Weight Loss Diets

For anyone who has had a never ending battle with the bulge, weight loss diets are a godsend. Or a nightmare, depending on your perspective! Ask anyone who has ever been on a diet and you will get a mixed bag of reactions. While some will vouch for their specific weight loss diet, others will say that all diets are useless. But the fact remains that if you intend to burn that fat, a modification in your present eating pattern needs to take place.

Over the years, the diet has become an industry in their own right. If one were to track the genesis of weight loss diets, the seventies would be a great place to start. This is when the first of the weight loss diets made an appearance. Decades of stable economy coupled with an increased wages and living standards gave most Americans the traditional symbol of prosperity - an expanding midriff. An honorable mention should also go towards the introduction of "fast foods". And for those who were image conscious, the very first diets were created. Since losing weight was not as supported in the seventies and most dieters just followed instructions on what not to eat rather than what to eat, the industry (if you can call it that) was not very successful. Remember that this was an age when food, diets and nutrition had still to become key areas with qualified professionals offering advice. Typically, the lady of the house did away with or slowly but steadily eliminated known weight gaining foods. Nutrition and balanced weight loss diets were still unknown as yet.

It was in the early eighties however that weight loss diets became a full-fledged institution. By now, the battle against the bulge had become a real enough health issue for governments and healthcare providers to sit up and take notice. The census and healthcare figures of this period reveal that nearly one out of every four Americans was clinically obese. And weigh loss diets and practitioners literally began crawling out of the woodwork to set shop. This was the time when fad diets emerged all over the place. There were some weight loss diets that encouraged cabbage soup for breakfast. Others like the Atkins weight loss diet promoted eating of meat, and cut out starch and carbohydrates. Some other weight loss diets promoted fresh fruits and vegetables exclusively while still others simply counted calories. This was an era weight loss diets became synonymous with body fat analysis and lean muscle weight.

I, too, have spent a good portion of my life experimenting with several weight loss diets from Weight Watchers to South Beach and back again. But the truth of the matter is that no weight loss diet, no matter how extreme, will ever work without a change in lifestyle and the implementation of an exercise plan. Sitting on the couch, not eating may help initially but in the long run, it is not a healthy attitude towards weight loss and the majority of people will fail. But an effective weight loss diet coupled with regular, calorie-burning exercise will do wonders for your metabolism, increase muscle mass and you will burn calories quicker which will ultimately give you a positive outcome. Not only will you lose weight but your body will be toned and conditioned.