People in North America in particular have had a deteriorating diet and a battle with healthy weight loss. Many different diets are tried, we knock out fats, we count the calories, we write it all down, and we continue to wish for the foods we are missing. Diets often do allow us to lose weight, and we feel empowered, only to gain it all back and then some, after we finish our diet.

What is needed is not to go on a diet as such but to choose way better alternatives . The truth is we cannot just eat whatever we please without the consequence of gaining weight and subjecting ourselves to the consequent health issues.

Healthy weight loss must be done in conjunction with a balanced workout, something that few diet programs discuss. Many diet plans are unexciting, monotonous, and minus any flavor. We hang out for the end, and when they have we go and put it all back on again.

We then try the diet again, or a new one, and in the long term this just increases the difficulty in losing weight. Our bodies don’t know what is happening and can get all out of synch. We need a balanced lifestyle incorporating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and food in its natural state. This must satisfy our craving and provide the balance necessary for us to stay with it for our lifetime.

To ensure success with healthy weight loss a written program will assist, which should be simple to put into practice. We need to be satisfied, otherwise we will not stay with it. It has to be healthy with the right mix of macro-nutrients so we will lose weight and start to feel more empowered.

Healthy weight loss should also be gradual and incremental so that when we look in the mirror we can see sustainable progress. This will strengthen our desire to continue, rather than the diet and binge cycle that is often evident .

In general diets do not work for most people, who often keep repeating them. There is no on-going benefit, and the loss and gain of weight decreases self esteem rather than raising it. We can be emotionally affected by this which makes it difficult to stay with the diet plan.

Diets fail because when we reduce our calorie intake our body goes into survival mode which is genetically programmed in to us. Our body slows metabolism and tries to store even more fat, and will also tend to use muscle for fuel in preference. By being on a diet we have likely lost muscle which will slow our metabolism. This leads to gaining even more fat even only when we are eating what we did before until we can regain the muscle.

Healthy weight loss does not incorporate the ideas of many diets which are geared to reducing food consumption  to lower weight. Lower weight is not the only goal.. When working out it is quite possible to become fitter and stronger and not lose any weight at all. This is because body constitution has changed with fat decreased and muscle increased.

We need to stop our fascination with the latest diet fad and shift emphasis to a balanced workout regime supported by a balanced and healthy diet. This diet will incorporate all the elements of healthy eating and be low in fat, have adequate protein from a variety of sources, and fresh carbohydrate to give the muscles the energy needed.?