Is Dieting the Best Way to Lose Weight?

If you’ve decided that you could do with losing a few pounds, you may be under the impression you have to go on a diet to achieve this. After all, it is what most people do. However, that doesn’t mean dieting is the best way to lose weight. The people that do decide to go on a diet generally lose quite a lot of weight in a short space of time, but then gain it all back again just as quickly. The chances are the same will happen to you and so you have to question whether it is really worth it. Instead of thinking of dieting as the solution, you may be better off embracing a number of lifestyle changes.

Dieting only offers a temporary solution to your weight problem, if you can even stick to a diet that is! The trouble is that of all the diets there are to choose from, most of them get you to follow ridiculously low-calorie food plans that do not provide you with anywhere near enough calories. You end up on a very restrictive diet that doesn’t meet your nutritional needs and leaves you so hungry that all you can think about is food. This is just what you don’t need when you’re trying to lose weight, as it is hard enough to stick to any kind of diet, anyway.

When you’re stuck on a boring diet which consists of three meals – if you can call them that – a day, you end up looking forward to the day your diet comes to an end. You visualise the large meal you’re going to treat yourself to once you’re finished and all the chocolate you’re going to eat and alcohol you’re going to drink. What is the point, though? It is one thing to lose weight, but if you’re not prepared to adopt the habits needed to keep the weight off, you will find yourself just as heavy as you were to begin with, if you’re not careful.

It is therefore worth taking a more gradual approach to weight loss. Even though you probably won’t lose weight as rapidly by reducing portion sizes and eating less junk food, at least you can develop a long-term plan that works for you. This means that once you’ve reached your goal weight, you won’t get a sudden shock to the system, having no clue about the dietary habits you need to adopt to maintain a healthy weight. By eating sensibly, you will also have the energy to exercise, which can also help you lose weight and maintain your weight loss.

Clearly, then, although dieting may offer you a rapid method of weight loss, it certainly isn’t the best way to lose weight when there is a high probability that after coming off a diet you will simply regain all the weight you lost. It might be tough to accept the need for lifestyle changes, but this is the only hope you have of stopping yourself gaining weight again.