Healthy Lifestyle vs Fad Diets
Lynda Schreiber
Com/170
June 2, 2014
Linda Boyer
Healthy lifestyle vs fad diets

Introduction
I. Calorie Count
A. Healthy Calorie Count.
1. Body calorie needs to function
B. Unhealthy Calorie Count
1. Effects of low calories on the body
II. Exercise
A. Exercise with diet
1. Effects on weight
B. No exercise with diet aids
1. Effects on maintaining weight loss
III. Diet Aids vs. Healthy Choices
A. Hormone/ Chemical based Aids
B. Healthy Lifestyle

What is the best way to lose weight and is there such a thing as a miracle diet? I have asked myself this question many times over the past sixteen years. All though school I was considered the skinny girl then when I started gaining weight it just kept coming. Diet fads are all the rage, and I have tried most of them that are on the market with some results but they never stay. So I started asking myself what is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. I had to come to the realization that there is no overnight miracle and it all takes hard work. In order to achieve a goal weight and maintain weight, miracle diets are less effective than making healthy lifestyle changes.
The first thing I have learned along my weight loss search is that calories are an important factor. All diets are based on a calorie count but what is the correct calories a body needs. The calories the body consumes in a day is different for each person. To figure out how many calories a body needs to function daily it is a calculation that includes gender, height, body type, how active a person is, lifestyle, and overall health. Once you figure out how many calories a specific person needs per day then you know how many calories you can consume without gaining weight. Fad diets claim to help you lose weight quickly and easily. Most of the fad diets consist of taking a supplement. And these supplements consist of hormones, Chemicals, or low calorie consumption. For example, I tried the Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) diet which only allows a 500 calorie a day diet. At first I dumped the weight of course because I had went from a 2000+ calorie a day diet to 500 calories a day. The first few days where hard but not impossible, soon I started getting nausea, fatigue, cold all the time, and losing my hair. After researching I found that I had put my body in starvation mode and there were consequences if I proceeded. Most fad diets contain fewer than 800 calories per day and entail consuming meal replacements. These diets involve high risks even for people over a 32BMI (body mass index). The side effects can include nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, intolerance to cold, menstrual irregularities, hair loss, and gallstones. It can also lead to more serious problems including heart arrhythmia, brain hemorrhage, and stroke. Very-low-calorie diets can lead to fast weight loss with approximately 3 to 5 pounds a week, but after the first initial weight loss or water weight loss then about 30 percent of the loss comes from muscle loss. I was looking for a miracle weight loss diet but at what cost? The goal of any diet is to simply burn more calories than you eat. The best way to lose weight is to figure how many calories the body needs and count how many calories you are consuming.
Exercise is another key factor when trying to lose weight, or even maintain weight. Most people use an excuse to talk