What A 1200-Caloriet Diet Plan Can Do For Men

Nearly every diet guru tells us "You can eat more and weigh less, if you just follow my rules" (after buying a book or signing up for a weight loss program). The reality of dieting is that losing weight almost always involves eating less, that is, consuming fewer calories. However, there are more effective and less effective methods of calorie restriction.

Restricted-calorie diets take the guesswork out of the "how much" questions for dieting. Just eat prepackaged meals (whether they are specifically "diet" foods or not), with the calorie values already counted, and nothing else for a week, a month, or 90 days, and watch the weight fall off. "Reduced calorie" diets for men usually offer 1500 or 1800 calories per day, while a faster method of weight loss, the truly low-calorie diet for men, provides just 1200 calories.

How Can You Limit Your Eating to 1200 Calories a Day?

It's not hard to devise a 1200-calorie diet. Simply choose any three packaged meals of about 400 calories each. Eat them, and nothing else, being sure to drink adequate fluid (at least 5 cups--not 8 glasses--or about 1200 ml of water per day). Nearly all men will lose weight on this diet.

However, nearly all men will cheat while they are on 1200-calorie diets for the simple reason that they get hungry. There are a number of quick fixes for hunger on restricted-calorie diets. One is to drink more water. That only helps until the water passes out of the stomach, which is in as little as 15 minutes when you are not eating. 

Filling up with low-calorie vegetables fights hunger a little longer, but eating the same soup over and over again quickly becomes so boring that men quit eating it (or their significant others chase them out of the house on account of flatulence). Eating a variety of slowly simmered soups, just a cup (about 250 ml) of soup at the beginning of a meal, helps control appetite better. The colloidal particles formed as the soup simmers take longer to digest, and keep you fuller longer. However, if you are on a 1200-calorie diet, even a cup of soup is enough to interfere with weight loss. However, there is a smarter way to lose weight, and keep it off, using this low-calorie approach.

If You Can't Eat 1200 Calories Every Day, Eat 1200 Calories Every Other Day

Following a diet every other day would seem to take off weight half as fast, but for many men, alternate-day fasting results in losing weight faster than dieting every day. It is a lot easier to eat "diet meals" one day if you know you can have "normal meals" the next. 

See Also: Want To Follow A High Protein Diet Plan For Weight Loss? Get Started With These Fat-Busting Tips

More importantly, diets only help you lose weight if you stick to them. An every-other-day diet plan not only is easier to follow, it reinforces willpower. Men who pick a realistic diet program and follow it can take credit for their weight loss. They aren't at the mercy of some diet guru's latest suggestions.

How To Make An Every Other Day 1200 Calorie Diet For Men Work

In the 1990's, an American scientist named Jose Luchsinger tested the idea that Alzheimer's disease was caused by the free radicals released by the oxidation of sugar and fat in the brain. The importance of diet, overeating, and diabetes in age-related cognitive decline involves a genetic factor, but Luchsinger learned that people who took a break for eating once or twice a week were significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's. 

In the course of studying calorie restriction and Alzheimer's disease, Luchsinger also observed that:

• People who skipped a meal 2 or 3 times a week lost weight, even if they made up the calories they missed at the next meal.
• Giving the body a break from food lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, and free radical production (which transforms cholesterol into artery-clogging plaque).
• The weight loss during every-other-day or twice-a-week fasting, really just skipping a single meal, came off from fat, not from muscle.

There are some very specific reasons men get better results from following a 1200-calorie diet every other day rather than every day.

• The pancreas releases insulin to transport the sugars digested from food after meals. Insulin does not just transport glucose into cells. It also "locks" fat inside fat cells so that even if you exercise, your muscles don't burn fat (unless you work out for about 2 hours or more). Skipping a meal means the pancreas does not have to release insulin to cover sugars from digested food and fat cells can release fatty acids and send them to the muscles to be burned.
• Cells use amino acids from food to make proteins. As long as more amino acids are coming in from food, they make proteins rather than repairing proteins. If you don't eat protein foods for about 18 hours, cells get a chance to perform autophagy, a kind of cellular "detox" that allows them to scrap old, misshaped, worn out proteins and improve the health of the cell.
• Giving your brain a break from food not only helps it repair free radical damage, it also stimulates the release of growth hormone. Ironically, not eating, for about 18 hours, increases growth hormone levels so your muscles grow faster the next time you work out. Muscles burn calories. The greater your muscle mass, the easier it is to burn fat calories.

This could even be a fast food breakfast sandwich and some fruit (although not a fast food breakfast sandwich with fries or hashed browns). Then eat a prepared meal of 400 calories, some salad, and maybe a cup of yogurt, or a sandwich and a small bag of chips. Then don't eat dinner, or anything else until the next day.

Your muscles won't be deprived of amino acids even if you work out when you are fasting. The body is capable of Buffering amino acids for use in building proteins for about 48 hours. (This means fasting 48 hours begins to threaten muscle mass. However, fasting for 18 hours does not.) Hard aerobic exercise is not a good idea when you skip meals, but if you do lots of hard aerobic exercise, chances are you do not need to go on a diet.

See Also: Diets That Work: The Pros And Cons Of Low-Calorie Diets

The next day, eat normal meals, but just one plate at each meal, and no snacks. Ideally, eating no more than 2000 calories on non-diet days gets the best results, but even if you continue your old habits, the calorie-reduction day will help you slowly lose weight. You will never be deprived longer than overnight, and you can take credit for your weight loss because you will have accomplished it with your own willpower, without special foods, without classes, without hiring a trainer. If you are diabetic, consult your doctor before pursuing this plan.