the skinny on diets (long - sorry)

Hey girls, I just read an article in Health magazine and thought I would share - FYI:

The magazine performed a study of 1,000 women on 4 different diets and tracked them for 6 months. The study was scientific and the participants were randomly assigned to a diet. Their goal was to test the diets under 'real-life conditions' rather than people who meet w/ researchers and nutritionists and scientists and stuff. The diets they used were:

Weight Watchers Online (WWO) - the women got to choose b/w the point system and the core plan
Atkins
Eat More, Weigh Less - a low-fat program
The Way to Eat - Mediterranean-style eating plan that outlines strategies for making healthy choices.

The overall winner was Weight Watchers, mainly b/c no food is off limits, it was voted best when it came to satisfaction and the participants had confidence that they would be able to continue it long term.

HOWEVER - the researchers learned a few things from the study:
1) Dieting is hard - people have trouble losing weight (duh!) and no matter which diet, most people couldn't stick to it for 6 months. Here were their numbers - percentage of those remaining in the study who stuck w/ the diet: WWO 36%, The Way to Eat 33%, Ornish 15%, Atkins 10%.

2) Some diets are easier to sustain - some diets restrict certain foods and leave people w/ food cravings, which makes it harder to stick to the diet.

3) The more restrictive the diet, the grumpier the dieter - especially, (it seems) when the person prepares dinner for a family. If the diet is more restrictive, the person has to make a seperate meal for themselves. At the 6 month mark, 64% of WWO dieters said they were 'very' or extremely' satisfied w/ the program, compared to 42% on The Way to Eat, 20% on Atkins and 18% on the Ornish diet.

4) Every diet CAN work. I thought this was good news myself. In the study, at least 1 member from each diet group managed to lose 30 or more pounds. Just b/c some of the diets have a lower satisfaction rating, doesn't mean that its unsatisfactory for everyone. 'Success requires finding a diet you can stick to, but none seems to fit everyone's temperament.' So it's more a matter of figuring out which diet works for you and your life, not what is the most popular or working for everyone else.

5) It has to be easy enough to become automatic. It seems that people have more of a chance at success when they don't view their plan as a diet, but rather as their new lifestyle. But to make the lifestyle change, it is easier to do w/ the support of those around you, not just from reading a book.

I just thought I would post some info - totally FYI and open to interpretation. Just trying to help - please don't yell at me if you don't agree w/ anything

Re: the skinny on diets (long - sorry)

Very interesting. Thanks for posting

Re: the skinny on diets (long - sorry)

I am on weight watcher 6 weeks and so far I lost 14 pounds it is great.. and really works..

Re: the skinny on diets (long - sorry)

thanks for the info! Why would anyone yell at you?

Re: the skinny on diets (long - sorry)

Thanks for all the info!!