Effective Weight Loss - Diets that DON'T work

Posted 19 February 2009

If you want effective weight loss, check out some of the diets that don't work.

If you're looking for effective weight loss, it's simple: eat less, move more. For effective weight loss, you need to make permanent changes to your lifestyle, ensuring you incorporate a healthy diet and regular exercise. But many try to find quick fix alternatives for effective weight loss, which explains the popularity of fad diets. Research shows time and time again that fad diets simply don't work in the long term. If you want effective weight loss (in the long run), here's one diet you should avoid: any diet that promises miraculous results. Effective weight loss is a long term commitment, not a two-week miracle. There's no point losing the weight if it comes right back as soon as you stop the fad diet.

For Effective Weight Loss Avoid Fad Diets

Effective weight loss is not about a magical pill or miracle food, it's about eating fewer calories than you burn. Unbalanced fad diets are not effective weight loss plans because they are low-calorie diets that are unbalanced - dieters cannot maintain low-calories or bizarre food regimes, they become frustrated, give up and those feelings can trigger unhealthy binges. Fad diets simply don't produce effective weight loss over the long-term, and can lead to discouragement and even weight gain, hence the term 'yo-yo' dieting.

Effective Weight Loss - Don't Expect Miracles

Four kinds of diets have been identified as being the worst for long-term effective weight loss:

• Fad diets that focus on a particular food group (the famous cabbage diet for example). You should think twice about any diet that rules out a food group (carbohydrates for example), as dieticians advocate a balanced diet to receive all the nutrients we need for a healthy life. You may lose weight on a diet that involves nothing but cabbage soup, but you won't be able to maintain eating nothing but cabbage. All foods have a place in a balanced diet, including occasional treats. Restricting food is going to trigger cravings and increase the likelihood of binging.
• Detox diets have also been recently dismissed by scientists as 'nonsense'. Our bodies are already set up to clean themselves without detox products. And they say it's what we do over a lifetime, not over a few weeks that really impacts on effective weight loss and health.
• There are no miracle foods, pills or supplements that will offer effective weight loss - you don't need expensive supplements, just a healthy balanced diet.
• Diets that advocate fasting or that are so low in calories that you feel constantly hungry are a no-no. Starving yourself is counterproductive as your metabolism will adjust itself into 'starve mode' so your body will grab onto and store any fat it finds. Starving will also impact on your energy levels, making you less physically active.
  

For effective weight loss, you need to be realistic - aiming for a half pound to one pound a week is sensible. It will take time, but it will be a long lasting and effective weight loss if you continue on your path of healthy eating and regular exercise.

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Fitbug is a little gadget that allows you to track your calories and steps. This online personal health and well-being coach is a unique system designed to help you achieve your weight, fitness and health goals within your everyday routine. Why not check out the healthy eating recipes on our website and kick start your healthy eating plan? Find out more, call: 0870 228 4949.