Mental Meanderings

Which diets work - and which ones fail?

They ALL do. They ALL work, and they ALL fail.

'Diets' become 'diets' because they work, have proven to work, are seen to be working, and provide success. They're all measured on the terms of losing weight in the short term and you can take any obese person, put them on any diet and if they follow it, they will lose weight, guaranteed.

Taking the pounds off however is only half the battle. The real trick is keeping them off and living a healthy lifestyle. Most people can go a few weeks at anything. However, as the weight falls off progress slows, and it gets harder to shed those remaining pounds. As it gets harder we become more discouraged until eventually we fall off the wagon. In rolls the pounds again. They're always so much easier to put back on then to take off.

That's the failure point of ALL diets. The point when the dieter STOPS 'dieting'. The reason all 'diets' fail is because they're considered temporary measures. To successfully lose weight and KEEP IT OFF you have to change your life' not 'go on a diet'.

Unfortunately, some of the 'diet' options are not healthy as a lifestyle. Cutting out protein, carbohydrates, fat, or sugar, is not healthy. If you remember back to your health class in school you might remember the Healthy Food Pyramid? All of those food groups are on there. Your body NEEDS them all. Yes, even the fats and sugars.

The way to successfully lose weight is to learn what your body needs and maintain that balance. It needs each of those food groups to some degree. The vegetables are the heavy weight at the bottom of the pyramid; they're the most important food group and should make up the majority of each meal. Everything slots into that pyramid. If you want to be the healthiest you possibly can be, plan every meal as if you're putting the pyramid on your plate.

Of course, living like that would be challenging. I'm sure some people could do it. It would be a great diet', but it's not something most could sustain long term. If you're in for the long haul you'll simply have to learn what is good for you, what isn't, and develop the habit of choosing the healthiest option whenever possible. Treat yourself occasionally but remember to keep those top of the pyramid items in their balance.

Coupled with regular exercise that will stimulate your body to USE the food you give it and allowing yourself to incorporate the BALANCE concept into your entire life you'll find you no longer need to 'diet'. You'll live it, and you'll love doing so.

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*flushes with guilt* Yes, um... I'm being lazy and just reproducing something I wrote recently because I don't have the brain capacity to bother blogging tonight. Feel free to sledge me in my comments if you prefer my conversational blog entries.