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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » 4 Reasons New Year’s Resolution Fad Diets Don’t Work and What to Do Instead – Everyday Health

So youve decided to eat healthier and lose weight in 2020. Now what? With New Years resolutions in full swing, along comes a slew of diet options that promise to help you shed 5, 10, or even 15 pounds in just a few weeks. While its tempting to try a fad diet that involves say, eliminating an entire food group, there are more sustainable (and safer) ways to lose weight.

The truth is, fad diets often backfire, and once the diet is stopped, youre likely to gain even more weight back than you lost. Small, actionable, sustainable changes that actually work for you are really the only way to achieve long-term health and well-being, says Jaclyn London, MS, RD, CDN, the head of nutrition and wellness atWW (Weight Watchers Reimagined) in New York City.

A science- and behavior-based weight loss program like the newmyWWfrom WW, Weight Watchers Reimagined, can help you find the most effective way for you to lose weight since it matches you with a customized eating plan that takes into account your unique food preferences, activity level, lifestyle, and approach to weight loss.

To help you learn more about what works and what doesnt, weve rounded up the top reasons fad diets fall short in the long term, plus proven ways to achieve your weight loss goals in 2020.

Many fad diets tell you to cut out foods that contain key nutrients, such as fiber or protein. The popular ketogenic diet, for example, restricts carbohydrates, a food group that includes grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

Most fad diets rely on one basic principle thats simply ineffective for weight loss, and thats restriction of a whole food group or nutrient, London says.

Restrictive diets can leave you feeling hungry, deprived, and bored with your food options, which can wreak havoc on your weight loss goals. Whats more, restriction is not exactly living your best life, London adds.

Restriction often doesnt work because its not sustainable. With myWW, no foods are off-limits, says London. The program helps you make more informed decisions with their proprietary SmartPoints system to help you shed the pounds.

Plus, eliminating key nutrients without talking to your doctor can be detrimental to your health. TheDietary Guidelines for Americans, which are put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) along with the Department of Agriculture (USDA), recommends eating a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean sources of protein while limiting saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium. Following these guidelines can help boost your health, ward off chronic disease, and help you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

You can incorporate these guidelines into your own diet by following abalanced weight loss program like myWW, which features a wide variety of foods in its customized plans. With myWW, you can eat what you love and lose weight.

The one-size-fits-all approach is destined for failure, says London. For starters, people have their own unique food preferences, and we all need to approach healthier eating in a way that works for us. What works well for your sister, co-worker, or best friend isnt necessarily going to be the right approach for you.

A study published in February 2018 in theJournal of the American Medical Association supports the notion that different methods work for different people. In the study, both low-fat and low-carb diets, which involve drastically different eating approaches, were equally effective at helping people lose weight over a 12-month period. Unlike most fad diets, the diets in the study featured a variety of foods that were wholesome and contained real food ingredients.

London says that a healthy weight loss program should take into account the foods you like and dislike, your weight loss goals, your activity level, your lifestyle (and busy schedule), and more. Thats the best way to make a lifestyle change you can feel good about and actually stick with.

Its scientifically proven that customized approaches lead to greater engagement and more behavior change than generic approaches, says Gary Foster, PhD, the chief scientific officer of WW. Thenew myWW program does just that: Through a science-backed personal assessment, youll be matched to the weight loss plan that can be most effective for you.

The new myWW program enables people to live their lives and still lose weight, Dr. Foster says.The myWW personal assessment asks you questions about your eating habits and behaviors to deliver a customized weight loss plan.

LEARN MORE:Take the myWW assessment to get a weight loss program tailored to you.

Restrictive, quick-fix diets not only cut out essential nutrient groups, but also often limit you to fewer calories than whats recommended by reputable health organizations or allow you to eat too much of certain foods. For example, eating an unlimited amount of high-protein foods sounds appealing, but that all-you-can-eat steak dinner isnt good for your waistline or heart.

Commonly, fad diets tout misleading health claims that promise to modify your genetics, alter your bodys natural chemistry, or burn more fat.

A wealth of research supports the benefits of nutritionally-balanced diets that give you flexibility. Examples include Mediterranean-style diets, the DASH diet, and myWW, all of which are rich in veggies, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins (including legumes, nuts, and seeds) and limited in unhealthy fats, sweets, and salt.

In the case of myWW, the team at WW used cutting-edge nutritional and behavioral science to develop a weight loss program with multiple customized plans that are equally effective. Theyve also studied the results: In a six-month pre-post study of myWW conducted at the Weight Management Center of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), the 143 participants experienced a number of benefits on and off the scale. On average, people lost 8 percent of their weight, experienced a 24 percent drop in hunger, and saw a 7 percent reduction in their overall cravings.

Youve likely heard of yo-yo dieting, or the tendency for dieters to rebound from unsustainable fad diets with unhealthy eating habits and regain the weight theyve lost. This happens because most fad diets dont address permanent changes, such as healthy food choices and regular exercise, that are necessary to keep pounds off. Without a foundation of healthy habits, youre likely to return to your starting weight.

A weight loss plan should be more than just a no eat list, but it should also encourage you to make healthier choices wherever you are at home, at a restaurant, or on the go.

In the MUSC six-month clinical trial of myWW, more than 90 percent of participants agreed that the program helped them learn healthy long-term habits and taught them the skills they needed to keep the weight off.

Millions of people have been able to reach their weight loss goals through WW, and key to that success is having the tools you need to stay on track, including people to support you along the way.

In addition to offering meal plans and more than 8,000 recipes, myWW members have access to a huge support network through WWs global community. Whether you choose to attend in-person WW workshops or use theWW app or both you can learn new skills from WW coaches and share stories and tips with other members. With the app, coaches are available online 24/7 to answer your questions.

Since people who track their weight loss progress tend to be more successful at meeting their goals, the WW app motivates members to log their meals, activities, and weight through theWellnessWins feature, a rewards program in which you win free stuff anything from a yoga mat to a month of Rent the Runway Unlimited simply for adopting and maintaining healthy habits. Plus, you cansync the app with your fitness device, which makes it even easier to track your habits.

There are so many cool and unique things about myWW, says London. The program creates as much or as little encouragement as you personally need, and it [comes with] a built-in community of people who are there to see one another succeed.

If you want to try a new approach to eating healthier and losing weight in 2020, try myWW. Not only is the program proven to work, itsbeen consistently ranked the #1 Program for Weight Loss, 9 years in a row by US News & Report. And now, with myWWs customized plans, its easier than ever to lose weight and keep it off. Get started with myWW now.

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4 Reasons New Year's Resolution Fad Diets Don't Work and What to Do Instead - Everyday Health

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Home » Long Term Weight Loss » 4 Reasons New Year’s Resolution Fad Diets Don’t Work and What to Do Instead – Everyday Health