Losing weight is a constant struggle; many of us are going through. With the increasing trend of popular weight-loss diets, it is important to know which diet is good for you. There are many different diets to lose weight. Some focus on restricting calories, carbs, while others on reducing appetite and fat. While all these popular weight-loss diets claim to be superior, it is difficult to know which is worth a try.
The truth is that there is no one best type of diet to lose weight, and what works for one person may not work for you.
Here we have reviewed nine popular weight-loss diets and how they work.
The Paleo Diet
The paleo diet believes that you should eat the same food our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate before agriculture was developed. The paleo diet theory is that modern diseases come with a western diet and dairy consumption, grains, and processed foods. This diet has numerous impressive health benefits and is one of the top-rated weight loss diet plans.
How it works:
Paleo diet emphasizes lean proteins, whole foods, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts and discourages the consumption of sugar, processed foods, grains, and dairy. There is a flexible version of the paleo diet available as well, which allows for dairy products like butter and cheese and sweet potatoes and potatoes.
READ MORE: Quick Low Calorie Potato Skin Recipes
Weight-loss
Several studies concluded that the paleo diet helps in losing a few kilos and inches off the waist. (Source)
Benefits
Paleo diet is effective in weight loss, as well as minimizing the risk of heart diseases. It reduces blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood triglycerides. (Source)
Drawback
Paleo diet eliminates legumes, grains, and dairy from your diet, which are nutritious and healthy.
READ MORE: Gluten Free Snacks Recipes
The Vegan Diet
A vegan diet restricts all the items derived from the animal for environmental, ethical, and healthy reasons. This is one of the new weight loss diet programs that has been very popular. Being vegan is associated with resistance to animal cruelty and exfoliation.
How it works:
This diet is a strict form of vegetarianism. In addition to eliminating meat, it also restricts the consumption of eggs, dairy, and all the animal-derived products like honey, gelatin, albumin, casein, whey, and some forms of Vitamin D3.
Weight-loss
A vegan diet is effective in helping people to lose weight without worrying about calories. This diet is low on fat and high in fiber, which keeps you fuller for a long time. Vegan diets are linked to lower body mass index and body weight compared to other diets. (source)
A vegan diet is not as effective in weight loss as other popular weight-loss diets. The weight loss in the vegan diet comes with reduced calorie intake.
Benefits
Plant-based diets reduce the risk of heart diseases, premature death, and type-2 diabetes. Limiting meat consumption also reduces the risk of cancer, heart dies, and Alzheimer’s.
Downside
The only single drawback of following a plant-based diet is that eliminating animal foods can reduce several nutrients, including vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, iodine, zinc, calcium, and Omega-3 fatty acids from your diet.
READ MORE: Is a Primal Diet Effective in Losing Weight?
Low-Carb Diets
Low-carb diets are one of the most popular weight-loss diets for decades.
There is not one but many diets that work on the Low-carb principal, which involves limiting carb intake to 20-150 grams per day. The diet plan’s main aim is to force the body to use fat as an energy source instead of carbs.
How it works:
A low carb diet emphasizes consuming high amounts of fat and protein and restricting carb intake.
When your body’s carb intake is very low, fatty acids move into the blood and are transported to the liver, where these are transformed into ketones. Your body then uses these fatty acids in the absence of carbs as a fuel tank.
Weight loss
Numerous studies were done on obese and overweight people, and it was concluded that a low-carb diet effectively reduces belly fat, which can be quite difficult to get rid of.
When people follow a low-carb diet, they reach a state of Ketosis. Ketogenic diet leads to more than twice the weight loss as compared to a low-fat and calories restricted diet.
Benefits
Low carb diet reduces appetite, which makes you eat less, leading to a reduction in calorie intake. A low-carb diet also reduces blood triglycerides, blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin levels.
Drawback
The downside of different low carb diets to lose weight is that it does not suit everyone.
Some people may feel more active, while others may feel miserable. People also experience an increase in bad cholesterol levels. A low-carb diet is safe for the majority of people.
The Dukan Diet
The Dukan Diet is a low-carb, high-protein weight loss diet split into four phases: two maintenance phases and two weight loss phases.
For how long you will stay in every phase, majorly depends on the weight you want to lose. Every phase requires you to follow a particular dietary pattern.
How it works:
The weight loss phase relies on eating complete protein-rich foods and oat barn (mandatory). The other phases of weight loss involve eating non-starchy vegetables along with carbs and fat.
As you move forward in different phases, the protein intake will keep on decreasing to maintain the new weight.
Weight loss
In a study, researchers found that women who followed the Dukan diet ate 1000 calories and 100 grams protein every day and lost about 33 pounds weight average. (source) high protein and low carb diet improve metabolic rate and decrease the hunger hormone, thereby increasing fullness.
Benefits
There are no major benefits of the Dukan diet other than weight loss.
Drawback
This diet limits both fat and carbs- a strategy that is not scientifically planned. Fast weight loss achieved by restricting sever calories causes extreme muscle loss.
The sudden loss of muscle mass and calorie restriction also cause the body to conserve more energy and makes it easy for the body to regain more weight once you lose it.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is one of the top-rated and most popular weight loss diet plans. This weight loss plan cycles between fasting and eating.
Instead of restricting the food you eat, this diet plan controls when you eat your meal. Intermittent fasting is more of an eating pattern than a diet.
Some popular ways of doing intermittent fasting are:
- 16/8 method: skipping breakfast and reciting a daily eating period to eight hours, and then subsequently fasting for 16 hours of the day.
- Eat and stop method: involves 24-hour fasting once or twice every week on non-consecutive days.
- The 5:2 diet: on any two non-consecutive days of the week, restrict your intake to 500-600 calories. And for the remaining five days, no restriction is required.
- The Warrior Diet: eat raw fruits and vegetables in small amounts during the day and one big meal at night.
How it works:
Intermittent fasting is commonly used for weight loss purposes because it leads to easy calorie restriction. Intermittent fasting makes you consume fewer calories, given that you do not overcompensate by eating more during the eating periods.
Weight loss
Intermittent fasting is successful in losing weight. It causes about 3-8% weight loss in over 3-24 weeks, which is a lot compared to the most popular weight-loss diets.
Compared to other weight loss plans, it causes less muscle mass loss and increases metabolic rate by 3.6-14%.
Benefits:
Intermittent fasting reduces markers of inflammation, blood triglycerides, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels.
Intermittent fasting is also linked with increasing human growth hormone, improved cellular repair and insulin sensitivity, and also altered gene expressions.
Many animal studies have revealed that intermittent fasting also helps to grow new brain cells, protect against cancer, and increase life span.
Downside
Intermittent fasting is considered safe for well-nourished healthy people, but may not suit everyone. Studies show that intermittent fasting is not as effective in women as in men.
People who are sensitive to blood sugar levels, breastfeeding moms, pregnant women, children, teenagers, malnourished, nutrient deficient, and underweight, should avoid intermittent fasting.
Final Words:
There is a perfect weight loss diet plan. Different diets work on different people to lose weight, and you should follow one that suits your tastes and lifestyle. The best type of diet to lose weight is to follow for a long period.
