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Your Weight Control Diet - Why Isn't It Working?

Is this your situation with your weight control diet? You have been cutting out snacks and your favorite desserts for several weeks now. You have swapped burgers for skinless chicken. You have even been weighing your potatoes. You feel as if you've been eating less than you ever did in your life, and you're exercising too, and yet you have hardly lost a single pound. Why?

This is a question asked by dieters all over the world. They think they are doing everything necessary to lose weight, but nothing seems to be happening. They are trapped in a no-win situation -- constantly battling to keep to their diet, but having no weight loss to show for it. As a result, they become disillusioned and depressed and may give up on their diet or even start binge eating.

Don't let this happen to you. There are several possible explanations for your disappointing results, and none of them is a reason for giving up on your diet.

Firstly, in spite of sticking to your diet you may still be eating more than you need, or exactly what your body needs to maintain its current weight. If you have taken your diet from a book or magazine it will be standardized. It cannot take into consideration your individual body structure and metabolism. To get around this, you could consult a dietician for a personalized diet nutrition plan.

Secondly, you may not be sticking to your diet as well as you think. You could be consuming calories without even realizing it. For instance, a cappuccino with cream, chocolate and sugar can be stuffed with calories. Perhaps you have a glass or two of wine each day, without considering the calories in that. Or do you finish up what your kids leave on their plates? By being more aware of everything that you ingest, and introducing a few simple changes such as skim milk for whole milk in your drinks, you may be able to eliminate the hidden calories that are denying you a successful diet.

Thirdly, you may be on track to lose weight but you have hit a plateau. This sometimes happens when big changes have been made in the diet. The body may react by assuming a famine has hit, so it conserves all the energy that it can, and weight loss is not as fast as you think it should be. If you become discouraged and quit at this point, you will never make any progress.

It's only natural to want to see quick results, but healthy weight loss involves losing only one or two pounds a week. That means you'll have to stay on your diet plan for many months if you have a lot to lose. Don't let this put you off. Concentrate on small goals - the next 5 pounds that you want to lose, rather than the whole 50 - and keep notes of other things than the weight on the scale. Are you more comfortable in your clothes this week? Can you do a little more without getting out of breath? Isn't that more important than a number on the scale?

For steady and healthy weight loss, your diet must be easy and flexible enough that it can become a diet nutrition plan for life. If your diet is so restrictive that nobody could stay on it for a long time, you probably should look for a different diet. Don't forget to consult with your doctor before starting any diet. Your aim should be not simply to lose weight, but to become and stay fit and healthy. A fad diet will not help you do that. Therefore, you must choose your weight control diet carefully, so that it can last you all your life.