Weight loss diets: friends or enemies?

According to some estimates, at any given moment up to twenty five percent of Americans are one a diet. And yet over half of Americans are overweight. So is there a right way to diet? Is there a diet of choice? The question is complicated but the bulk of existing research indicates that typical dieting is largely a flawed approach to weight loss.

For most people, a diet is something you go on for a few weeks. You lose some weight and then get back to your 'normal' routine. The problem is that when a diet is a temporary fix, you are likely to eventually end up gaining weight. And the more restrictive and drastic the diet is, the more weight you will probably gain when you are off.

When you go on a diet, particularly a low calorie diet, you body 'thinks' you are starving. It slows down its metabolism in an attempt to conserve energy. The symptoms some people experience on a calorie restricted diet, such as fatigue, lethargy and increased sensitivity, are usually indicators of a metabolic slowdown. When the diet is over, metabolic rate may fail to completely return to its initial level. As a result, in a few weeks or months, you'll end up with a net weight gain rather than loss.

On the other hand, if you view dieting as a moderate, sensible and permanent changes in your eating habits - such diet has a good chance to work if sustained. Unfortunately, moderate, sensible changes produce a relatively slow weight loss and too many people get discouraged and quit because they do not see substantial results quickly enough to keep motivated. There are too ways to deal with this largely psychological obstacle. One is too always keep in mind that slow weight loss is usually healthier and more permanent because it does not cause the slowing of metabolism. The second alternative is to start with a more aggressive version of your diet of choice and then ease into a milder, sustainable version of it. If you go that way, you should choose a sustainable, balanced diet from the outset, and simply be slightly more aggressive in the first few weeks.

Bottom line

In the long run, modest but permanent changes in eating habits (whether you call them a diet or lifestyle modification) are far more effective and safe than sporadic dieting. Indeed, people tend to have much more long-term success with diets that can be adopted as a permanent eating patterns - not short-term fixes for excess weight.