What is a Fixed-Menu Diet?

If you've ever been on a diet, you've almost definitely encountered one that could be considered a fixed-menu. This means that the choices of what you eat will be limited to a small number of food products. Some fixed-menu diets include more foods than others, but they all regulate your eating to very specific groupings of food, which can be a problem.

Identification

• A fixed-menu diet is basically an eating regimen that is limited to a fairly set number of foods you can eat while on the diet plan. Generally, you are given a list of those "pre-selected" foods you are allowed to consume for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack, specifying the amount of each food item in spoons, cups or ounces per meal. This is different from prepackaged-meal diets (meals prepared for you and delivered to you), since you'll still be responsible for shopping at your grocer, just limited in what you are able to buy.

Significance

• While you'll generally experience weight loss when on a fixed-menu diet, there are some fairly sizeable drawbacks to employing this sort of plan. One of the main problems is the lack of variety. Since it is a fixed-menu, you'll be very limited in your choices. This can lead to dietary boredom, so to speak, and may increase your chances of "cheating." Another rather considerable problem with this sort of diet is that you're not actually thinking for yourself; the choices are already made for you. Once you're off the fixed-menu diet, you'll really have no idea what to eat and how much to eat, making weight gain a significant possibility.

Considerations

• If you do opt to use a fixed-menu diet to lose weight, you should make sure that the plan has a number of stages to its schedule. While you may start off with limited choices, the best type of fixed-menu diet will include phases that introduce more and more different foods after you've lost your immediate goal, education on healthy food choices, instruction on meal preparations and a maintenance plan to keep the weight off. If the fixed-menu diet you're currently looking at doesn't have any of these things, keep looking.

Warning

• Before you ever begin any sort of diet plan, you should always consult your doctor. Though most diet regimens only state this as a way to avoid fault, it really is advisable. There are so many unhealthy diets around that offer "quick fixes" that a medical professional can offer some helpful insight into the healthiest diet for you, allowing you to get the proper vitamins and nutrients not available on some fixed-menu diets.

Expert Insight

• When you're looking for a diet plan to lose weight, the best option is one you believe you can realistically live with, not something that is so extreme that you're only setting yourself up to fail (and but your health in danger). Most times, fixed-menu diets may seem easy because they're limiting the number of option you have. But, these are probably some of the hardest and least effective diets around, because you're eliminating so many foods you currently eat, and it's not teaching you one of the most important things in eating: how to choose the right foods.