While most people find short term success with diets, they often gain the weight back after tiring of restricting their diet.  The problem with most diets is that they are not sustainable in the long term.  When you deprive yourself of particular craving, overtime, most eventually give in.  Eventually, individuals go off the diet and return to their old habits.  The key to long term weight loss is not low-fat, low carb, or meal replacement.  The key is eating a variety of healthy foods, prepared in healthy ways (steamed versus fried), watching your total caloric intake, and getting regular physical activity.

Here’s six of the most common diet plans out there.  Some aspects may work for you, but think of each as a long term approach to weight loss – are they realistic?

1.    Low Carb. The basis of this diet plan is decreasing the intake of carbohydrates results in lower insulin levels, which causes the body to burn stored fat for energy.  One of the most popular plans is known as the Atkins diet.  However, some argue that your body needs carbohydrates and do not recommend this diet.
2.    Low Fat. This diet is simple in principle: eliminating high fat foods can help cut your daily calorie consumption leading to weight loss.  The problems is it’s common for individuals to eat more of the low fat foods.  Too many calories, even from low fat foods can lead to weight gain.  Even when eating low fat, you have to pay attention to how many calories are consumed.
3.    Meal Replacement. These plans, such as Slim-Fast, provide low calorie replacements for meals.  Typically breakfast and lunch are replaced with a nutritionally complete shake or bar under 400 calories.  Then you eat a third meal of food of your choosing that is low in calories.  These plans are easy way to reduce your caloric intake, but skipping two real meals a day can leave you feeling deprived.


4.    Meal Providers. With these plans, meals are prepared and delivered to your home.  This takes the guess work out of figuring out what to eat on a diet and your portion size is controlled as well.  While you do eat real food, adjusting to the smaller portions will take some adjustment.  These services, such as Jenny Craig and NutriSystem can be very expensive.
5.    Glycemic Index. This plan is similar to low-carb in that the idea is that lowering your blood sugar leads to weight loss.  In this plan, foods containing carbohydrates are ranked based on their effects on blood sugar.  The diet is high in foods with low glycemic index rankings.  One obstacle with this diet is that other factors, such as age or weight also influence your blood sugar level.  A popular low glycemic index diet is South Beach.
6.    Group Approaches. This method can support your weight loss efforts.  With group programs, such as Weight Watchers, you meet regularly to get support from other members following the same programs, recipe ideas, exercise recommendations, and advice on how to stay on track.  Expect weekly weigh-ins to keep you motivated as well.
While each of these programs are very popular – are any of them right for you?  Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

Does it include foods you enjoy eating?
Could you eat those foods (or not certain foods) for a lifetime?
Does it seem healthy?
Does it include proper nutrients and calories?
Is physical activity encouraged?
Does it fit your lifestyle?  Your budget?

With any of the 6 popular weight loss plans listed above you could lose weight in the short term.  However, successful weight loss requires permanent changes to your eating and physical activity habits.  You need to find a weight loss strategy that you can embrace for life.