How to Pick a Diet

So you’ve made weight loss a priority for the New Year. But this time you want to make sure you actually have a chance of success. Sound familiar? In fact, studies have shown that 82.5% of people pick a diet that is virtually guaranteed to fail. Weight loss can be successful, however, if you know what factors are important to consider. Based on the research on successful weight management, I’ve outlined some things to take into account when choosing a diet.

5 top points to look for in a diet:

1. Do not be so hungry you can’t stay on the diet
2. See results early on so you can stay motivated to continue
3. Complete nutrition
4. Recommendations for lifestyle changes, such as physical activity
5. Accountability

Surveys find that the main reason people go off a diet is because they are hungry. You want to find a diet that allows you to eat enough so you don’t feel on the verge of starvation all the time. Being consistently hungry is, for most people, a sure-fire way to go off the diet.

You want to start seeing results rather quickly. It is difficult for most people to stay motivated to continue on a diet if they don’t see results from their efforts. Research supports that quicker, not slower, weight loss is more successful although, surprisingly, many health professionals are not aware of this.

Make sure the diet is nutritionally complete. Whether you are eating food from the grocery store, pre-packaged meal replacements or even all shakes, make sure you are getting the appropriate nutrition. Steer clear of extreme fad diets which have you eating only one food, such as only grapefruits. If you don’t feel good while you are losing weight, it will be difficult to stay on the diet.

Include physical activity. Any diet that does not include recommendations for healthy lifestyle changes, such as increased physical activity, is not giving you the full picture of the long-term changes you need to make in your lifestyle.

Look for some form of accountability. This might be keeping records of lifestyle changes just for yourself, having access to professionals by phone or email, or some other form of checking in that seems helpful to you.

The bottom line: Successful weight management requires permanent lifestyle changes, both in eating habits and exercise. You want to lose weight but you also want to keep it off and there are no quick fixes for long-term weight management. But, if you don’t lose the weight, you can’t keep it off – so successfully losing weight is the first step.


 

by LindaGotthelf on 01/11/2012 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, Diet Tools, motivation, planning, strategies, nutrition