A low calorie diet plan is often the very first step that a person needs to take in order to start down the road to better health and weight loss. An intake of calories that exceeds the expenditure of them throughout the day, on a day-to-day basis, is the reason that a lot of people struggle with unwanted weight gain, which can lead to many health issues. Fortunately, calorie diet plans are simple, inexpensive and successful in helping a person to control their calorie intake.

Simple, yes, but easy is sometimes another story when it comes to dieting and people often struggle with starting a calorie diet plan when they are in the habit of eating large portions of food that is not always the best and healthiest choice. Low calorie diets are just one answer to the problem of obesity and health risks. No one should undertake a low calorie diet plan without first consulting their physician to be sure that it is a wise choice for them.

Keeping in mind that a person needs calories for energy and indeed, to live, the average person might consider a low-calorie diet to be one, which might consist of consuming from 1500 to 1800 calories each day. There are many diet plans out there that cut calories to 1000 calories a day or less, but these are not adequate to meet any nutritional needs and should never be considered for a long-term answer. Dieters often have some side effects when they first start on a calorie diet plan, such as diarrhea or constipation, nausea and fatigue as their bodies adjust to a different eating schedule.

Any calorie diet plan should provide a balanced nutritional menu and offer a variety of choices or it will likely fail to satisfy which could lead to binge eating and subsequently, to weight gain. A healthy diet is more than just a diet, it is a lifestyle change that will incorporate smaller portions of healthy foods and often consists of eating more frequent smaller meals throughout the day rather than the three large ones that are typical of the American diet. A healthy diet plan will incorporate slow and steady weight loss rather than rapid loss, which can lead to other health problems such as gallstones. A diet that is too low in calories can be deficient in vitamins and minerals as well and a person considering a low calorie diet needs to look into taking a supplementary vitamin pill to ensure that they are getting adequate nutrition.

While calorie diet plans are an excellent means of starting down the road to healthier living and weight loss, care must be taken to ensure that all nutritional needs are being met and the dieter should be under the supervision of their physician when they begin their diet plan.

Can a physician make a competition part of a successful diet plan? The answer to that question depends largely on the approach taken by any one physician. A competition might encourage weight loss if combined with a suggested weight loss diet and emphasis on the importance of exercise. However, history has shown that in the absence of those important factors, a competition can become part of a failed diet plan.

Close to forty years ago, one physician did look to competition as a way to motivate a patient that needed to lose weight. That family doctor did not discuss with his patient the basic elements of fat loss. Instead, that physician made a bet with his patient. He challenged his male patient to try to beat his doctor in a weight loss competition.

Did that move by the physician encourage his patient to develop a diet plan? The answer is both yes and no. The patient shared with his wife the fact that he and his doctor were competing to see who could lose more weight. The patient’s wife then set about searching for a workable weight loss diet. She looked for a guide that would allow her meal planning to evolve from information on suggested methods for losing weight.

Unfortunately, she did not concern herself with the importance of fat loss. Instead she focused on her husband’s stated goal—weight loss. Therefore, she decided that she and her husband would try the Atkins diet. The dieter that follows the restrictions called for in that diet must avoid eating any carbohydrates.

The first morning that this couple was on the Atkins diet, they each ate orange juice and two soft-boiled eggs. The man, used to having a piece of toast with his eggs did not feel entirely satisfied, still he remembered that he was competing with his doctor. Consequently, he simply said, “Is that it?” His wife explained that the Atkins diet ruled out carbohydrates. It did allow meat, eggs, milk, fruits, and vegetables.

The dieting husband did not refer to the fat content of some meat and dairy products. He did not think about mentioning the benefits derived from fat loss. Instead, he simply asked, “Could I have a little more salt?”

Sadly, that humorous comment does not lead to a happy ending for the story about a weight loss diet and a doctor’s diet plan. The patient could not achieve and stay at a healthier weight. The patient died of heart attack. Neither the patient nor the physician won their unofficial competition.

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