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At first glance, the recipe can be considered a very simple one. And it is. It was designed to minimize carbohydrates as well as caloric intake. Although some people comment on the Cabbage Soup Diet as merely losing water weight as opposed to true fat loss, the soup can be effective if it is only done the right way.

The recipe for the Cabbage Soup Diet is as follows:

- 6 large green onions – 2 green peppers – 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole) – 3 Carrots – 1 Container (10 oz. or so) Mushrooms – 1 bunch of celery – half a head of cabbage – 1 package Lipton soup mix – 1 or 2 cubes of bouillon (optional) – 1 48oz can V8 juice (optional)

Cooking the Soup

The soup is prepared by cutting the vegetables into tiny pieces. Place them in a pot and boil with the onion mix soup as the liquid base. V8 juice is also recommended. After boiling, let it simmer for a few minutes. You can let the vegetables simmer until tender but if you want it chunky, you have the option of turning the heat after a few minutes. Some people have made different varieties of the soup, giving an Indian twist to the dish by adding curry. Some people also place different herbs like parsley or sage to give it aromatic flavor.

The 7-Day Diet Plan

First Day

The first day is reserved for fruits. Any kind of fruit can be eaten, except bananas. The dieter can have as much as soup as he or she wants together with the fruit. On the first day, water is the preferred drink although cranberry juice and plain tea (without any kind of sweetener) are also allowed.

Second Day

On the second day, vegetables are the food of choice. You can eat them raw or cooked with no calorie or carbohydrate content. The diet restricts vegetables like beans, corn and peas. The diet suggests taking in as much cabbage soup as the dieter can muster. For dinner, the dieter is allowed one baked potato with little butter. However, the dieter is not allowed any kind of fruit on the second day.

Third Day

The third day is the merging of days one and two. The dieter can have as much fruit and vegetables as well as the cabbage soup on this day. However, he or she is not allowed a baked potato.

Fourth Day

The dieter can eat as many as eight bananas today as well as milk (should be skimmed). The cabbage soup is still the main course however for all three of the day’s meals.

Fifth Day

Beef is introduced on this day but only up to ten to twenty ounces and raw tomatoes can be eaten but it should not exceed six tomatoes in all. Drink as much as eight glasses of water today. The cabbage soup intake can be reduced to only once a day.

Sixth Day

The dieter can eat as much beef and vegetables today. And your cabbage soup intake can be only once a day.

Seventh Day

On this day, brown rice is the first truly carbohydrate-rich food that can be taken by the dieter. The soup should still be taken once a day and fruit juices and vegetables are also advised to be part of the diet today.

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Protein is obviously a very important part of any nutrition program for someone who is working out with weights and trying to build muscle volume. You may have read in previous articles that I have written the importance of increasing your muscle volume. Regardless of whether you are a man or a woman you need to increase muscle volume to help with burning your bodyfat.

Muscle requires more energy to burn. In turn if your muscles have more volume they will need to more energy and the best place they can get that energy from are your body’s fat stores.

Studies have show those who do even moderate exercise with weights need anywhere from a half of a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass to one gram per pound. That is a whole lot of protein. Given the fact you are supposed to eat six meals daily spread out every two and a half to three hours, you can see that you will need a lot of protein per each serving.

You will eventually hit those days where you no longer want that chicken breast and the site of another egg white will make you ill. Not to worry as there are a lot of protein supplements on the market that you can pick up at your local GNC or Vitamin Shoppe.

The question comes as to which one is the best bang for your buck. You can do all the research that you want but none have shown better results than Whey protein. In its near scientific definition, whey protein is the collection of globular proteins that is isolated from whey which is a by product of cheese manufactured from cow’s milk.

What makes whey protein a great source of protein, even better than chicken breast or egg whites, is that it has the highest biological value (BV) of all proteins. I won’t get into BV in this article, but if you want to learn more you are a Google search away.

If you go with a reputable brand name when you purchase your whey protein source you can’t go wrong as far as quality goes. The GNC brand is inexpensive and a good source as is Optimum, Designer Protein and EAS.

Determine how much each serving gives you as far as grams of protein as they differ from brand to brand, and then supplement your diet with what you need to hit that one gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

As always if you are just starting out any exercise or nutrition program be sure to talk to your physician prior to beginning. They can answer questions that you may have and give you plenty of helpful advice.

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Have you ever felt like you were on a diet roller coaster? Most of us that have a weight problem have felt this way at one time or another. Dieting can be such a challenge and that is why it really is beneficial to have the mindset that you are not on a diet. Changing your weight is really about changing your lifestyle. It s important to get in this mind set.

I ve personally tried many diets ranging from Fat Loss 4 Idiots, South Beach Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, Atkins Diet, and Better Fitness. The one diet that I ve had success with is Better Fitness, and this is because it is a life style change. Better Fitness is truly life changing. The system makes you become very conscience of not only what you are eating but how much you are eating. These principles are what make the life style change. You suddenly become aware that you really don t have to eat that much to be full. You learn to satisfy with one serving of food. That s the lifestyle change, knowing that you only need a little food to feel satisfied. You may be thinking, oh no that means I ll be hungry? But, that is not the case, when you start changing what you eat and how much you eat, your stomach and body gets used to it. You really will feel satisfied.

The other part of the lifestyle change is, of course, dreaded exercise. What I have found very helpful is to find an activity that you enjoy. If you enjoy your exercise session every day you ll be more likely to follow it. Also, goal setting is important as well. When I started an exercise program, I decided to set a goal. My goal was much crazier than anyone I ve known. I decided to train for a marathon. It was the best decision I ve ever made. Running that marathon changed my life. I now know that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. I learned that hard work pays off and I learned how tough I was!! I didn t think of running everyday as my exercise session either. I thought of it as something I had to do to make my goal. It became easy to get up in the morning to run. It definitely was rough hearing the alarm going off an hour and a half than it normally would have, but I honestly got to the point that I enjoyed my run every morning. There was nothing better than being in the runner s zone first thing in the morning. My day always went better and I felt like a million bucks because I ran 5 miles that morning. It was the best, most uplifting experience I ve ever had.

I woke up one day and decided to get healthy, and change my life. I m so glad I did. I follow weight watcher still now and still run. I changed my life that morning, are you ready to change yours? I hope I ve inspired you….so get up and get moving…

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The desire to lose weight happens to all of us. We realize that our skinny jeans just does not fit anymore or we just happen to pass the mirror and notice that we are seeing some extra fat that we did not see the last time we look in the mirror. But losing weight does not mean that you will have to be hungry all the time. Most people think that weight loss means starvation, that they will be hungry all the time and just the though of it forces them to reconsider losing weight.

*Set a weight loss goal

Losing weight does not have to be like that. And remember that whenever you decide to start it will be on your terms. Before you start you will set a goal and a time. A goal that you want to reach, when you aim to reach it and how much weight you intend to lose. Be specific with your weight loss goal.

If you need to lose 10 pounds, then write down 10 pounds. Do not put a range of between 10-15 pounds. The more specific, the more attainable the goal will be. This will greatly impact the weight loss plan that you chose. *Make a commitment to yourself

Make a firm commitment to yourself that you will honor your weight loss plan. Start on your starting day and time and keep on track. Challenges will come along but if you have made a firm commitment then you will stick to it. Don’t chicken out if something unexpectedly happens, that’s part of life.

*Will you start off by eating and exercise?

Your plan should have room for exercise and eating healthy but you don’t have to start off with both. You can start exercising first and then move into eating healthy after a while. Or you can eat healthy and then add some moderate exercise in.

But starting off with both would be a good idea but if you cannot do both then at least start one but make sure that you have put in your plan that once you start one and feel comfortable with it then you will add the other. In order to see weight los fast you want to be doing both.

*Chose an exercise that will most likely suit you

Ask yourself what type of exercise will fit your personality. Choosing exercise must be something that matches your personality. If you chose something that matches your personality you will enjoy and stick to.

Weight loss is about attitude, if you love it then you are getting results, if you don’t then you find reasons not to do it and eventually you quit. You might not really know what might fit you so you might need to experiment with the types of exercise to see which one or ones you like. You will know because you will really like doing it and it will not really seem like exercise.

Do you really want to discover the secrets of Weight Loss?

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