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Dieting Issues

Low-carb, no-carb, counting calories, no dairy, counting points and no sugar: These are only a few of the many diets available today. Motivation, disappointment, self-control and lifestyle have a lot to do with whether a diet will succeed. Watch out for dieting pitfalls by maintaining your diet and keeping yourself motivated.

  1. The "Yo-Yo" Effect

    • You find a good diet, go on the diet, it works, and you go off a diet, gaining all lost weight back. This is a common scenario for men and women alike who have lost weight, and then gone off their diets. Keep in mind when choosing a diet that while changing your eating may help you to lose weight, the weight will not stay off unless you make a lifestyle change.

    Motivation

    • Diets work, period. Especially when paired with exercise, dieting will lead you to the body you've dreamed of. If you're not motivated to do it, however, it will never happen. Some suffer from a lack of motivation to begin their new diet regimen, or lack the motivation to keep up with the routine after experiencing too little success.

    It Just Doesn't Work

    • While some can't seem to get the motivation to begin their diet, others follow theirs faithfully with few or no results. Sometimes when choosing a low-carb or calorie diet one may actually end up gaining weight. When denied the proper amount of food, the body goes into "starvation mode" where it will store away fat and slow down the metabolism. Diets of six small meals a day will curb this effect. The truth is sometimes simply dieting won't help you lose weight without adding exercise to your routine.

    Self-Control

    • Diets are great, if you follow them. With the low-carb, no sugar, no dairy diets available it's not surprising that you sometimes lose sight of the self-control aspect of dieting. Carbs, sugar and dairy are all considered "comfort foods," and can have a strong hold on people. Maintaining portion sizes can also be difficult.

    Vegetarian

    • Some diets center around eating larger portions of "healthy" meats such as fish and chicken, but when you have cut meat out of your diet completely, you may want to fill up on pasta. Many doctors and dietitians advise that you eat healthy protein foods such as tuna and salmon, and drink a lot of milk, but such options are not available for those who adopt a "no animal by-product" or "vegan" lifestyle.

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