As a Registered Dietitian I hear lots of excuses when it comes to weight loss. One of the most common is that the individual doesn't know if their quick weight loss diet worked or not.

What do you mean you don't know if it worked or not?

Did you lose weight? Did your body fat percentage decrease? You have to know if it worked or not.

I then ask them if they took any measurements and body fat calculations at the beginning of the quick weight loss diet.

Usually the answer is no.

So I guess they are really telling the truth about not knowing if they lost any weight or not. Generally they say they got on the scale in the beginning and then weighed themselves at the end.

The scale can give you some answers, but it won't tell you the whole story on whether or not your quick weight loss diet is successful. It can also give you plenty of false numbers along the way that will discourage your efforts.

To be successful at fast weight loss you need to be obviously eating properly, but also strength training. Strength training produces lean body mass which is weight on the scale, but looks great on your body and is key to keeping the fat off once you have lost it.

If I only used the scale as my measuring tool and I lost 10 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of lean muscle the scale would tell me that I only lost 5 pounds.

I would think that I failed.

If I took before measurements, pictures and body fat calculations I would know that I lost 8% body fat, 4 inches off my waist and gained 5 pounds of lean body mass.

I now know that my quick weight loss diet was successful. The scale didn't tell me those numbers.

Before you start any exercise or quick weight loss diet program make sure that you not only take before pictures, but you also find out what your body fat percentage is and your circumference measurements.

This way you have all the evaluative tools to tell you if a program is successful or not. These tools you will be using will also let you know if there are modifications to be done to your current diet or exercise program so that you are guaranteed results.

I advise those looking to follow a quick weight loss diet program to start with all these baseline measurements and re-take them every 2-3 weeks to re-evaluate your progress. If you need to modify anything regarding your diet or exercise program these steps will guarantee that you will know quickly.

Don't just assume a quick weight loss diet program is going to work. You have to measure the results and make modifications to suit you individually. This is the way to guarantee successful weight loss.