The Next Big (Diet) Thing

We hear all the time about the latest, very best plan to lose weight. A new craze, guaranteed to bring results, presented with lots of exclamation points on the covers of magazines prominently displayed in the supermarket checkout line. "Amazing Results! Lose Pounds While You Sleep! The Latest Celebrity Diet - Guaranteed to Help You Lose Those Thunder Thighs!!!" And on and on it goes.

And now, the biggest news of all on the weight loss scene: there really is a perfect diet, and you're almost certain to lose weight. There must be a catch, right. Well, sort of. Research recently reported in The New England Journal of Medicine shows this stunning result: any diet works - if you stick with it.

Well, there's really only one thing to say about that big announcement: duh! And yet, I think that sometimes, in our haste to find the next big diet thing, we overlook the very obvious idea that success in losing and keeping off weight comes when we commit for the long term. I'll admit it: I'm impatient. I want fast results, and I'd prefer to get them without making sacrifices. I want to - quite literally - have my cake and eat it, too. But if I'm honest with myself, I know that the way to lose weight in a way that means I won't put the pounds right back on is to find a diet I can live with.

Diet is one of those 4 letter words that gets a rise out of us every time. Who really wants to go on a diet? But we do it again and again and again. The long term strategy that these researchers are advocating, though, is more than a quick fix. They're talking about permanent lifestyle changes, ones we can live with for a long time to come. So while it may seem obvious, it also works. And I think deep down we all know it.

There is one part of this study that seems to get lost in the news reports, and that's the benefit of group support for weight loss success. One of the reasons why Weight Watchers works for many people is not so much the points and the programs (although I'm sure those matter, too); instead, it's about the accountability and encouragement that comes from enlisting others in your lifestyle changes. I don't think it necessarily means we all need to go to a meeting every week in order to be successful at losing weight. But I do believe that there are huge benefits to finding a friend or family member who knows what you're trying to do and who will help you along the way. Plus you'll get a nice bonus benefit: you'll have someone to celebrate with you when you reach your weight loss goals, someone who appreciates what it took to get there.