Most people who are seeking a weight loss solution often start by reducing the amount of food they eat. This has a name. It is called a "diet" and it doesn't work. True, a relatively few people can lose a small amount of weight this way, but there are five major problems with dieting:

1. A diet is not a permanent weight loss solution

2. A diet may backfire and actually cause weight gain.

3. A diet may not only be disappointing but may cause loss of self esteem.

4. A diet may cause health problems.

5. A diet may, in extreme cases, cause death.

6. There is a weight loss program that is better than a diet.

Let's take a closer look at these points.

A diet is not a permanent weight loss solution: Simply cutting back on calories may work for small losses of weight in some people over a short time period. However, diets are hard to stay on for many reasons. You get tired of eating the same food. You cannot stay on your diet when traveling, dining out, or when your schedule does not allow you the time to prepare meals. Special foods are required, or you must take the time to select foods from charts, one from column A, two from column B and so on. For this to work, you will have to stay on this diet for the rest of your life. Not only that, a diet simply denies your body some food. It does not cause your body to change the way it functions (except in a negative fashion talked about below), nor does it burn fat.

A diet may backfire and actually cause weight gain: When you first begin a diet, you may notice some weight loss as your body is denied the calories it is accustomed to. After a very short while, however, your will adjust to the new level of calories and your weight loss will stop. To lose more weight this way, the next logical step is to cut calories even more. By this point, in addition to you starting to get sick and tired of this nonsense, once calories drop below a certain level, your body will slow down the rate at which it metabolizes the calories you take in. Eventually, your body will learn to subsist on fewer calories, and weight loss will cease. If you fall off the diet wagon after your body has learned to get by on fewer calories you will be consuming more extra calories than before you started the diet, and you will gain weight. If you wanted to burn fat, this is not the way to go.

A diet may not only be disappointing but may cause loss of self esteem and motivation: As you may know from personal experience, it is hard to stay on a diet. As you can see from the discussion above, it is unrealistic to expect yourself to stay on a diet forever. Sooner or later, you are going to fall off the wagon. Not only will you probably blame yourself for your "failure", but it will be one more on a list of failed weight loss plans, and you will begin to lose respect for yourself and will begin to believe that others have lost respect as well.

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