On the question of which diets are most effective for losing weight, there are countless opinions, proportional to the number of people in the world who have managed to lose weight, nutritionists and Internet sites.
This question is similar to asking which sweets are the tastiest, which country is the best to live in or whose mother is the most beautiful. . . and concerns children of all ages; ).
No, that's not an indication that the answer doesn't exist. This is a warning that it goes beyond the specific name of the single, best diet that works for everyone.
Despite the somewhat vague beginning, I promise you that below you will still find out which diets are most effective for losing weight (we provide you with a list of the 5 most effective diets) and why there are many of them (and not just one). ) and what all the "best" have in common".
We will also tell you how the most popular diets work today and why they are not always the most effective.
All diets are the most effective. . .
There are several hundred, if not thousands, of diets.
They are created by cultures (Japanese, Brazilian), personalities (Pierre Dukan), at their center are individual products (pumpkin, kefir, egg, rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese) or groups of products (protein diet), in some of them you can do almost everythingeat (periodic fasting), for others - nothing (fasting).
And guess what?
The inventors and proponents of each of these hundreds of diets, so different and so contradictory, claim that their diet is the most effective for losing weight.
And in answer to the question posed in the title of this article, we could list all these diets and the result you would leave here with. The name of a particular diet, the best and most effective one, would depend only on how convincing it is as it has been described here. . .
At the same time, I am sure that few people are interested in hearing fairy tales about everything or simply convincing themselves of something. By "effective diets" each of us understands something very specific and specific and narrows down the list of hundreds of diets to a few units.
Classification of diets
The entire variety of existing diets can be reduced to a few groups based on their principle of action:
- Removal of fluid from the body with the help of medications;
- Removal of fluid from the body by reducing the amount of carbohydrates in food;
- Limiting calorie intake by eating the same foods and completely eliminating certain food groups;
- Calorie restriction by reducing the amount of food eaten;
- Limiting calorie intake by eating certain foods with a high satiety index;
- Activation of fat burning by limiting the time of food intake.
This is a very conditional classification, which nevertheless clearly illustrates the principles of action of almost all diets. They vary in the extent of potential health harm and in how easy or difficult they are to follow over time.
Many diets that are considered the most effective are very often based on a combination of all these factors, which allow you to lose weight as quickly as possible, but are not always effective in terms of maintaining health and long-term results.
The most effective diet for weight loss is. . .
First we have to make sure we speak the same language with each other.
An effective diet can be understood to mean at least the following:
- a diet that allows itlose weight fast;
- Diet to help you lose weightno harm to healthso thatThe weight didn't come back;
- a diet thatit simply helps you lose weight, as many of them don't work at all for some people.
What did you come here looking for?
I assume the answer will be: everyone. Fast, safe and with long-term results.
Then we'll talk about everything in turn.
How popular, falsely effective diets work
Different people have different meanings for the term "weight loss". For some it is a decrease in scale values, for others it is a decrease in body fat percentage.
Can you feel the difference?
Weight loss when losing weight is not always due to fat: in many so-called effective diets for rapid weight loss, weight loss occurs due to the withdrawal of fluid from the body.
Such diets include: a detox diet, the use of laxatives for weight loss or diuretics (diuretics).
They are very effective at changing scale values quickly, but do thisDoes not manipulate the fat content in the body, but rather the water content.
This may be acceptable to some, but it is important to understand that all such dietsdo not provide long-term results: The weight comes back very quickly once the "diet" is stopped.
In addition, long-term adherence to such diets is fraught with problemsvery serious health risk.
All seemingly effective diets for rapid weight loss manipulate fluid levels in the body, not fat levels. None of them give long-term results and all of them are very dangerous to health.
About fashionable stars, popular "super effective" diets
The most popular diets named after the stars of show business, the Kremlin and Hollywood have two things in common:
- SheLimit the number of product types very strictlynutrition in the diet;
- they stand outvery low in carbohydrates.
How it works? Very easy.
On the one hand, severely restricting the variety of foods makes counting calories easier; On the other hand, it reduces the likelihood of overeating as the diet becomes monotonous and tasteless.
Why do people gain weight quickly with carbohydrates but lose weight quickly without them?
When we eat carbohydrates, the level of the hormone insulin increases in the blood, whose function is to transport energy (carbohydrates) into cells to be used as energy.
If the energy requirement is low, carbohydrates are stored in the short-term storage glycogen in the liver and muscles. When these stores are full, excess carbohydrates are converted into fat and stored as fat in long-term stores, the location of which is known to everyone.
Why does weight loss happen quickly when you eliminate carbohydrates from your diet?
Each gram of glycogen binds several grams of fluid.
If we reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, glycogen stores are depleted very quickly (within a day), the water that was used for storage is withdrawn from the body, and body weight decreases.
The vast majority of popular "super effective" diets that promise quick results are based on the removal of fluid from the body and strict restriction of permitted foods
The basic principle of all correct and effective diets
Remember one simple rule: all diets based on itReduce caloriesDiet effective for weight loss.
In fact, there are many such diets. Why? That's because you can limit calorie intake in a variety of ways, from inducing vomiting to accurately counting calories in dishes on a scale to strictly limiting carbohydrates and fats in your diet.
From the point of view of health safety and ease of adherence over a long period of time (ideally throughout life), effective among them are those that provide the nutrients necessary to maintain health (vitamins and minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and satisfy hunger.
All of the most effective diets are based on calorie restriction. This is achieved in different ways with varying degrees of damage to health.
Why is calorie counting so important?
Scientists call excessive calorie content the main cause of obesity in our time. This is by no means a lack of physical activity, although modern man has actually begun to move much less.
Look what the researchers of the science portal, whose mission is to study the effectiveness of various dietary supplements and debunk popular myths about nutrition, say based on scientific research:
". . .Our body weight is determined more by how many calories we consume per day (from carbohydrates, proteins, fats and alcohol) than by what exactly we eat (the nutrient ratio of fats, proteins, carbohydrates)..
The only thing is to eat a lot of caloriesExplaining the total obesity epidemic today.
Numerous scientific studies prove that the excess calories in a modern person's diet is the main cause of obesity.
A large number of scientific articles have been written on this topic.
There are many examples on the Internet of losing weight with absolutely unhealthy foods in the form of fast food, pizza, potatoes that prove thisAll you need to start losing weight is to eat less.
The most important thing to learn:
Only the number of calories is important for weight loss, but what exactly we eat is important for health. All diets based on reducing calorie intake are useful for losing weight.
The most effective diet is the one that works for you and that you can stick with for a long time.
There are many stories on the Internet about successful weight loss with very different diets. Among them there are deceivers, and there are also truthful ones.
Some say intermittent fasting is the most effective way to lose weight, others say the ketogenic diet and still others say the Dukan protein diet. And someone shouts that nothing is working.
Not all diets work for all people, especially because each person requires a different amount of effort to stick to them due to their individual characteristics.
For those who love meat, it will be incredibly difficult to "sit" only on vegetables, fruits and cereals. But they will undoubtedly like Pierre Dukan's protein diet or the Kremlin diet, which are essentially the same.
Those who do not want to change anything in their food basket can appreciate the benefits of intermittent fasting, which does not require drastic changes in diet but simply suggests eating at a specific time.
Well, those who are not tied to this world by taste preferences can test for themselves the benefits of the ketogenic diet, which is said to be one of the healthiest.
At the same time, the ketogenic diet is not recommended for athletes and is quite difficult to adhere to for physically active people, since it almost completely excludes carbohydrates, the main source of energy in our body.
So:
The best diet for you is the one that works for you and that you can stick to for a long time, ideally throughout your life.
It is impossible to stick to a diet that causes chronic hunger and nervousness for a long period of time.
That is why very often, after reaching the desired scale values, a return to the preferred eating habits and the previous weight occurs.
Fat cells are very resilient. They don't die immediately when you lose weight, they just decrease in size. Start feeding them - and very soon (and easily) they will be back to "normal. "
To lose weight permanently, you need to change your eating habits forever.And the only thing that helps is the diet that you can live with for a lifetime.
To lose weight permanently, you need to permanently change your eating habits.
Top 5 most effective diets for weight loss
So the most effective diet is the one that:
- aims to reduce the percentage of fat in the body, not the percentage of water;
- limits calories;
- allows you to stick to it for a long time;
- Provides all the nutrients the body needs to stay healthy.
Calorie restriction is important for weight loss and the composition of food is important for health.
The most effective weight loss diet is one that limits the number of calories in your diet, results in a reduction in body fat percentage rather than water percentage, and is not harmful to your health.
Many popular diets are effective. Below is a list of the five best of them.
Low-carb diets
In most common diets, calorie reduction is achieved by eliminating carbohydrates. The focus is on sugar and fructose, excessive consumption of which is recognized by scientists as the main cause of obesity.
Examples of low-carb diets:
- ketogenic diet– a high-fat, low-protein and very low-carbohydrate diet;
- DIeta Atkins– a high-fat, high-protein and very low-carbohydrate diet;
- PAleo diet(Hunter-gatherer diet or Stone Age diet) – high fat, high protein and low carbohydrate;
- Protein diet from Pierre Dukan– a diet high in protein (for meat lovers), low in carbohydrates.
- intermittent fasting– In addition to limiting the amount of carbohydrates, it also limits the time in which food intake is permitted (see below).
Why are low-carb diets so effective for weight loss?
Fats and proteins are digested more slowly than carbohydrates and are therefore releasedgreater feeling of satietyfor longer time.
Almost all of these dietsIt is recommended to eat fewer high-calorie foods, which contain more plant fiber and water: half a kilo of broccoli contains fewer calories than half a kilo of cereal and even more cake; ).
Carbohydrates provoke overeating and, as a rule, you always want to eat a lot of them (especially if they are sweet).
This is explained by the fact that their intake is accompanied by certain hormonal changes in the body:
- They are involved in the synthesis of serotonin, the so-called "happiness hormone" in the brain, which stimulates the desire for food. This is probably why we love sweets so much and eat chocolate to combat depression.
- They influence the levels of satiety and hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin), which control appetite. With regular intake of carbohydrates (especially sugar and fructose), immunity to these hormones can develop, leading to uncontrolled appetite and overeating.
- after eating sweets, there is a sharp increase in the level of insulin in the blood, the task of which is to control blood sugar; After it has done its job, sugar drops sharply, which also causes a feeling of hunger.
Scientific studies confirm thisLow-carb dietsare among the most effective weight loss remedies because they stimulate the desire to eat less, consume fewer calories and make you less likely to overeat.
The list of the top 5 most effective diets includes low-carb diets. All of them are effective for weight loss because. . . Limit calorie intake and avoid overeating
Intermittent fasting is one of the most effective diets
Intermittent fasting is called intermittent fasting by many modern scientistsone of the most effective diets not only for weight loss but also for health.
Unlike traditional fasting, this does not require complete abstinence from food, which is very difficult to endure and, as will be shown below, is far from the most effective weight loss strategy.
Intermittent fasting involves eating only at certain times of the day within an 8-hour window. Why? Because this allows you to maximize the fat burning process.
This diet has no strict restrictions on the amount of foods allowed: the only exceptions are common, weight-damaging foods in the form of simple carbohydrates, especially sugar and fructose. This is part of a low-carb diet.
Everything is very simple and the health benefits are enormous.
Intermittent fasting is recognized by many scientists as one of the most effective diets for weight loss.
Some common misconceptions about diets
Finally, let's look at a few popular myths that are often positioned in many diets as the key to effective weight loss.
Balanced and separate diets (mono diets) differ in the degree of harm to health
Eating proteins, fats and carbohydrates together (balanced diet) or separately (separate diet or mono diet) does not in any way increase the effectiveness of weight loss, although from a health point of view the benefits of a balanced diet are obvious.
Let's reveal a secret: you can also eat with fast food, cakes, sweets . . . lose weight if you eat them carefully and observe the principle of calorie restriction.
The following statement applies to all mono diets:
"Any diet that promotes the complete elimination of one nutrient group (protein, carbohydrates or fat) is wrong and is associated with serious health consequences if followed long-term. "
For weight loss, it is not particularly important whether proteins, fats and carbohydrates enter your body in a balanced or separated form: what matters is their quantity. However, from a health perspective, mono diets are more harmful to health.
Time and frequency of meals do not play a role in weight loss
For weight loss, all that matters is the total calorie intake per day.
Naturally,Eating small, frequent meals will help you control your appetite betterand avoid overeating after hours of abstinence. But it's important that you recognize the same basic principle - it's simply a way to limit and control calories.
If the calculated daily calorie content is 1500 kcal, then for weight loss it does not matter whether you eat them in one meal or in several.
About fasting: How effective is fasting for weight loss?
One of the most popular diets for losing weight is complete abstinence from food or fasting.
A radical refusal to eat seems quite logical as a method for effectively solving the obesity problem.
But that's not the case.
The problem is that fasting leads to a significant declineinternal metabolic rate.
According to scientific data, resting metabolism (the energy spent at rest only to maintain the body's internal functions) is responsible for the lion's share of calories burned daily: about 70%. Reducing this value significantly reduces the speed of weight loss.
The benefits of fasting for weight loss are a myth.
If the state of hunger lasts for several days, the metabolic rate drops significantly.
Weight loss during fasting is primarily due to a reduction in the amount of fluid in the body. Even when fasting for a long timeA lot of muscle mass is lost, as the body begins to break down muscle protein to provide energy for its most important life functions.
However, slightly restricting calories does not have such a dramatic effect.
Fasting is very ineffective for losing weight because it lowers metabolism - the main consumer of calories in the body. Weight loss occurs primarily through fluid excretion and loss of muscle mass.