Choose a gradual and safe way to lose weight. We'll tell you everything about a gentle diet for weight loss: basic principles, allowed foods and menus for the week.
How to Lose Weight Safely? Many nutritionists believe that a gentle diet is a great option for losing weight. Principles, contraindications, benefits and menus for a week at home - all the details are in the material.
There are many different weight loss diets, designed for short, "sprint" races.
A sparing diet for weight loss in comparison with them is a marathon, it can last more than six months, while the calorie restriction of food is quite serious. Before you start losing weight in this way, be sure to contact your doctor and find out if it is really safe for you to eat on the system of a gentle diet for weight loss.
Gentle diet for weight loss: basic principles and contraindications
The gentle diet is divided into two main phases: an intensive phase and a re-phase.
The intensive phase lasts up to 6 months. During this time, you need to limit your calorie intake to 1, 800 calories per day. As part of your diet, you focus on protein-rich foods. For example, poultry, fish, eggs, low-fat cheese, and tofu. Oil and other salad dressings are excluded from the diet menu, and carbohydrates are limited to 20 grams per day. Thus, at first, almost every meal will contain some amount of meat, mostly without a side dish or with side dishes in the form of certain vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and others from the list of permitted foods).
In the second step, you can slowly add fats and carbohydrates, and gradually reduce the amount of protein to 70-140 grams per day. The second phase lasts 6–8 weeks. In the first month, up to 45 grams of carbohydrates per day are allowed, and in the second month - up to 90 grams.
Talk to your doctor, you may need to take an extra multivitamin, potassium, calcium, magnesium or sodium supplement during the first phase to protect your body from nutrient deficiencies. You also need to monitor your condition, and if it deteriorates, for example, performance decreases or dizziness begins - you need to immediately proceed to the next phase, or, respectively, repeat, or exit the diet.
Why is a gentle diet good for you?
A gentle diet is not only good for weight loss. Additional benefits of a gentle diet:
- lowering cholesterol levels up to 20%;
- normalization of blood sugar levels;
- lowering blood pressure;
- protection against metabolic syndrome.
Unfortunately, even a gentle diet is not an ideal recipe for losing weight. Before starting, be sure to consult with a specialist, as the diet has side effects. For example, it can cause nutritional deficiencies in the body.
The diet is not suitable:
- for the elderly;
- for lactating and pregnant women;
- for those with gallbladder problems;
- for people with eating disorders;
- for patients with chronic diseases.
Gentle diet for weight loss: menu for a week
Allowed and taboo foods
We have already outlined some of the foods that you can eat on a light weight loss diet. Detailed list of permitted products:
- poultry: skinless chicken, turkey, goose, duck;
- meat: lean meat, pork, lamb;
- fish: flounder, cod, catfish, halibut;
- vegetables: leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, celery, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, zucchini;
- low-fat dairy products: cottage cheese, low-fat cheese, skim milk;
- eggs and egg whites;
- tofu.
A large amount of fats and carbohydrates are excluded from the menu of a sparing diet. Full list of taboo foods:
- fruits: apples, berries, oranges, grapes, melons, pears, peaches;
- starchy vegetables: potatoes, corn, peas;
- grain: wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, millet;
- legumes: black beans, lentils, chickpeas, beans, peanuts;
- processed foods: convenience foods, baked goods, potato chips, fast food, candy;
- sweet drinks: juice, sweet tea, sports drinks, soda;
- sugar and sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, table sugar, molasses, brown sugar;
- fats and oils: olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oils, salad dressings, butter, margarine;
- full-fledged dairy products: yogurt, fatty cheese, milk.
You need to eat little by little, in small portions, but often. This diet has three main meals a day and a few snacks. Well suited as such:
- Egg;
- A slice of baked meat or fish;
- Cottage cheese;
- A slice of low-fat cheese;
- Several stalks of celery;
- A handful of boiled vegetables from the list of allowed;
- A tomato.
Do not forget to drink enough water, the daily norm is about one and a half to two liters, it is best to drink at least a glass half an hour or an hour before meals, and also drink unsweetened green or black tea as snacks to drown out the possible feeling of hunger. A good option is mineral water or rosehip broth, herbal tea, of course, you don't need to add sugar to these drinks and, in principle, you need to refrain from sugar. The best way to cook food is to steam, boil, bake, you can use a microwave oven.
A gentle diet for safe weight loss: menus and meals that you can cook at home
Monday
- Breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach and tomatoes.
- Lunch: fried cod with steamed broccoli.
- Dinner: chicken breast with grilled Brussels sprouts.
Tuesday
- Breakfast: tofu with onions, garlic and bell peppers.
- Lunch: baked chicken with a vegetable side dish (no dressing).
- Dinner: pork chops with fried asparagus.
Wednesday
- Breakfast: egg omelet with zucchini, tomatoes and garlic.
- Lunch: baked cod with boiled cabbage.
- Dinner: salad of lean ground beef, mushrooms, garlic, ginger and green onions.
Thursday
- Breakfast: low-fat cottage cheese.
- Lunch: Low-carb turkey meatballs with zucchini and tomato noodles.
- Dinner: fried chicken with garlic and lemon (no garnish).
Friday
- Breakfast: hard-boiled eggs with salt and pepper.
- Lunch: baked tofu with steamed green beans.
- Dinner: grilled steak with oven-fried eggplants.
Repeat any of the days on Saturday and Sunday.
Do not forget about the limitations - for the intensive phase, the main part is made up of proteins, for the second, their amount decreases due to an increase in the amount of carbohydrates.
Gentle diet recipes
Chicken casserole with vegetables
Ingredients: chicken fillet, cauliflower, broccoli, eggs, low fat sour cream, low fat cream, cheese for sprinkling, garlic, spices to taste.
Preparation: if the vegetables are frozen - defrost, if not - rinse in salted water, divide into inflorescences. Cut the chicken, mix it with vegetables in a baking dish, fill it with sour cream diluted with warm water, put it in the oven for 20 minutes, temperature - 180 degrees. For the second pouring, mix the cream with a part of the cheese, eggs, finely chopped garlic or passed through a garlic press, add spices, mix everything thoroughly. We take out the chicken with vegetables from the oven, fill it with the freshly prepared filling, distribute the rest of the cheese on top. We return everything to the oven for another 20 minutes.
Vegetable salad
Ingredients: low-fat cheese, celery stalks, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, herbs, lemon juice.
Preparation: wash vegetables, cut them into a deep bowl, send finely chopped low-fat cheese, chopped celery stalks, greens, or chop them finely by hand. Add lemon juice and mix everything thoroughly.
Diet soup with meatballs
Ingredients: turkey, chicken or rabbit fillets, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, eggs, herbs, spices to taste.
Preparation: mince the meat with the onion, add the egg, salt, pepper if desired, mix and form the meatballs. Put the finished meat products in boiling water, add broccoli and cauliflower to them, pre-divided into inflorescences (if you bought frozen vegetables, you do not need to defrost them beforehand), grated carrots on a fine grater - it will give a golden color to the broth, spices to taste. Cook until cabbage and meatballs are ready, garnish with herbs when serving. You can also add a hard-boiled egg to the soup - half on each plate.
Reviews of a gentle diet
Those who have tried this version of a gentle diet for weight loss say that it is quite difficult to follow it - the restrictions are strong, the daily amount of calories may not be enough for those who are used to physical activity or long walks, fatigue, dizziness may appear - if this happens, the calorie content of the diet will need to be increased and then reduced gradually, observing the state of health and avoiding fanaticism.
Foods that you can eat are tasty enough, but not too varied, the hardest thing for people to give up baked goods and sweets and switch to vegetables as a side dish. They also recommend not to neglect nutritional supplements and report the feeling of hunger, which may accompany you at first, but then you will most likely get used to the new diet.
Getting out of the diet, as those who have tried it warn, need to be very smooth, even after the end of the second phase, foods from the prohibited list must be introduced very carefully, otherwise there is a risk that all efforts on the basis of weight loss will go to waste. The fact is that the metabolism for a long time, which this diet takes, is rebuilt, the body gets used to process a certain amount of products of a certain type, therefore, the accumulation of excess fat can be a consequence of excessiveness. It is best to switch from this diet to a diet built in accordance with the recommendations for proper nutrition, in which case the likelihood of weight gain will be minimal, and there will be enough strength and energy.