Contrary to what the diet industry would like us to believe, there are no magic bullets when it comes to losing weight. Modern science has yet to unearth any particular food, herb, dietary supplement or drug that melts away the pounds.
Instead, the mechanics of weight loss can be summed up in one sentence: when we eat fewer calories than our body burns (to fuel our metabolism and physical activity), we shed pounds. It’s that simple.
If you’ve ever lost weight following a diet regime, you either dramatically reduced your caloric intake or exercised regularly. Chances are you did both.
But despite this reality, commercial diet programs willingly exploit our never-ending hopes of quick and easy weight loss. They promise their “special” approach is like no other; they’ll finally deliver the miraculous results we’ve been searching for. Yeah, right.
Since the dieting industry isn’t regulated most of these bull crap claims go unchecked. It’s up to us to find a safe and trustworthy diet regime.
So what do we look for in a healthy weight-loss program? Here are features that’ll point you in the right direction. The program should:
Encourage a healthy lifestyle
The key to successfully losing weight and keeping it off is making changes to your eating and exercise habits that you can live with for the rest of your life. Ninety-five per cent of dieters who lose weight will gain it back within five years, or less, because they fail to make changes that fit with their lifestyle, current health status and household budget.
Promote gradual weight loss
Too rapid weight loss, which is defined as more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram) per week, also sabotages our efforts. Our body goes into overdrive breaking down stored carbohydrate (glycogen) and muscle tissue to give us energy. We constantly feel like we could keel over from dehydration and a loss of physical strength and stamina.
Include a balanced meal plan based on real food
To allow for a steadier rate of weight loss, the program should include a meal plan that provides at least 1200 calories and advocates eating whole grains, protein, fruits and vegetables and moderate amounts of healthy fats on a daily basis. Eliminating any one food group isn’t necessary and will most likely interfere with meeting your nutritional needs.
The meal plan should not encourage a dependency on highly-processed company food products. These nutritionally inferior items that mimic airplane food may be convenient and make for easy portion control but they never teach you to make smart choices in the grocery store or prepare meals for yourself at home. Company food products can easily set you back $85 to $140 a week and that doesn’t include the price of the fruits, vegetables and dairy products you need to supplement the meal plan.
Discourage the use of unproven weight-loss aids
This is a big money-maker for commercial diet programs: pushing diet pills, herbal supplements or vitamin B injections that have next to no scientific evidence to support their claim of burning body fat or boosting metabolism.
Reveal potential health risks associated with their specific weight loss recommendations.
Any reputable program will disclose health risks that may be associated with their diet approach. For example, prescription medication may affect you differently after losing weight.
Disclose all costs in easy to understand terms.
Before making any financial commitment, do your homework. Browse the internet and call local programs. Ask lots of questions: Do you have to pay a general membership fee or an initial consultation fee? Are there additional costs for food and supplements? Walk away from any program that requires you to sign a long term expensive contract or lays a high-pressure sales pitch on you. After all, this is an important purchase that will hopefully improve your health for the future.
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