That's a lot to take in, especially when there's a lot of contradictory information and science to contend with.
It can be extremely discouraging if you're trying to lose weight, lose body fat, or get rid of belly fat in a healthy, long-term manner.
Rather than stressing about what you should be putting in your body, we're here to help you understand what the best diet for weight loss actually entails.
What exactly does the term "diet" mean?
Let's get the facts straight. The term "diet" does not directly translate to "restrictions" or "cutting out entire food groups. The true definition is 'the types of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats' – in other words, what you regularly put in your mouth, no more, no less.
Over time, the term has come to refer to eating fewer calories or avoiding entire food aisles in order to lose body fat.
Why is it critical that we discuss maintaining a healthy weight?
Excess fat is bad for your health, both mentally and physically. It is undeniable that the US and UK alike, are experiencing an obesity epidemic, with two-thirds of their population classified as overweight or obese, and the children are becoming fatter.
According to the NHS, more than one in every five children is overweight or obese when they start school, and one in every three children is overweight or obese by the time they finish primary school.
'These aren't statistics that will make you smile or that should be overlooked.'
If your weight has a negative impact on your health – when carrying excess fat limits your ability to do normal things, makes life less enjoyable, or increases your risk of health problems – it may be time to take action.
So, before you clear out your cupboards and restock, take five minutes to learn about the health benefits of eating in different ways to improve your body composition – the ratio of fat to muscle you carry.
How effective are the best diets for weight loss?
While the best diets for weight loss may appear to be shrouded in some kind of magical mystery (fueled by "top-secret" formulas that imply superior knowledge of the key to weight loss that the rest of us don't have), they all share the same fundamentals – and it's a really simple calculation.
Your body loses weight by consuming fewer calories than you expend – this is known as being in a calorie deficit. Simply put, weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories than you burn.
To create a calorie deficit, you can either increase your activity level (using more energy) or decrease your calorie intake. Most health-conscious and sustainable diets encourage a combination of the two, such as a slight reduction in calorie consumption combined with an achievable daily step count. So, while weight loss diets may differ on the surface (for example, the types of foods that are limited or restricted), they are all based on creating a calorie deficit.
Here's how to figure out your own calorie deficit:
The real key is to find a diet plan that encourages a balanced intake of foods that you enjoy eating rather than an extreme calorie deficit, which is, at best, unsustainable and, at worst, can harm your health.
Is there ever a time when you shouldn't try to lose weight?
It's no surprise that the coronavirus has become our new reality. What may be breaking news is that illness, sickness, and stress are all factors to consider when attempting to lose weight.
During and after an infection, the body's energy and nutritional requirements increase.
For starters, a fever raises the body's metabolic rate, causing it to burn more calories.
Second, extra calories and nutrients, particularly protein and various vitamins, are required by the body to effectively fight infection and support cell repair and restoration and being in a calorie deficit limits your body's ability to access these calories.
Add to that the fact that food variety can suffer when 'dieting', which means your body is deficient in vitamins and minerals: That's not good.
Our best advice? 'Rather than restricting your diet if you have an infection or are at risk of getting one, focus on maintaining an adequate and varied healthy diet to support your immune system.'
What is the best diet for losing weight quickly?
Let's be honest: any diet that allows you to lose weight quickly is unlikely to be sustainable in the long run. Losing weight quickly through dieting often involves restriction, eliminating entire food groups, and drastically reducing your daily calorie intake.
Adopting a diet that encourages these behaviors carries two risks: For starters, crash-dieting can lead to the development of disordered and unhealthy eating patterns (such as labeling foods as "good" or "bad," as well as extreme restriction), which can have a negative impact on our physical and mental health.
Then there's the fact that most weight-loss diets aren't long-term sustainable. The restriction of calorie intake or specific food groups can cause cycles of bingeing followed by more extreme restriction, resulting in frequent weight fluctuations and the routine being repeated indefinitely. This can also have a negative impact on our health.
Whether you like it or not, the truth is that the best diet to lose weight fast simply does not exist. If you truly want to lose weight, the best bet is to follow an eating plan that encourages moderation rather than restriction, one that is both sustainable and enjoyable.
What is the best diet for losing weight?
1. Intermittent Fasting (The 16:8 Diet)
The diet for people who enjoy eating. This diet, like its sister diet, the 5:2, is based on numbers. You have an eight-hour window during which you can eat, followed by a 16-hour fast.
Typical meal: Whatever you fancy. As long as it’s within your window
2. 5:2 Diet
The 5:2 diet (the 'five two' diet) essentially allows you to eat whatever you want for five days. Fasten your seatbelts for the other two. That sounds simple. On a fast day, however, try telling that to someone after 'lunch.' Fast days for women entail consuming 500 calories (600 for men).
Typical meal: Fishcake served with asparagus and a poached egg
3. Dr. Gundry's Diet
The diet that popularized lectins – a plant-based/vegan protein found in legumes (lentils and beans), nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, and aubergine), eggs, and grains. Dr. Steven Gundry, the man who popularized the lectin-free diet, calls them "toxic." He cites lectins as the source of modern ailments ranging from obesity to gastrointestinal disorders in his book The Plant Paradox, which popularized a lectin-free lifestyle.
Typical meal: Pasture-raised meat with asparagus on the side
4. Carbohydrate Cycling
This one does exactly what it says on the tin: you cycle your carbs from day to day. On training days, you eat more, and on rest days, you eat less. It's one aspect of nutrient cycling – timing your carbohydrate intake around your workouts.
Typical meal: Wholewheat pasta with chicken on a high carb day. Grilled fish with asparagus on a low-carb day
5. The Carnivore Diet
It's all about meat and other animal products, as the name implies. In a nutshell, it's the anti-vegan diet.
Typical meal: Steak
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6. The WW Diet
Weight Watchers, the diet your mother used to follow, is no longer available. The company rebranded in 2018, with the newer WW branding signaling a shift away from diet culture and into the wellness-sphere. WW is now an abbreviation for 'Wellness that Works.' 'We are not classified as a diet,' says a member of the press office team. 'It is a lifestyle change – a healthy living program that includes food, exercise, and a positive mindset.'
The substance has been producing results for a long time, but the re-branding includes Wellness Wins – rewards for small, positive behaviors that have been shown to lead to healthier habits – as well as FitPoints – a system designed to encourage activity choices based on what will have the greatest health impact on you.
Typical meal: You can eat it if you have the points for it
7. The Dubrow Diet
Consider it to be a more complicated version of intermittent fasting (e.g., fasting for weight loss).
There are three windows: one to get you started, one to help you reach your goal weight, and one to help you maintain your weight loss. Depending on which phase you're in, you eat within a 12-hour, 14-hour, or 16-hour window. But what you eat is also important. Foods on the 'green light' list change with each phase.
Typical meal: Depends on what phase you’re in. And what time it is. But high-fibre carbs, lean protein, fruit and vegetables are your friends
8. The FODMAP Diet
While your pal with the 'Kale 4 lyf' tee may have brought it to your attention, FODMAP isn't a diet for weight loss. The acronym refers to a group of short-chain carbohydrates (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols) that, when avoided, improve the symptoms of IBS patients, and it should only be used under the supervision of a dietitian.
Typical meal: Sea bass with vegetables
9. The Pegan Diet
The Pegan Diet isn't a bad joke. It's a hybrid of a vegan (plant-based) and paleo diet that provides all the antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats of a plant-based diet with all the protein of a carnivorous one.
Typical meal: Grilled chicken with five-coloured salad
10. The Mediterranean Diet
Pasta, fish, and olive oil 'Mamma Mia!' The Mediterranean Diet gets its name from the fact that it incorporates healthy living habits from Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece. It consistently tops the list of Western medicine-recommended diets and is similar to Public Health England's Eatwell Guide.
Typical meal: Pan-fried fish with brown rice and vegetables
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11. CICO Diet
Calorie counting for weight loss is based on the idea that our bodies work on a 'calories in, calories out' basis, and that depending on whether we eat less, more, or exactly what we need, we will either lose, gain, or maintain our current weight.
Taking this approach means that no matter how 'nutrient dense' or 'healthy' the foods you eat are, if you eat more than your body's minimum requirement, you will gain weight. If you eat below, you'll lose weight..
Working out how many calories your body needs just to function (also known as your Basal Metabolic Rate – the number of calories your body would burn daily if you did nothing) is a good starting point, and then deciding how to best meet your goals from there.
Typical meal: Anything so long as it fits into your caloric/macronutrient needs for the day
12. The Flexitarian Diet
Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietician, created the Flexitarian Diet to allow people to enjoy meat products in moderation rather than going cold turkey. So, if you want to reduce your intake of animal products without going completely vegan, this is the diet for you.
Typical meal: Black bean burgers with sweet potato fries
13. The MIND Diet
The MIND diet was developed by nutritional epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris as part of a study to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. It combines the Mediterranean and DASH diets and emphasizes foods that improve brain function, such as berries and fish.
Typical meal: There are no strict guidelines on how to follow the MIND diet. All you have to do is eat more of the foods encouraged by the doctors (beans, wine, poultry, fish, whole grains, berries, olive oil and nuts) and limit the dangerous ones (butter, cheese, red meat, fried food, pastries and sweets)
14. The Alkaline Diet
The Alkaline Diet, developed by Robert Young, author of The PH Miracle, aims to replace acid-forming foods in your diet with alkaline foods that can help you improve your health. Weight loss and improved digestion are said to be among the benefits.
Typical meal: Garlic, pepper etc
15. The Raw Food Diet
The Raw Food Diet dates back to the 1880s, when doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner discovered that eating raw apples could cure his own jaundice. The diet claims to give you more energy, clearer skin, better digestion, and a lower risk of heart disease by eliminating processed foods and focusing on organic foods.
Typical meal: Cucumber gazpacho
Also Read: Eat healthy, Not less
16. The Volumetrics Diet
The Volumetrics diet, developed by nutrition researcher Barbara J. Rolls, is designed for people who want to eat a lot while losing weight. The diet focuses on low-calorie foods that are high in water content, such as fruits and vegetables.
Typical meal: Roasted Butternut squash and chicken breast
17. The DASH Diet
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH diet, is a salt-reduced diet designed for people who have high blood pressure and want to lower their risk of heart disease. It is also thought to lower the risk of cancer and diabetes.
Typical meal: One whole-wheat bagel with two tablespoons of peanut butter
18. The Very Fast 800 Diet
The Very Fast 800 Diet, developed by Dr. Mosley, is designed for people who want to lose weight quickly and involves eating only 800 calories per day. Do you want to lose weight gradually? The Fast 800 Diet (dubbed "the new 5:2") entails eating a Mediterranean diet for five days and restricting calories to 800 on two days.
Typical meal: Grilled calamari salad
19. The Nordic Diet
The Nordic diet, developed in 2004 by a group of nutritionists, scientists, and chefs to combat rising obesity rates and unsustainable farming practices in Nordic countries such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, avoids processed foods and encourages locals to eat what they grow. It is an omega-3-rich diet that includes oily fish and canola oil.
Typical meal: Salmon with lentils
20. The Paleo Diet
The paleo diet, also known as the Paleolithic diet, is known as the caveman diet because if a caveman couldn't eat it, neither can you. Foods that can be hunted, fished, or gathered are on the menu, including grass-fed meat, fish, nuts, and vegetables. Out go cereal grains, potatoes, dairy, and (surprise, surprise) all processed foods, which we consume as a result of modern agriculture.
Typical meal: Grilled lamb skewers with salad
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21. The Keto Diet
The ketogenic diet, also known as keto among friends, is so named because it aims to put the dieter into a state of ketosis, which occurs when the body stops using glucose as its primary energy source and instead begins to use ketones. Silicon Valley adores the high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet for its alleged brain-boosting benefits.
Typical meal: Grilled chicken breast with vegetables
22. The New Atkins Diet
If everything feels a little '90s, it's because this was the diet that kept Rachel from Friends looking, well, like Rachel from Friends. Consider it the 20th-century equivalent of no carbs before Marbs. Thankfully, the old premise of 'eating as much as you want as long as you don't touch a carb' has been updated. The New Atkins diet gradually reintroduces carbs.
Typical meal: Steak with a side of spinach
23. The Jenny Craig Diet
On Jenny Craig, losing weight is as simple as managing calories, fat, and portions. Jenny's prepackaged meals and recipes accomplish all three, as well as promote healthy eating, an active lifestyle, and behavior modification. Personal consultants accompany members on their journeys from the start. You'll gain support and motivation, as well as learn how much you should be eating, what a balanced meal looks like, and how to apply that knowledge to maintain your weight. You can expect to lose up to 2 pounds per week if you stick to the plan.
Jenny Craig currently offers the following plans: its standard meal program, the Rapid Results Max Weight Loss Plan, and Jenny Craig for Type 2, which is designed specifically for people with Type 2 diabetes and includes a lower-carb menu, reinforcement of self-monitoring of blood sugar levels, consistent meals and snacks, and other self-management strategies for weight loss and diabetes control.
24. The Mayo Clinic Diet
On the Mayo Clinic diet, weight loss and a healthier lifestyle go hand in hand. With the help of the Mayo Clinic's unique food pyramid, you recalibrate your eating habits, breaking bad ones and replacing them with good ones.
The pyramid places an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. In general, these foods have a low energy density, which means you can eat more while consuming fewer calories. Consider the following: You could eat a quarter of a Snickers bar or about 2 cups of broccoli for about the same number of calories. If you stick to the Mayo Clinic diet, you should lose 6 to 10 pounds in two weeks and continue to lose 1 to 2 pounds weekly until you reach your goal weight.
Typical meal: Burrito bowl, Banana oatmeal pancakes, Couscous salad, Pita pizza
25. The Ornish Diet
Dr. Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and the founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in nearby Sausalito, developed the Ornish diet in 1977 to help people "feel better, live longer, lose weight, and gain health."
The diet is low in fat, refined carbohydrates, and animal protein, making it the ideal diet, according to Ornish. It is, however, more than just a diet; it also emphasizes exercise, stress management, and interpersonal relationships. Ornish, for example, divides food into five categories, ranging from the healthiest (group one) to the least (group five).
It's the distinction between whole-grain bread and biscuits, or between soy hot dogs and pork or beef hot dogs. Consider which groups tend to fill your grocery cart, and then decide how you want to fill it.
The Ornish diet is one of four key components of Sharecare's Ornish Lifestyle Medicine, an evidence-based clinical program designed to reverse the progression of heart disease. Other program pillars include stress management, fitness, love, and social support, in addition to the whole-foods, plant-based Ornish diet.
In terms of exercise, Ornish emphasizes aerobic activities, resistance training, and flexibility; you choose what you do and when you do it.
Deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can be used to manage stress (a long-standing component of his program). Find a combination that works for you and schedule some practice time each day.
Finally, Ornish claims that spending time with those you love and respect, and leaning on them for support, can have a positive impact on your health.
Typical meal: Tacos, Broccoli, Lentil chili, Strawberries, Oatmeal, Egg white
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