Do Diets Work?

The word “diet” has a bad reputation in the weight loss community. But the bottom line is that we are all on a diet of some sort. Your diet is simply your eating plan. Even if you eat whatever you want, you’re on a diet, your diet. But in order to lose weight, your eating plan – your diet – must change. Most Americans today, have no plan, unless your doctor put you on a diet plan. We just eat what ever we feel like and that’s why most American’s are overweight. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight and half of those are extremely overweight. 

Here’s why:

You need to change your energy balance. The only way to lose weight without medical intervention (like surgery) is to adjust your energy balance. O.k., before I lose my readers I’ll explain. Energy Balance is burning the calories that you’re eating. Energy deficit would be if you burn more calories than you eat and an energy surplus would be if you’re not burning all the calories you eat. That’s how it is for most people, an energy surplus, we consume way more calories than we burn. 

Extra body fat doesn’t go away on its own. Your body needs to burn that fat as fuel when you create an energy deficit. Some diets help you achieve an energy deficit by eliminating or decreasing your dependence on certain food groups, like carbs or wheat. Some diets help you achieve the deficit by using a specific eating schedule, like intermittent fasting. Some use portion control. But any program that works is based on energy balance and each effective plan includes a diet in some variation. When you burn more calories than you eat that creates a deficit and the body has to go into the fat storage areas of your body and start to burn that fat. That’s how you lose body fat, lose weight and lose inches.

Exercise alone is not effective; you would have to live in the health club. So what if you hate to diet? Your only other option to slim down is to change your energy balance with exercise. You have to burn enough calories with vigorous activity so that your body burns stored fat as fuel. Sounds effective, right? It may be if you only have a very small amount of weight to lose. But for most people, exercise alone is not effective. The amount of activity needed for weight loss is substantial and could ultimately cause burn out or injury. Of course, exercise is effective for weight loss. But exercise needs to be paired with diet for real sustainable results.

Weight maintenance matters. So what happens if you lose weight but don’t change your diet? The weight comes back. Your original diet may have caused the weight gain in the first place. If you return to your old eating habits, the weight will come back. This is one of the reasons that you need to choose the best diet for you based on your own lifestyle and personal preferences. A modified version of the diet you choose will become your diet for life if you want to keep the scale from creeping back up.

The Truth why “Diets Don’t Work”

The reason that weight loss experts generally discourage clients from going on a “diet” is that many diets are too restrictive. Fad diets or crash diets will give you a 5 to 10 pound loss in weight, but in a couple of weeks it comes right back. When you hear a diet guru say that diets don’t work, what they often mean to say is, “overly restrictive diets don’t work.” They usually don’t mean to imply that it is unnecessary for you to change your eating habits. Because the truth is you must change what you eat.

Reasonable diets do work and they are absolutely essential for long term weight loss. If you are ready to slim down, take some time to evaluate your lifestyle, your support network and your health history to find a diet – that works for you. You want to find a complete diet that gives you the nutrition you need. Call it whatever you want, just make sure that it is reasonable and sustainable for the long term.

One of my favorite diet plans is the Mediterranean diet. It’s a way of eating, not a weight loss diet. When you follow the Mediterranean people’s lifestyle and way of eating you will lose weight over time and more important become a healthier person. I know you want to lose pounds and lose inches, but my goal for you is to lose body fat. Losing body fat will accomplish all your goals as well and by losing body fat you will have more energy and you’ll actually start to feel better, feel healthier and feel younger.