Diets

There are so many diets today that it can make you dizzy trying to choose one that will lead to fast weight loss. I’ll tell you a secret. They all work, every single one of them will work if you stick to the diet plan. Even the cookie diet and then donut diet. You won’t feel very good or put on much lean mass on either but sure you can eat at a caloric deficit on any diet.

Atkins works, the cabbage soup diet works, the lemonade diet works, they all work and they all work on the same principle of reducing your daily caloric intake. So does one diet work better than another? Of course it does, you would be crazy to think that the Hollywood cookie diet would work nearly as well as a balanced diet such as the South beach diet.

Like anything else the key is persistence and the truth of the matter is that some of these diets are much more sustainable than others. Here are a couple of things to look at when choosing a diet to determine whether or not it is sustainable.

Does it provide you with a wide range of nutrients? If it does it is winner. People on hardcore diets realize very quickly that they need to maximize their intake of nutritionally dense foods. This is one of the keys to reducing cravings.

Does the diet exclude an entire food group? If so, stay away, this is a fad and it will pass. As stated in the previous point if you are leaving out any important components of nutrition your overall health will suffer.

Does the diet sound good? If it doesn’t sound good you will have a hard time sticking to it. If you think it will work, it will, if you don’t think it will work it won’t. But being barred from your favorite foods is a recipe for disaster.

Is it flexible? If you are on a diet that is not flexible you are also setting yourself up for disaster. There will be holidays, there will be pumpkin pie, you will be invited to dinner, and you will find yourself in situations where it is hard not to eat or even blatantly rude. Having some built in flexibility will allow you to not worry about unforeseen situations.

Can you see yourself staying on this diet for the rest of your life? If not then you should tweak it or find something else that will stand the test of time. Long term life style changes is another of the keys to long term weight loss or even fast weight loss.

Choose your diet responsibly and when you do choose stick to that diet, and don’t forget to practice moderation and that includes moderation.