Swimsuit Body Diets

The coming of Summer means one important thing: swimsuit season. Getting in shape to fit into your bikini or to look toned and healthy is important to many people who may be self-conscious or unhappy about the way they currently look. Dieting to get your ideal swimsuit body is an effective way to firm up flabby zones or to lose pounds overall.

Eat-Clean Diets

Eating clean means eating all-natural foods to fitness and health professionals and followers alike. Those foods consist of lean meats such as chicken or salmon; whole grain complex carbs like brown rice; healthy fats such as peanut butter and avocado; and plenty of vegetables and fruits. It is important to not eat processed or chemically enhanced foods and to stay away from artificial sugars while on this diet. The creator of the Eat-Clean Diet, Tosca Reno, insists that when on the diet "your body will react by losing weight if you need to lose, maintaining a healthy weight if that's where you are, and gaining weight if you are too skinny."

Low-carb Diets

Low-carb diets are exactly what they sound like: eating low amounts of carbohydrates. This often means eating mostly lean meats and high-protein foods. Low-carb diets typically mean that you adhere to a carbohydrate intake ratio of less than 50% to 60%. Since carbohydrates are used as your body's readily-used fuel source, eating a low-carb diet will cause your body to use and burn through its own fat stores as energy, causing you to lose weight.

Detoxification Diets

Detox diets are short-term diets that eliminate most macro and micronutrients from your diet to cleanse your body of harmful toxins. There are varying levels of intensity for detox diets. Some only require you to take an herbal pill to help eliminate toxins and others require you to consume nothing but lemonade and cayenne pepper for the detox process. While detox diets can help you drop pounds very quickly, the pounds you drop consist mostly of water weight and will be regained quickly once a normal eating pattern is restored. Detox diets are also not safe for long-term use because they don't allow you to consume any of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients your body needs to function.

Calorie-Counting Diets

Calorie counting requires that you eat only a certain amount of calories per day to lose weight. This number is different for every individual. While there are online calculators you can use to determine the total calorie number that is right for you, a more accurate figure can be determined if you consult a doctor or registered dietician. To lose a pound you must lose 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose a pound a week, you should cut 500 calories out of your diet every day. Another concept to remember about calorie counting is that it comes down to the calories in versus the calories out. If you burn off more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.