Building a Framework: A simple guide to using structured diets to build a solid weight loss plan

Trying to lose weight is tough, but it’s even tougher when you’re just taking your first steps towards becoming healthier and losing that weight. Deciding to lose weight can be as simple as one day waking up and realizing you want to do better for yourself, not everyone starts out by doing a ton of research on how to develop the best personal weight loss plan for themselves right out of the gate. In fact a lot of developing a weight loss plan comes from trial and error to find out what works best, which is why a structured diet can go such a long way in helping you start to make the changes you want to see in your diet.

What is a Structured Diet?

“Structured Diet” is a sort of catch-all phrase for any kind of diet that someone else has already put together that outlines nutrition, meals, and occasionally fitness and exercise as well. It’s usually in a weekly or monthly format and is either subscription based, costs a flat fee, or in some cases is distributed freely. In short, it’s a diet that someone already found works and is sharing with other people. You can find a lot of structured diets online or on TV, popular structured diets include South Beach, Atkins, and even “monthly services” like Jenny Craig. Many diets are also easy to find online and can be found on forums or personal blogs, you can find plenty of information with just a simple search.

How does a Structured Diet help me start a personal weight loss plan?

When we talk about using a structured diet to build up your own personal weight loss plan we’re generally talking about building up a solid framework for you to branch off from. Like any house needs a frame to build walls, doors, windows, and a roof your personal weight loss plan will need a strong foundation of information to build up from. Structured diets, depending on which you look at, will give you all kinds of information about why certain aspects of nutrition are “good” or “bad” and how eating a certain way can help your body and help you to lose weight. Day one dieters usually don’t have that strong foundation of nutritional and fitness info to build from and can make mistakes that at best aren’t help them lose weight and, at worst, can even hinder or set back progress they may be making or have already made!

How do I choose a Structured Diet that’s right for me?

Well, just like any other dieting decision you will need to do some research before you get started. First of all, you should work to identify exactly what your weight loss goals are as well as the kind of nutrition and eating habits you’re comfortable with. From there the choice is as simple as picking a structured diet that aligns with those values and that you’re interested in starting. A good rule of thumb is to start with a diet that’s willing to go the extra mile to help you prepare and understand the nutrition that’s going to be affecting your weight and your life. Any diet that’s unwilling or unable to do that generally isn’t going to be worth the time you spend on it, so try to stay away from diets that are simply meal plans.

Another thing to watch out for is dangerous and unhealthy fad diets that promise results without much explanation of why or how it works. This usually comes in the form of a “miracle pill” or one size fits all kind of exercise tool that guarantees unrealistic results. Diets like these try to disguise themselves as legitimate, but are usually just scams. If a diet can’t answer your questions about how it works or why you’re doing what you’re doing, then simply move along until you can find something that will.

Here are some examples of “name brand” diets and their basic ideals:

Atkins – The Atkins diet is a high protein, low carb diet that focuses on quick weight loss. The low carb aspect works well with an already diabetic diet, making it popular with people that have diabetes.

Weight Watchers – The Weight Watchers diet is a simple diet that works on a sort of point system that assigns values to foods and meals based on their nutritional value, encouraging users to eat within a certain value daily so long as their foods add up.

South Beach – South Beach is another low carb high protein diet that also emphasizes high fiber foods and helps by classifying “good” and “bad” carbs and fats.

What kinds of things should my Structured Diet be teaching me?

Since the big reason you’re going with a structured diet instead of just going in feet first is developing the base of information and understanding you need to make healthy decisions, it’s important to get some basics down right away. Here’s an idea of the kinds of things that you should be learning from your structured diet:

1. Nutrition info.

This is probably one of the most important parts of learning how to lose weight. A proper diet teaches and helps you to understand the reasoning behind why some foods are good and others are bad for your health and for weight loss in general. I’m sure you’ve heard things like “a glass of wine with dinner can improve your health!” but it’s understanding this nutritional info that will tell you why. One of the single most important things a structured diet can teach you is how to understand the nutrition of foods and ingredients.

2. Nutritional balance.

It’s not important to understand how foods affect your body and your health, it’s important to understand how to balance those aspects against each other. You should be trying to learn how to balance a meal with its carbs, calories, fats, and other nutrition “stats” so you can work on your own meal plan instead of relying on one that has been put together for you.

3. Foods and fitness.

Last but not least you should understand how diet and exercise go hand in hand with each other when it comes to weight loss. Understanding calories and fats is important, but knowing how to balance your food intake with exercise to burn off calories and pounds is just as important, too.

What do I do with all of this information?

This is where you get to start branching out from your structured diet and into something that fits your personal needs better. Trying out structured diets is kind of like trying on clothes at a store, you’ll be able to find a bunch of different sizes and styles but they won’t fit perfectly like a tailored piece would. Start with the outline of your structured diet and use the things you’ve learned about nutrition and balancing your meals to work out a rough plan for what kinds of food meet your requirements and goals. It’s all about taking “baby steps” and making minor modifications until you have something that’s working for you.

For some plans you might find that the majority of the structured diet is helping you to reach your goals and that’s fine, stay with it so long as it’s showing definite progress but make sure you’re prepared to make those changes as you reach plateaus that your structured diet just isn’t able to break through. You change as much or as little as you like about your structured diet to make it your own, just make sure that what you’re doing is keeping in mind the eventual goal of a permanent, healthy lifestyle change.

As you make changes eventually you’ll look back at where you started and where you are now and see how far you’ve come and all the differences between then and now. The diet that you started with will likely be a far cry from your new healthy lifestyle, but it’s the things you learned from it that will have shaped your ability to lose and keep that weight off to reach your healthy goals.

Let your Structured Diet become your successful personal weight loss plan!

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy or that you would see quick results right away, in fact just about anyone will tell that it will be a long and difficult road. However, instead of letting that dissuade you from making the right choices and taking the tough first steps, let that be all the more reason for you to go out there and lose that weight. Using a structured diet could be just what you need to build up a strong foundation and a sturdy framework that will eventually become the personal weight loss plan that will help you to reach the weight loss goals that you’ve been dreaming of!