Successful Diets - The 5 Common Characteristics

ByLee J Scutchings

How many successful diets do you think are out there?

More than 68% of American adults are overweight according to the Centers for Disease control and a full half of them are obese.

30% of Americans are said to be on a diet at any particular time, and the dieting industry pulls in more than 30 billion dollars annually. Given these shocking statistics, it's hard to believe that there are any diets providing success at all.

But there is hope for the overweight and anyone just looking to shed a few pounds. I will tell you why most diets fail and what successful diets all have in common.

The first step is to recognize that the diet industry doesn't want to cure obesity: if everyone in America suddenly became thin the dieting industry would stand to lose 30 billion dollars per year. That's fitness instructors, book publishers, authors, medical doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers, and more.

All of these people depend on us to stay overweight and never find any true success.

The second step is accepting responsibility for our failures of the past and the bad choices we've made. We are a culture that expects quick results with no effort. We've become lazy, complacent, and spoiled.

Maybe we used to be able to eat whatever we wanted when we were kids, maybe we tell ourselves that we aren't that overweight or that we'll work on it later.

But being successful on any diet starts with an honest look in the mirror and the realization that you want better for your life.

Changing your body and changing your life takes more than just one day of strict exercise and calorie counting. We have to give up the fantasy of a miracle because it just doesn't exist.

Getting healthy is going to take some sweat and some pain and some time. Some of us are bound to be frustrated at the recommendations that follow because they aren't the dramatic actions with inflated promises that most of us are used to. But taking it slow means minimizing discomfort and almost guaranteeing success.

Successful diets are long term plans, not weekend endeavors.

Here are the common characteristics that successful diets share:

1 - Almost all successful dieters eat breakfast. It jumpstarts your metabolism and gives you energy to be more active. Skipping breakfast is a notorious diet killer.

2 - Doubling or tripling the amount of water you drink in a day is crucial to diet success as well as general health. Without lots of fresh water, your body can't really break down the fat that you're hoping to lose as well.

3 - Have fun! The physical activity that is necessary for weight loss should be fun. Instead of thinking "What can I do to get my heart rate up?" think, "What can I do that is physical and fun." Swimming, walking the dog, playing frisbee, hiking to a beautiful vantage point... the possibilities are endless once you start brainstorming.

4 - Successful diets tend to be low fat diet plans. Too much of our food is loaded with grease and fats to keep us coming back for more. Limit your fat intake, but don't cut it out altogether because all macromolecules of food (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) are important to our bodies.

5 - Avoid extremely low carb diets due to their tendency to lower metabolisms. Although cutting out simple sugars and refined starches is a good idea, completely restricting all carbohydrates can be a recipe for disaster.

Extreme measures rarely give good long term results. Choose a more moderate plan for a better chance of success.

Hopefully these few tips about successful diets will start you on your way to crafting your own diet plan that allows you to lose weight in a long and slow process that becomes incorporated into your lifestyle.

To find out more about successful diets and for help with choosing the correct weight loss system for you, be sure to check out all the diet plans reviewed at RealDietPlans.com

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Health and Fitness: Weight-Loss
Lee J Scutchings

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Scutchings, Lee J.".".23 Jan. 2012EzineArticles.com.26 Jan. 2012 .APA Style Citation:
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