Quick Weight Loss

Here's a little secret: any diet can result in rapid weight loss.  This is why people seem to lose weight on crazy fad diets.   But these diets are developed to be temporary: they do not require that you make any permanent changes in your life.  And that is what it takes to lose weight, meaning these diets will inevitably fail. 

When we look, and look, and look, for help in our quests to lose weight, rapid weight loss diets become highly enticing.  This, we think, is what I have been looking for.  This will work.  We are willing to believe unbelievable claims because we want to and need to.   For other people, it is a quick fix and instant gratification.  From time to time we're not willing to wait for lasting change, so we'll take the temporary satisfaction of seeing results, regardless how fleeting they are.   If you are still tempted to try a fad diet, consider the reasons why they don't work: 

1.      Same old, same old

 Often, rapid weight loss diets don't provide our bodies and appetites with a variety of foods.  We end up eating the same foods, day after day.   Eating the same food all the time becomes a chore.  It does not encourage us to consume less. 

2.      Cheating! 

When you are limiting yourself and restricting the foods you eat, the forbidden appears doubly alluring.  One cookie won't hurt, you think.  But then you end up gobbling a whole bag.   Rapid weight loss diets are risky for the reason that they can, if truth be told, lead you to eat more each time you fall of the diet wagon. 

3.      They can be hard to stick with. 

Quick weight loss diets are notoriously hard to integrate into your life and to commit to a lasting part of your eating routine.  From boredom to lack of variety to binging, it is too easy to cheat or give up. 

4.  The risk of gaining weight. 

Many people gain more weight each time they go on a rapid weight loss diet.  Whether it is for the factor that it is so easy to cheat or you overeat each time you stop the diet, your diet tends to pack on pounds.   Nothing is more frustrating that being back at square one.   The alternative to quick weight loss diets? The answer is healthy eating behaviour and regular exercise.   Regardless of our wanting to believe in miracle diets, healthy eating and exercise are the only way you can achieve lasting, healthy weight loss.   To see real and long term changes in your body, incorporate a number of the following into your life: 

* Add more nutrient-dense vegetables to every meal. 

* Add more fiber to your diet.  Not only does it help improve overall health, it has the advantage of helping your body burn more fat.

  * Try eating small meals throughout the day. 

* Make breakfast your main meal and dinner your small meal. 

* Exercise.  Get active! Anything from playing tag with your kids to taking the stairs at work can help get you in better shape. 

* Have regular workouts.  If you are short on time for one long exercise session per day, do multiple short ones. 

* Add nutrient-rich whole grains to your diet. 

* Make better calorie decisions.  Opt for nutrient-dense foods to get the most benefit from each calorie.  Eat quality before you reach for empty calories.

The longest journeys begin with a single step.  This is true of weight loss too.  Little steps can lead to great rewards, and if you commit to a few good changes, you can increase the changes of a lasting change in your body and health.   Having a healthier life, one in which you eat nutritious food and exercise normally can make weight loss easier, more practical, and permanent.  Don't "diet".  It doesn't work.   The majority of rapid weight loss diets are, at best, temporary fixes that promise far more than they deliver.