Which diet is right for you? Nutrisystem, Atkins, Gluten-Free, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Zone, etc

There are a mind-boggling amount of diet plans and programs on the market.  Which one is right for you?

If I had to guess....  NONE OF THEM!!!

The truth is, that unless you have some special dietary need or allergy that necessitates the restriction of certain foods, most of these programs will work for you for only a short period of time.  In my opinion, they miss the key part of why you are changing your eating habits in the first place.  If you do not make lasting lifestyle changes, ANY of these programs will cause you to gain weight back as soon as you stop adhering to them.

I may tackle each diet directly in another post, but for now, suffice it to say that the reason why these diet programs work is for the simplest of reasons.  YOU ARE WATCHING WHAT YOU EAT!!!!  1,500 calories of gluten-free food is the same as 1,500 calories of Weight Watchers, or Nutrisystem, or E-Diets or just simply keeping a food diary.  The simple fact that you are paying attention to what you are putting in your mouth has been shown time after time to trigger weight loss.  Of course cookies aren't on the agenda for a gluten-free or Atkins diet, but there is no reason to eliminate entire food groups just to get you to pay attention to what you are eating to begin with.

The problem with a "program" is that it is not a "lifestyle."  This means that after you've had enough of any of these plans, you will most likely go to your old eating habits for "maintenance" and will most likely gain the weight back that you've lost, and maybe then some!

There are a lot of folks that I know that "tried" these regimens the same way that people "try" to quit smoking.  They keep coming back again and again.  If you can make many smaller, incremental changes over time, you are more likely to change your lifestyle as well as your waistline and it is more likely to stay that way in the long run.