On the question of which diets are the most effective for losing weight, there are countless opinions, proportional to the number of people in the world who have successfully lost weight, according to nutritionists and websites.
This question is akin to which sweets are the most delicious, which country is the best to live in, or which mother is the most beautiful. . . occupying the minds of children of all ages; ).
No, that doesn't mean the answer doesn't exist. This is a warning that goes beyond the specific name of the best diet that works for everyone.
Despite the somewhat vague beginning, I promise that below you will still discover which diets are the most effective for losing weight (we will provide you with a list of the 5 most effective diets), why there are many of them (and not onealone). ) and what all the "best" have in common.
We will also explain 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), in the center are individual products (pumpkin, kefir, egg, rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese) or groups of products (dietprotein), on some of them. you can eat almost everything (periodic fasting), on others – nothing (fasting).
And guess what?
The creators and supporters of each of these hundreds of diets, so different and so contradictory, claim that their diet is the most effective for losing weight.
And to answer the question posed in the title of this article, we could list all these diets and the result you would come away with here, the name of a specific diet, the best and most effective, would only depend on howof which he is convincing. us, it has been described here. . .
At the same time, I am sure that few people are interested in listening to fairy tales about everything or, again, just being convinced of something. By "effective diets" each of us means something very specific and specific, reducing the list of hundreds of diets to a few units.
Classification of diets
All the variety of existing diets can be reduced to only a few groups depending on the principle of their action:
- remove fluids from the body using medications;
- eliminate fluids from the body by reducing the amount of carbohydrates in the diet;
- limit calories by eating the same foods and eliminating certain food groups completely;
- calorie restriction by reducing the amount of food consumed;
- limit calories by consuming certain foods with a high satiety index;
- activation of fat burning by limiting the time of food consumption.
This is a very conditional classification, which nevertheless clearly illustrates the principles of action of almost all diets. They differ in the degree of possible harm to health and in how easy or difficult it is to track them over time.
Many diets, positioned as the most effective, very often rely on a combination of all these factors, which allows you to lose weight as quickly as possible, but is not always effective in terms of maintaining health and resultslong-term.
The most effective diet for weight loss is. . .
We first need to make sure we speak the same language with each other.
An effective diet can be understood as at least the following:
- a diet that allowslose weight quickly;
- diet that helps you lose weightno danger to healthso thatthe weight has not returned;
- a diet thatit just helps you lose weight, because many of them don't work at all for some people.
Which one did you come here looking for?
I anticipate the answer will be – everyone. And fast, harmless and with long-term results.
So let's talk about everything in order.
How Popular Falsely Effective Diets Work
Different people have different meanings for the concept of "weight loss". For some, this is a decrease in scale readings, for others - a decrease in body fat percentage.
Do you feel the difference?
Weight loss during weight loss does not always occur because of fat: in many so-called effective diets for losing weight quickly, weight is lost due to the removal of fluids from the body.
Among these diets: a detox diet, the use of laxatives for weight loss or diuretics (diuretics).
They are very effective at quickly changing scale readings, but they domanipulate not the fat content of the body, but the water content.
This may be acceptable for some, but it is important to understand that all of these dietsdoes not give long-term results: The weight comes back very quickly as soon as the "diet" stops.
Additionally, long-term adherence to such diets is fraught with pitfalls. very serious risk of adverse health effects.
All the most falsely effective diets for rapid weight loss manipulate the body's fluid content, not fat. None of them give long-term results and all of them are very dangerous for your health.
About popular "super effective" diets of fashionable stars
The most popular diets, which are named after stars of show business, the Kremlin and Hollywood, have two common features:
- Theyvery strictly limit the number of product typesnutrition in food;
- they are characterizedvery low in carbohydrates.
How it works? Very simple.
On the one hand, significantly limiting the variety of foods makes counting calories easier; on the other hand, it reduces the risk of overeating, because the diet becomes monotonous and tasteless.
Why do people gain weight quickly on carbs, 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 energy requirements are low, carbohydrates are stored in the short term - glycogen in the liver and muscles. When these stores are full, excess carbohydrates are converted to fat and stored in long-term reserves as fat, the location of which is known to all.
Why is weight loss fast by eliminating carbohydrates from the diet?
Each gram of glycogen binds several grams of fluid.
If we reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, glycogen stores are very quickly (within a day) emptied, the water that was used to store it is eliminated from the body and body weight decreases.
The vast majority of popular "super effective" diets that promise quick results are based on eliminating fluids from the body and strictly limiting permitted foods.
The main principle of all effective and correct diets
Remember one simple rule: all diets based onreduce caloriesdiet, effective for weight loss.
In fact, there are many such diets. For what? Because you can limit calories in many ways, by inducing vomiting, accurately counting calories in dishes on a scale, or strictly limiting carbohydrates and fats in the diet.
Effective from the point of view of absence of danger to health and ease of compliance for a long period (ideally, throughout life), among them will be those that provide the nutrients necessary for maintaining health(vitamins and minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and satisfy hunger.
All the most effective diets are based on calorie restriction. This is achieved in various ways with varying degrees of harm to health.
Why is calorie count so important?
Scientists consider excess calories to be the main cause of obesity in our time. This is by no means a lack of physical activity, although modern people have actually begun to move much less.
Watch what researchers from the science portal say, whose mission is to study the effectiveness of various nutritional supplements and debunk popular nutrition myths, 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 exactly what we eat (the nutritional ratio of fats, proteins andcarbohydrates)..
Eating a lot of calories is the onlyexplanation of the total epidemic of obesity today.
The fact that it is the excess of calories in the diet of a modern person that is the main cause of obesity is demonstrated by a large number of scientific studies.
Many scientific articles have been written on this subject.
There are many examples on the Internet of losing weight with absolutely unhealthy foods in the form of fast food, pizza, potatoes, which prove thatTo start losing weight, just eat less.
So, the main thing that is important to learn:
For weight loss, only the number of calories is important, but for health, what exactly we eat is important. All diets based on reducing calorie intake are useful for losing weight.
The most effective diet is the one that suits you and that you can follow for a long time.
There are many stories on the Internet showing successful weight loss with completely different diets. Among them there are deceivers, and there are also truthful ones.
Some say the most effective way to lose weight is intermittent fasting, others the ketogenic diet, and still others the Dukan protein diet. And someone shouts that nothing is wrong.
Not all diets are suitable for everyone, mainly because each person, due to their individual characteristics, requires different efforts to stick to them.
For those who love meat, it will be incredibly difficult to "sit" only on vegetables, fruits and cereals. But they will probably like Pierre Dukan's protein diet or the Kremlin diet, which are essentially the same thing.
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 the diet, but only suggests eating at a certain 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 considered one of the healthiest.
At the same time, the ketogenic diet is not recommended for athletes and is quite difficult to follow for physically active people, since it almost completely eliminates carbohydrates, the main source of energy for our body.
SO:
The best diet for you is one that suits you and that you can follow for a long time, ideally for your entire life.
It is impossible to follow a diet for a long time that leads to a state of chronic hunger and nervousness.
That is why very often, after achieving the desired readings on the scales, there is a return to favorite eating habits and previous weight.
Fat cells are very resistant. They do not die immediately upon losing weight, but only decrease in size. Start feeding them - and very soon (and quite easily) they will return to "normal".
To lose weight permanently, you need to permanently change your eating habits.and only the diet you can live on for the rest of your life will help.
To lose weight sustainably, you need to permanently change your eating habits.
Top 5 most effective diets for weight loss
Therefore, the most effective diet is the one that:
- aimed at reducing the percentage of fat in the body, not water;
- limits calories;
- allows you to stick to it for a long time;
- Provides all the nutrients the body needs to stay healthy.
For weight loss, calorie restriction is important, and for health, food composition is important.
The most effective diet for weight loss is one that limits the number of calories in your diet, leads to a decrease in the percentage of body fat, not water, and is not harmful to health.
Many popular diets are effective. A list of the top 5 of them is given below.
Low-carb diets
The most popular diets restrict calories by reducing carbohydrates. Of paramount importance are sugar and fructose, the excessive consumption of which is recognized by scientists as the main cause of obesity.
Examples of low-carb diets:
- ketogenic diet– a diet high in fat, low in protein and very low in carbohydrates;
- dIeta Atkins– a diet rich in fats, rich in proteins and very low in carbohydrates;
- P.aleo diet(hunter-gatherer diet or Stone Age diet) – high fat, high protein and low carbohydrate;
- protein diet by Pierre Dukan– a diet rich in proteins (for meat lovers), low in carbohydrates.
- intermittent fasting– in addition to limiting the amount of carbohydrates, limits the duration during 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, so they givea greater feeling of fullnessfor a longer period.
Almost all of these dietsIt is recommended to eat foods that are less "loaded" with calories, which contain more plant fiber and water: half a kilo of broccoli contains fewer calories than half a kilo of cereals, and even more cakes; ).
Carbohydrates cause overeating, and as a general rule you always want to eat a lot of them (especially if they're sweet).
This is explained by the fact that their absorption 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 to eat; This is probably why we love sweets so much and eat chocolate for depression.
- they affect satiety levels and hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin), which help control appetite; with regular consumption 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 levels; after its work is done, sugar drops sharply, which also causes a feeling of hunger.
Scientific research confirms thatlow carb dietsone of the most effective for weight loss because they make you want to eat less, eat fewer calories and are less likely to overeat.
The list of 5 most effective diets includes low-carb diets. All of them are effective for losing weight, because. . . Limit calories and avoid overeating
Intermittent fasting is one of the most effective diets
Intermittent fasting is called by many modern scientistsone of the most effective diets not only for weight loss, but also for health.
Unlike traditional fasting, this one does not require complete abstinence from food, which is very difficult to tolerate and, as we will see below, is far from the most effective weight loss strategy.
Intermittent fasting involves eating only at specific times of the day, within an 8-hour interval. For what? Because it allows you to maximize the fat burning process.
In this diet, there are no strict restrictions on the set of permitted foods: only common foods harmful to weight loss in the form of simple carbohydrates, mainly sugar and fructose, are excluded. It is an element of a low-carb diet.
It's all quite 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 Popular Misconceptions About Dieting
Finally, let's look at some popular myths that are often presented in many diets as the key to effective weight loss.
Balanced and separate diets (mono-diets) differ in the degree of danger 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, theThe benefits of a balanced approach are obvious.
Let's reveal a secret: you can lose weight even with fast food, cakes, sweets. . . if you eat them carefully, respecting the principle of calorie restriction.
The following statement is true for all mono diets:
"Any diet that promotes the complete elimination of a group of nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates or fats) is incorrect and has serious health consequences if followed over the long term. "
For weight loss, it is not particularly important whether proteins, fats and carbohydrates enter your body in a balanced or separate form: their quantity is important. However, from a health point of view, mono-diets are more harmful to your health.
Meal time and frequency don't matter for weight loss
To lose weight, only the total calorie intake during the day matters.
Naturally,Eating small, frequent meals helps you better control your appetiteand avoid overeating after long hours of abstinence. But it's important that you see the same basic principle at its core: it's simply a way to limit and control calories.
If the calculated daily calorie intake is 1500 kcal, then in terms of weight loss it doesn't matter whether you eat them in one meal or in several.
About fasting: how effective is fasting for weight loss?
One of the popular diets for weight loss is complete abstinence from food or fasting.
A radical refusal of food seems quite logical as a method to effectively solve the problem of excess weight.
But this is not true.
The problem is that fasting causes a significant decreaseinternal metabolic rate.
According to scientific data, resting metabolism (the energy spent at rest solely to maintain the body's internal functions) accounts for the lion's share of calories burned each day: approximately 70%. Decreasing this value significantly reduces the rate 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 decreases very significantly.
Weight loss during fasting is mainly due to a decrease in the amount of fluid in the body. Even during a prolonged fasta lot of muscle mass is lost, as the body begins to break down muscle proteins to provide energy for its most important vital functions.
Mild calorie restriction doesn't have as dramatic an effect, however.
Fasting is very ineffective for weight loss because it reduces the metabolic rate, the main consumer of calories in the body. Weight loss is mainly due to fluid excretion and loss of muscle mass.