Recently I came across an article that implied that if you are not being able to lose weight it is not really your fault. It went further to list a number of facts among them that 95% of all dieters lose weight and regain it; that dieting can lead to eating disorders, dieting impairs mental health, dieting slaws your metabolism and finally that dieting leaves you fatter.



Probably what the author did not consider was that facts can always be nullified by other facts. For example that fact that 95% of diets regain is based really on very old statistics. Today the National Weight Registry has information on individuals that have lost weight and maintained it for up to 5 years. Similarly the other facts can be countered by similar arguments.

Perhaps the author could be misunderstanding what dieting is.

Mike Huckabee the governor of Arkansas who lost 100 pounds was reported as "dissing" diets too. The governor has tried many "diets" before finding what worked for him. Jimmy Moore author of the book "Living La Vida Low Carb" and a blogger of a blog by the same name sees it a little different. He has lost 180 pound in a low carb diet.

The question I would like you to ask yourself is what is that they used to cut all that weight called?

When you need to drop tens of pounds of weight you will always need a special diet to do this. Depending on how fast you want to do it, it could range from a liquid diet, very low calorie diet to a low carb or low glycemic index. But a diet specifically designed to reduce your calorie has to be included. This is what the pith of dieting is, a calorie reduced diet.

Dieting involves creating a calories deficit to result to weight loss. The reason to the now so common claims of dieting does not work is because we do not appreciate that dieting is not the full answer to permanent weight loss.

To achieve permanent weight loss you need to have a plan that moves you from dieting i.e. a significant calorie deficit to allow for weight loss to weight management. Weight management is the technique to acquire and use in your lifestyle to be able to maintain the gains achieved in dieting. Here a lifestyle which includes a diet should make sure your calorie intake equals your expenditure.

The concept of "dieting does not work" is very likely a misunderstanding of dieting as an integral part of lifestyle change required to get permanent weight loss. But dieting by itself is not satisfactory neither is it sustainable.