The Ugly Truth About Dieting
By John Hoeber, MS, RD

There are two ugly truths about diets. One: they all work. Two: none of them work.

Any change in your diet will elicit some response by your body. All weight loss plans, no matter their gimmick are designed to make you lose weight by taking in fewer calories than you expend. That being the case, all diets will work, and that’s why people keep trying them.

The equal and opposite ugly truth is that diets don’t work at all. Long term success rate for dieting continues to be below 10%. Diets will only work for as long as they are followed. The word diet, in fact, comes from a word that means “way of life.” Maintaining a leaner frame takes maintaining changes in that way of life permanently.

Unfortunately, we’ve grown a culture of the quick fix mentality, perhaps out of natural tendency or perhaps because there are few plans available that provide anything but a quick fix. The following list from “Dieting For Dummies” will help you differentiate between diets.

Quick Fixes: -Focus on the "don't" -Swear off favorite foods -Focus on denial -Set one answer "for life" goals -Promise immediate results -Allow no room for slips -Ban some foods -Emphasize food -Are extreme

Long-Term Solutions: -Focus on the "do" -Concentrate on making healthier choices -Focus on enjoying feeling better, healthier, and more energized -Establish flexible, short-term, attainable goals -Deliver success gradually -Leave room for indulgences -Encourage variety -Emphasize healthy eating and exercise -Are gradual

Looking at the popular diet options available right now it isn’t difficult to decide which ones are quick fixes. Finding one that provides long term success is more difficult.

Metabolic stimulants such as "Body Options" and "Metabolife" contain chemical and/or herbal stimulants that temporarily raise metabolism. They deliver easy, but short term weight loss. The FDA believes that ephedra, a key ingredient in "Metabolife" and other products, may be related to more than 50 deaths. Most of the serious injuries involve high blood pressure that can cause bleeding in the brain, a stroke or a heart attack.

Another popular option is the high protein and low carbohydrate diet such as the "Atkins" and "Zone" diets. These provide substantial weight loss, but most of the initial weight loss is water loss from the depletion of the body’s carbohydrate stores. The diet is often too complicated and restrictive to follow for very long. An important caveat for those with high cholesterol: this diet could raise blood fats.

Mass marketed programs such as "Weight Watchers" and "Jenny Craig" are effective ways to lose weight. They are easy to follow and, in the case of "Weight Watchers", provide a good supportive environment. The drawback is that the habit change comes from the outside support without an internal foundation from which to go it alone.

Non dieting programs such as "The Solution" offer continued and lasting weight loss through development of internal skills that control behaviors. "The Solution" works by accessing and reprogramming the feeling brain, but can take 1-2 years of intense work. Initial weight loss is often slower which can effect motivation.

Conclusion:

The quick fix diet is popular because it doesn’t require us to truly change, some even tout that fact. Lasting physical changes however, require changing the habitual patterns of thinking and feeling that were ingrained in us early in life. Changing behaviors from the outside with external controls such as diets is not very effective. Internal changes are harder won, but more satisfying in the end.