Any weight loss diet that has fewer calories than a person has been eating will result in weight loss. In addition, adding exercise to a weight loss plan can increase weight loss as well as allow a higher calorie intake (more food) which helps prevent binge eating or falling off a restrictive diet.
I would look for a plan that you can follow for the rest of your life. Look for a weight loss plan that has an eating plan for weight maintenance other than eating larger servings than you ate to lose weight. The problem with fad diets is they eliminate whole food groups (starches, milk, fruit) and during the weight loss period, the person doesn’t form healthier eating habits. BTW an eating habit has to be repeated daily for 21 days before it becomes second nature.
When people quit fad diets, they haven’t learned how to eat to maintain their lower weight and most often return to what they were eating before they lost weight. The problem is what they were eating before they lost weight supported a higher body weight, not their lower body weight. Because of this a high percentage of people who follow a fad diet for weight loss, get to a lower weight but are at risk for regaining even more weight than before they lost weight according to published research.
Mentally it can be difficult because you feel like you are in food denial all the time when dieting. Sometimes a weight loss diet can be too low in calories so that your body and especially your brain doesn’t have enough fuel to function so you feel sluggish. Low-calorie diets can lead to food binges and food cravings because you are thinking about foods you can’t have. There was a research study during World War II at the University of Minnesota where the researchers (Ancel Keys) concluded people on starvation diets think about food a lot of the time. Some weight loss diets that are low in carbohydrate cause a state of ketosis which is the result of the incomplete breakdown of body fat into ketones due to lack of carbohydrates (starches, dairy, fruit). Your brain isn’t real keen on running on ketones and prefers to run on blood sugar which is replenished with food carbs.
As you can probably guess, I am not a fan of fad diets. They come and go. Sometimes called by a new name, but they are the same old high protein, low carbohydrate diet in a new package.
If you would like a healthy eating plan for life to lose weight and also to maintain your weight loss, try my HELP Healthy Eating for Life Plan®. You choose what type of milk to drink, meat or not, snacks or not, beans or not. If you are unsure how many calories you need, try my Healthy Body Calculator®. You control what data you type into my calculators and setting weight loss goals. You are more likely to keep off weight when you lose it slowly.
Then for every 10 pounds you lose, re-do HBC and HELP to prevent a weight loss plateau. As you lose weight, you need fewer calories to maintain a lower weight. When you reach your weight goal, re-do HBC for weight maintenance and HELP again for an eating plan to maintain your lower weight.
