Diets For Women
Table of Contents
It's somewhat of a accepted belief that women simply have a harder time losing weight than men, and to a certain extent this is true. Women are genetically designed to carry more fat, but that doesn't mean that they cannot gain muscle, lose fat, or get in shape on-par with men.
All it takes is a few minor tweaks to diet and exercise plans, as well as dispelling a few longstanding myths to get started. With this information, you should be perfectly capable of breaking a weight-loss stall, kicking your fat burn into high gear, or simply get going on a healthier path.
Whether you're a seasoned pro looking to push past a plateau or you're completely new to the process of dieting and fitness, there's always something to learn that can change everything.
Reshape your body by reforming your diet
There are several old adages around weight loss that are completely true:
- 1you can't out-train a bad diet
- 2bodies are made in the kitchen, not the gym
While there are a plethora of other similar sayings when it comes to weight loss, very few hold as much water as these two. If you're going to the gym every morning but eating M&Ms mixed with Doritos every night for dinner, you're not going to succeed.
While obviously that example is an extreme one(and gross, blech), there definitely is nuance to fueling your body in a way that is less likely to make you retain fat.
The most important concept along these lines is to stop "dieting" in the traditional sense and start to simply take care of your diet. When your knowledge of how the three primary macro nutrients - fat, carbs, and protein - affect your body, you can better understand how fluctuations of weight loss and gain can occur.
For instance, in the 1990s there was a huge push towards low fat marketing for processed foods; low fat was in, natural fats like butter, olive oil, and tallow were out. While this seemed like it would address the problem of obesity, it did nothing of the sort.
The reason that low fat processed foods don't work is multi-fold, but the primary reason is because when you take natural fat out of a food, you either need to synthesize it with margarine or some other very unhealthy trans fat, OR you need to replace it with sugar.
That's what all of the low fat foods do; they take out naturally occurring fats and replace them with highly processed sugar. This sugar then raises insulin, which tries to shuttle the sugar as energy to cells. If the cells don't need energy, though, the sugar is stored as body fat. This is, quite obviously, a big problem.
So what's a better way to look at these macro nutrients such that you get a nutritionally complete diet but without sacrificing taste and without being hungry all the time?
1
Prioritize Protein
Protein is a wonderful macro nutrient.
It repairs damaged muscle, sates our hunger, provides lasting energy, and doesn't spike insulin the way that carbs will. In addition, you can get protein readily from many sources, regardless of your preferred diet.
For instance:
Meat
Meat-Adjacent Foods
Animal products like eggs and dairy are a fantastic source of protein and fat. Eggs are in fact one of the most perfect foods you can eat, and even more so because you needn’t worry about the cholesterol in them.
Dietary cholesterol does not affect blood cholesterol, so eat those eggs.
Cheese is a good source of calcium and protein, as long as you avoid processed ones like American. Opt for hard cheeses as they’re lower in milk sugars. The only big caveat with cheese is that it is very calorie-dense, so it needs to be something you eat sparingly, but don’t skimp on the fat. Low fat cheese is not healthy.
Yogurt, especially Greek yogurt or Icelandic skir, is a great source of both protein and vital gut bacteria. Greek and Icelandic yogurts are strained, doubling the protein counts in most scenarios, and are more likely to be made with whole ingredients like real fruit rather than a sugar-infused slurry of chemicals.
Sorry to beat the horse I rode in on, but again, avoid low fat yogurt – some have as much sugar or more than a literal candy bar.
Plant Proteins
Ruminants like sheep, goats, and cows have big muscles but they don’t eat meat and they’re able to maintain their strength because plants are actually a fairly good source of protein.
The issue most people might have is the volume of plant material you need to eat in order to achieve protein goals but it’s worth it for the nutritional payoff.
Animal products like eggs and dairy are a fantastic source of protein and fat.
Eggs are in fact one of the most perfect foods you can eat, and even moreso because you needn’t worry about the cholesterol in them. Dietary cholesterol does not affect blood cholesterol, so eat those eggs.
Cheese is a good source of calcium and protein, as long as you avoid processed ones like American. Opt for hard cheeses as they’re lower in milk sugars. The only big caveat with cheese is that it is very calorie-dense, so it needs to be something you eat sparingly, but don’t skimp on the fat. Low fat cheese is not healthy.
Yogurt, especially Greek yogurt or Icelandic skir, is a great source of both protein and vital gut bacteria. Greek and Icelandic yogurts are strained, doubling the protein counts in most scenarios, and are more likely to be made with whole ingredients like real fruit rather than a sugar-infused slurry of chemicals.
Sorry to beat the horse I rode in on, but again, avoid low fat yogurt – some have as much sugar or more than a literal candy bar.
2
2: Eat Fat To Burn Fat
Dietary fat has been vilified over the years due to a multitude of factors, but it’s truly not the boogeyman that it’s made out to be. Sugar is the real enemy, and dietary fat from whole food sources like coconut oil, real butter, ghee, avocado and olive oils, beef tallow, and bacon grease are all highly useful, delicious, and healthy. In addition, dietary fat creates a sense of satiety, which will naturally help you eat less.
Fats to eat
Fats to Avoid
If you're trying to lose weight, dietary fat should be a tool to stop hunger and increase energy. It's not a numeric target the way protein is; rather you want to eat enough that you're not ravenous but if you've got fat to burn, you don't need much fat to eat.
Curb Your Carbs To Burn Fat Fast!
Not all carbohydrates are created equal; fast digesting carbs like sugar, bananas, candy, etc are generally not the best thing if you're trying to lose weight. The way sugar drives fat gain is like this:
Slow-digesting carbs like vegetables, lower sugar fruits (like berries), nuts, legumes, and complete grains like amaranth, quinoa, or barley, are healthy alternatives to highly processed breads, flours, and sugars.
These should form the bulk of your carb intake, but the best way to really torch fat quickly is to drastically cut your carbs back.
The average western diet consists of upwards of 250 grams of carbs a day, which is an astronomically high number. To really lose weight, try restricting your carbs under 50g a day. You will see results quickly and you'll find that after a short adjustment period where your body loses its addiction to sugar, that you feel great at 50g of carbs or less per day.
If you think your body cannot sustain itself without a copious amount of carbs, consider this: there are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids (proteins) but there are literally no essential carbs. This leads us into our next tip:
Blast fat off at light speed by utilizing ketosis
Buzzword though it may be, keto is a tried and true diet that works, and works quickly. By restricting your carbs to 50g or less a day (20g is the best place to start for the first 2 weeks), your body enters a state of metabolism called ketosis.
Now ketosis causes your body to break down stored fat into ketone bodies, replacing the role of carbohydrate for energy production. The only organ in the body that doesn't strictly run better with ketones is the brain, but don't fret: the brain can create all the glucose it needs (about 100g/day) via a process called gluconeogenesis. The body is pretty cool honestly.
Ketosis has been used to treat childhood epilepsy for over 100 years with zero ill effects in the children. It was described by both Dr. Rollin Turner Woodyatt and Dr. William Banting as a beneficial way of eating to reduce excess fat in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
Most recently before this recent craze was the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, in which Atkins' nutritional approach is very similar to a ketogenic diet.
Ketosis reduces bodily inflammation, providing energy by burning your stored fat. A side effect of ketosis is reduced appetite, which also helps weight loss. Most people who strictly adhere to the 20-50g or less a day carb restriction will lose between 10 and 20 pounds of weight in the first 2 weeks. While a large part of this is water weight (glycogen is stored in water within the liver and muscle, so when we use all of it our body sheds that water), a good amount of it is fat as well.
There are a myriad of other benefits to ketosis, so do not believe the negative press; it's a perfectly safe, healthy, and effective metabolic state that provides the energy you need and appetite suppression you want to get and stay on a dietary track.
Now that your diet is on lock, what exercises burn the most fat?
Weight lifting. I know you're a woman and you don't want to be huge and bulky but you won't be. Weight lifting creates strength, balance, improves posture, improves insulin sensitivity, and the muscle you create increases your metabolism.
Though the immediate fat burn from weight lifting isn't profound, the long term benefits are profound.
For cardio, high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a fat BLASTER. Exercises like sprints, short runs interspersed with walking, stair climbing, or bodyweight squats are phenomenal at improving heart function and burning fat.
Try the Tabata protocol and see how you feel after a few weeks:
Begin by squatting as fast as you can, over and over, for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds.
Repeat this pattern 8 times for 4 minutes.
That's it, one of the most effective cardio workouts that torches fat and makes your heart stronger.
Finally, sustained, low intensity activity daily - like walking - is a great way to boost your metabolism, lower your blood pressure, and improve your overall health.
Try ensuring you get 10,000 steps a day and see how much better you feel overall.
Health is a combination of a great diet and consistent exercise
The most important component to weight loss - both in the short term and in the long term - is diet. By reformulating your view of food, focusing on protein and vegetables, cutting your carbs, and fueling yourself with whole foods, your weight loss will begin to be effortless.
By then adding in sustained, consistent exercise, you will see steady, strong weight loss and improved health. By drastically reducing your carbs, you will see the fat fly off faster than you can buy new clothes to replace the old ones that are too big, but that's a pretty good problem to have.
Get out there, engage in the mindful restructuring of how you care for your body and you will see dramatic, sustainable, wonderful results!
The Diet Fitness King Team is a team of 6 people lead by the founder Greg Davis. We have all different levels of experiences and credentials in the health field and our goal is to provide people the highest quality information available. Everything we put out is well researched and we have a lot of passion and pride behind this! Please let us know if you find any incorrect information on our website or feel free to contact us with feedback in general.
