Choose a gradual and safe way to lose weight. We will tell you everything about a gentle diet for weight loss: basic principles, allowed foods and menus for a week.
How to Lose Weight Safely? Many nutritionists believe that a gentle diet is a great option for weight loss. Principles, contraindications, benefits and a menu 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 frugal diet for weight loss compared to 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 call your doctor and find out if it is really safe for you to eat a gentle diet system for weight loss.
Gentle diet for weight loss: basic principles and contraindications
The gentle diet is divided into two main phases: the intensive phase and the reset phase.
The intensive phase lasts up to 6 months. During this time, you need to limit your calorie intake to 1800 calories per day. As part of your diet, you focus on protein-rich foods. For example, poultry, fish, eggs, low-fat cheese, and tofu. Oils and other salad dressings are not included in the diet, and carbohydrates are limited to 20 grams per day. So, initially, almost every meal will contain some amount of meat, mostly without side dishes or with a side dish of certain vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and others from the list of allowed foods).
In the second step, you can add fat and carbohydrates slowly, 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 a multivitamin supplement, potassium, calcium, magnesium, or extra sodium during the first phase to protect your body from nutritional deficiencies. You also need to monitor your condition, and if it worsens, for example, performance decreases or dizziness begins - you should immediately proceed to the next phase, or, respectively, repeat, or quit 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:
- lowers cholesterol levels by 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 weight loss. Before starting, be sure to consult a specialist, because the diet has side effects. For example, it can cause nutritional deficiencies in the body.
Unsuitable diets:
- for parents;
- for lactating and pregnant women;
- for those with gallbladder problems;
- for people with eating disorders;
- for patients with chronic disease.
Gentle diet for weight loss: menu for a week
Foods that are allowed and taboo
We have outlined some of the foods you can eat on a light weight loss diet. Detailed list of allowed products:
- poultry: skinless chicken, turkey, goose, duck;
- meat: lean meat, pork, lamb;
- fish: flounder, cod, catfish, halibut;
- vegetables: 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.
Large amounts of fat and carbohydrates are excluded from the menu of a frugal diet. Complete list of taboo foods:
- fruits: apples, berries, oranges, grapes, melons, pears, peaches;
- starchy vegetables: potatoes, corn, peas;
- grains: oats, oats, barley, buckwheat, millet;
- legumes: black beans, lentils, chickpeas, chickpeas, peanuts;
- processed foods: fast food, baked goods, potato chips, fast food, sweets;
- sugary drinks: juices, sweetened teas, sports drinks, sodas;
- sugar and sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, table sugar, molasses, brown sugar;
- fats and oils: olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, salad dressing, butter, margarine;
- complete 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. Perfect fit like:
- Egg;
- A piece of grilled meat or fish;
- Cheese hut;
- A slice of low-fat cheese;
- A few stalks of celery;
- A handful of boiled vegetables from the allowed list;
- 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 half a glass half an hour or an hour before meals, and also drink unsweetened green or black tea as a snack to eliminate possible hunger. A good option would be mineral water or rosehip broth, herbal teas, of course, you do not need to add sugar to this drink and, in principle, you should refrain from sugar. The best way to cook food is by steaming, boiling, baking, you can use a microwave oven.
Gentle diet for safe weight loss: menus and foods you can cook at home
Monday
- Breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach and tomatoes.
- Lunch: fried cod with steamed broccoli.
- Dinner: chicken breast with roasted Brussels sprouts.
Tuesday
- Breakfast: tofu with onions, garlic and peppers.
- Lunch: grilled chicken with vegetable side dish (without sauce).
- Dinner: pork with fried asparagus.
Wednesday
- Breakfast: omelet with zucchini, tomatoes and garlic.
- Lunch: grilled cod with boiled cabbage.
- Dinner: lean beef salad, mushrooms, garlic, ginger and scallions.
Thursday
- Breakfast: low-fat cottage cheese.
- Lunch: Low-carb turkey meatballs with zucchini and tomato noodles.
- Dinner: fried chicken with garlic and lemon (ungarnished).
Friday
- Breakfast: boiled eggs with salt and pepper.
- Lunch: grilled tofu with steamed green beans.
- Dinner: grilled steak with oven fried eggplant.
Repeat one of the days on Saturday and Sunday.
Do not forget about the limitations - for the intensive phase, the main part consists of protein, for the second, its amount decreases due to an increase in the amount of carbohydrates.
Gentle diet recipe
Chicken meatballs with vegetables
Ingredients: chicken fillet, cauliflower, broccoli, eggs, low-fat sour cream, low-fat cream, cheese for sprinkling, garlic, seasonings to taste.
Preparation: if the vegetables are frozen - thaw, if not - rinse in salted water, divide into inflorescences. Cut the chicken, mix with the vegetables in a baking dish, fill with sour cream diluted with warm water, put in the oven for 20 minutes, temperature - 180 degrees. For the second pour, mix the cream with part of the cheese, eggs, finely chopped garlic or pass through a garlic press, add spices, mix everything thoroughly. We remove the chicken with vegetables from the oven, fill it with the freshly prepared filling, distribute the remaining cheese on top. We return everything to the oven for another 20 minutes.
Vegetable salad
Ingredients: low-fat cheese, celery sticks, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, spices, lemon juice.
Preparation: wash the vegetables, cut into a deep bowl, send finely chopped low-fat cheese, chopped celery sticks, herbs or finely chopped with your hands. Add lemon juice and mix everything thoroughly.
Diet soup with meatballs
Ingredients: turkey, chicken or rabbit fillet, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, eggs, herbs, spices to taste.
Preparation: chop the meat with onions, add eggs, salt, pepper if desired, mix and form meatballs. Put the finished meat product in boiling water, add broccoli and cauliflower to it, previously divided into inflorescences (if you bought frozen vegetables, you do not need to thaw them in advance), grated carrots on a fine grater - it will give the broth a golden color, seasoning 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 on soft diet
Those who have tried this gentle version of the diet for weight loss say that it is quite difficult to follow it - the restrictions are strong, the daily calorie count may not be enough for those who are accustomed to physical exertion or long walks, fatigue, dizziness may appear - if this happens, the wombcalories from food need to be increased and then gradually reduced, observing the state of health and avoiding fanaticism.
The food you can eat is pretty good, but not very varied, the most difficult thing for people to leave baked goods and sweets and switch to vegetables as a side dish. They also recommend not neglecting nutritional supplements and reporting hunger pangs, which may accompany you at first, but then you will most likely get used to the new diet.
Exit from the diet, as those who have tried it warn, should be very smooth, even after completing the second phase, foods from the forbidden list should be introduced with extreme caution, otherwise there is a risk that all efforts on the basis of weight loss will be in vaindrain. The fact is that the metabolism for a long time, which this diet requires, is rebuilt, the body is used to processing a certain number of types of food, therefore, excess fat accumulation can be a consequence of excess. It is best to switch from this diet to a diet built according to proper nutritional recommendations, in this case the probability of weight gain will be minimal, and there will be sufficient strength and energy.