The Most Effective Diet for Weight Loss
Hey there!
I wanted to dive into a couple of different dieting styles and share why they ALL work (if they fit your lifestyle) and express some thoughts/opinions on each of them.
Before I dive in, please know that the most effective diet is the one that feels the most sustainable for you personally. If your diet is putting you in a caloric deficit, it will cause you to lose weight. The diet you choose should be based on your lifestyle and what fits best for you.
- Intermittent Fasting: You are only allowed to eat within a certain window of time during the day. Some people choose to fast in the morning when they wake up and some people choose to wait until night time and then fast before they go to sleep. Why does it work? Because you can only fit so much food into your available window! There are other potential benefits to this lifestyle but, in general, the weight loss is a result of the caloric restriction associated with having less time to eat.
- Keto: Your diet is low in carbohydrates and high in fat. This teaches your body to become more efficient at burning fat for energy. Why does it work? Because you’re pretty much cutting out an entire food group (carbs). Fats also increase satiety so you won’t feel as hungry even on lower calories.
- Clean eating: Eating only minimally and unprocessed food. Avoiding foods that have been processed. Why does it work? For starters, again, you’re cutting out a large portion of possible food options so you are restricting your choices. Processed foods often contain a lot of additives such as high fructose corn syrup, which lead to you feeling less full. These foods also cause you to overproduce dopamine, which leads to more cravings.
- Flexible Dieting: Counting your macronutrients to ensure that you’re hitting a specific caloric deficit target while also ensuring that your body receives all the nutrients it needs to function. Why does it work? Because you’re keeping track of the numbers and carefully aiming for certain targets. Your calories are made up of protein, carbs, and fats so by counting them, you’re counting calories but getting more specific with it by making sure that those calories provide the nutrients needed.
There are so many others that can come into play here and provide similar strategies. I have tried both clean eating and flexible dieting and have personally found a flexible dieting approach to be easier to commit to and prevents rebounds. Again, each of these is effective and “right.” It all depends on you!
If you are interested in more information on flexible dieting, give my free 7 Day Jumpstart Challenge a shot. You will learn how to set up your macro targets, more on why flexible dieting is so effective, and how to plan your diet to target YOUR specific goals.
Want more info on these? I would love to know if you found this helpful! What dieting strategies have you tried? What’s worked for you? What hasn’t?
Xx,
Em
