There are numerous diet plans out there.  All promising quick weight loss.  However, there are a few things I want to clear up.  1.  Losing weight doesn’t equal being healthy.  2.  That massive and quick weight loss isn’t all fat, it’s actually very little fat and mostly water and possibly lean mass (muscle).  3.  A quick fix is a temporary fix, that weight will come right back shortly!  4.  Most of these quick weight loss diets (if not all of them) are not sustainable as they tend to be too restrictive and too dependent on being perfect to maintain or continue the weight loss.

First and foremost, much of the quick drop in weight is due to a loss of water weight.  Most all diet plans involve reducing salt intake among other elements that retain water.  The rest of the weight loss is usually a split between fat and lean mass due to a drop in calories.  Let’s say you lose 15 lbs in the first week, that means 1-2 lbs at best came from fat, 1-2 lbs may have come from lean mass, and the rest of the 11-13 lbs came from water weight.  Unless you live in the gym, or have dramatically have reduce your calorie intake to the point of it being unhealthy, it is highly unlikely to lose more than 2 lbs of pure body fat a week.

Many of these diets involve cutting carbs.  This is fine as long as it’s a temporary weight loss attempt, such as fitting into that wedding dress for a day.  But for the long term, this is very unhealthy.  Yes, you want to cut the simple carbs such as sugar, but not the complex carbs that come from vegetables and wheats and oats.  Carbs are energy.  The body has a few different ways it can produce energy, but carbohydrates are the most efficient and quickest way the body can use energy.  If you have a condition where wheats and oats (gluten) have a negative effect on the body, such as chrones disease, then obviously the removal of these types of carbs is crucial to your health.  However, you must replace that loss of carbs with more veggies and other non-gluten foods.  Removing carbs extremely limits your food choices, this makes life quite difficult.  Very few people have the ability to live a lifestyle where cutting carbs all day everyday is feasible.  Think about it, do you really think you can spend the rest of your life never eating pasta, bread, snack bars, and never eating another dessert?  Unless a specific condition/illness depends on it, that’s a highly unlikely scenario, not to mention a boring one.

If you want to be healthy, gain healthy weight, lose weight and/or maintain weight, then make it simple and make it something you can do for the rest of your life.  First and most important, eat healthy.  You’re food intake is by far the most important aspect of getting healthy.  Stick to lean meats and veggies and some fruits.  Wheats and oats are an easy way to get vital nutrients outside of those meats and veggies.  Don’t go overboard, too much of anything can be a bad thing when it comes to food, spread it around and change it up and eat all the colors of the rainbow.  Secondly, exercise.  Both resistance training (muscular) and cardio training (heart/lungs/blood flow).  Don’t just do one and not the other.  They go hand in hand, one will help the other and one without the other can lead to issues and injuries.

Lastly, get your head straight.  One big issue most people forget to address is the reasons why you aren’t healthy in the first place.  For many, it’s just a matter of not putting much effort into their health due to the fact they were never over weight until later in life and assuming they were healthy, and by then had become set in their ways with poor eating and exercise choices.  But for those who are in the extreme categories of bad health, there is almost always a deeper issue.  The average person doesn’t get to 300 lbs by simply being less active or eating an extra dessert from time to time.  There is something much bigger going wrong here and it must be addressed before any diet and exercise routines are to be successful.  For some, it’s massive amounts of stress.  Others, depression and other mental ailments.  Maybe it’s the people you’re around.  Maybe it’s the lifestyle you are a part of.  Many medications have weight gain and water retention as a side effect.  Do your best to limit or even remove the need for medications.

I had a client years ago who used to be in great shape, but after a sudden lifestyle change that dramatically removed exercise from her daily routine which also lead to a poor eating habit, the result was gaining some weight.  She started to become depressed over the weight gain and saw a doctor about it.  The doctors answer?  Give her medications for the depression.  What was a side effect of the medication?  You guessed it, weight gain.  The true issue was never looked at, only a quick fix applied.  Sure, she was mildly happy when on that pill, but it did nothing but make the weight gain worse which added to the depression which resulted in upping the medication.  The true issue is this; what caused the lifestyle change that removed the exercise?  I can throw workout plans and diet plans at her all day, but it wasn’t going to fix anything until that first issue was recognized and addressed.

Whatever the case may be, look honestly at yourself and why you are in the position you are in.  Then change that part of your life or the healthy results you’ve attained will be lost.