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Weight-loss options: 6 common diet plans
Review these common weight-loss strategies and ask yourself these key questions to decide if any can help you make permanent lifestyle changes.
By Mayo Clinic staffWhen it comes to weight loss, there's no shortage of advice. Check any magazine rack or bookstore, and you're bound to discover that latest and greatest cure for being overweight. Some even work — for a while.
Unfortunately, people often find diets hard to sustain, in part because they tire of avoiding certain foods, loading up on others, or feeling deprived and hungry. And their diet is often temporary, something to endure for a while before returning to former ways. As a result, any lost pounds come right back once the diet stops.
Here's a summary of six common weight-loss strategies in circulation today, and the questions to ask yourself to determine if any of them will help you make the lifestyle changes required to maintain a healthy weight.
Low-fat diets
Cutting down on high-fat foods can help you cut down on your daily calories and thus help you lose weight. So why don't low-fat diets always work? Even a low-fat diet can lead to weight gain when people ignore the total amount of calories they're eating and regularly exceed their daily calorie goals. Too many calories from any source, low-fat foods included, can add pounds.
Low-carb diets
Followers of these eating plans believe that a decrease in carbs results in lower insulin levels, which causes the body to burn stored fat for energy. Initially, when you follow a low-carb diet you may lose more weight than if you followed a low-fat, low-calorie diet. This increased weight loss may or may not continue long term depending on your commitment to following the eating plan.
A low-carb diet doesn't appear to be any easier to maintain than are other diets. Studies comparing low-carb diets and low-fat diets have found that after a year, people drop out of both diets at similar rates. This suggests that the low-carb diet, like so many diets, is no easier to stick to long term. Well-known low-carb diets include the Atkins diet, Zone diet and Protein Power.
Glycemic-index diets
The glycemic index ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on their effects on blood sugar. Similar to the theory behind low-carb diets, most low-glycemic-index diets claim that lowering blood sugar levels leads to weight loss.
You may have difficulty following a diet that emphasizes only foods with a low-glycemic-index ranking. Many factors other than food influence your blood sugar level, including your age and weight, the type of food preparation, and the portion size. The South Beach diet is an example of a low-glycemic-index diet.
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