When dieting doesn ’t work

At any given time, more than a third of Americans are on a specific diet, with weight loss as a leading reason. Most are going to be disappointed, because even when successful, lost weight is frequently regained within a few months. While most weight-loss diets can help you lose weight, they may be unsuccessful over the long run for a number of reasons. Some people don’t follow their diets carefully and don’t lose much weight even from the start. Others may go off the diet entirely after a while, because it’s too restrictive or the foods aren’t appealing. Some may engage in less physical activity as they consume fewer calories. But who hasn’t heard of someone doing everything right and still losing minimal weight, or regaining lost weight over time? Perhaps that someone is you. Even when research studies confine study subjects to a research setting — with carefully-controlled calories, food types, and physical activity, and with intensive counselling, teaching, and monitoring — the lost weight and other health benefits (such as improved cholesterol and reduced blood pressure) tend to disappear soon after the study ends. You can’t pick the right diet if none of them work According to a new study, popular diets simply don’t work for the vast majority of people. Or more accurately, they are modestly effective for a while, but after a year or so the benefits are largely gone. In a large systematic review and meta-analysis, recently published in the medical journ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Source Type: blogs