’s promise is a “change in the way of eating,” with the dieter not recognizing at all that he is on a diet.

Summarizing the Diets

Developed by cardiologist Dr. Robert C. Atkins in 1972, with his “Diet Revolution”, a high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet.

The program focuses on a low-carbohydrate diet.

The Program has 4 phases:
1. induction phase (train the body to burn fats instead of carb)
2. ongoing weight loss
3. pre-maintenance
4. lifetime maintenance

South Beach Diet
Developed by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston of Miami, Florida, who in 2003, published the book “The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss”.

The program distinguishes between “good” and “bad” carbohydrates, and “good” and “bad” fats. Take in “good” carbs and fats.

The program has 3 phases:
1. 2-week introductory or induction phase (strictly no carbs)
2. re-introduce the carbs
3. diet for life

Please check http://www.OnlineDietReview.com for more information.

While these tasty sweeteners appear to be the perfect solution for both low-carb dieters and low-carb food producers, recent studies of sugar alcohols have painted a somewhat different picture.

To begin with, sugar alcohols are not entirely carb-free. Most studies have indicated that sugar alcohols contain approximately 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of calories as sugar–and in the form of carbohydrates.

In addition, studies have shown that sugar alcohols are absorbed by the small intestine, but the process is slower and fractured. This affects a rise in blood sugar, but again is smaller and more gradual than with sugar–and the rise tends to vary from person to person.

Sugar alcohols also have a laxative effect on some consumers. Since they are only partially absorbed, they bring water into the bowel–and undigested carbs into the colon, creating gas and bloating as the carbs are acted on by bacteria.

Over-consumption of sugar alcohols can often have an adverse effect on low carb dieters, even when they can digest them properly. Sugar alcohols can trigger cravings in low carb dieters, causing them to deviate from dietary restrictions.

In addition, sugar alcohols can often cause low carb dieters to choose an unhealthy diet of sweets, which appear to be carb-free, over a varied diet that includes essential nutrients.

If you are currently on a low carb diet and want to mix sugar alcohol products into your diet, it is very important that you monitor your total sugar alcohol intake–and keep it at a minimum while consuming a healthy diet.

One easy way to do this is to determine the total amount of carbs in sugar alcohol products you are consuming. You can do this by subtracting the amount of fat and protein calories per serving from the total amount of calories per serving. Simply multiply the grams of protein by four and the grams of fat by nine. Now subtract the sum of the two from the total amount of calories per serving.

Using these figures, you can determine whether or not carbs are being “hidden” in “carb free” sugar alcohol products you consume, allowing you to make a better-informed decision that fits the prescriptions of your low-carb diet.

People diet for lots of reasons, and with lots of aims in mind. No matter what your aims are, the most effective diet to achieve them is a personalized one. A personalized diet which suits you is what you need, whether you want to improve your health, or just lose weight.

Once you’ve decided to make a change for the better in your diet the next step is to seek advice from an expert. There are a myriad of fitness and diet plans to suit you available from your local gym or fitness center. There will usually be someone there you can talk to and discover what the best diet for you is. Alternatively you can take join up to one of the many fitness programs offered by the major fitness companies, there is one to suit every taste!

Everyones body is different and so different diets and fitness programs effect you diffently to the way they will effect others. Some people will lose weight and tone up more quickly on certain diets so its important to ensure the diet that you are on is just right for your body.

Most diet programs are designed for people with no specific health problems. If you find you are changing your prescribed diet to suit a health problem you have it is essential to contact your doctor first for advice. They can advise you on what is best to eat or avoid eating with your illness.

Of course your doctor knows as much as anyone about your health. They are in an excellent position to help you decide on the diet that will be most effective for you. They will also be able to spot any potential problems with a diet you are on, or are considering. For example if you are on medication to prevent blood clots then you shouldn’t eat green vegetables (spinach in particular). Your doctor will spot issues like this and point them out to you.

The major problem with standard diets (including the fad diets we all here about) is that they are just that – standard. They are designed to suit everyone to some degree but they will probably have an average effect on you. These diets are not designed for you – for your body, build, fitness level, health, or potential health problems. A good diet is one you can make your own – a diet you can tailor and personalize to suit yourself.

Another problem is that depending on where you live, some diets might call for you to eat a particular food that is difficult or even impossible to find. They might also require you to eat foods that are out of season or more expensive to buy in your location than others. If this is the case, you should change your diet to include foods that are easier to come by, but that also work in your diet.

Of course there is little point in beginning your diet with great determination only to find a week later you dont have the ability to stick with it. It is important that you ease yourself into your diet when possible. Phase out your old diet while gradually adopting your new personalised diet. That way you’ll be able to stick with it and get the most out of your new diet.

Avoid a diet that requires you to abruptly change your eating habits, forcing you to stop eating your favourite foods for example. Changes like that will cause temptation and make you cheta on your diet. A diet like this will rarely last long enough to have any meaningful effect on your health or weight.

If your diet has an aim – like losing weight or lowering your blood pressure then you should consider making a progress chart. that way you can look at the chart and see how far you’ve come and how much closer to your goal you are. that kind of encouragement will give you a much needed boost in your confidence, and your resolve to work along the path of your new diet and achieve your goals.