Diet culture is everywhere and people pick up random diet habits to achieve their goals such as losing weight getting that well-toned look, a good muscle definition or that perfect external appearance. People tend to restrict foods in that effort to get their desired body shape, and they don't look or understand what is happening internally in their bodies and various health issues that arise due to rigid restrictions of food. This also could lead to eating disorders or ‘ disordered eating ’ in the long term.
When people find symptoms which they think are due to too much of processed food consumption, they assume it's the time to clean their body, the so called ‘detox’ or ‘detox diet’. People finding perfection demonize the foods as ‘bad’ and ‘good’ whereas there are no per se.
Losing body weight is the main goal for most of the people, but they either fail to maintain or sustain for a long time. So, how to know which diet type or pattern is the best one to lose weight and sustain for a lifetime?
Let’s have a little understanding about a few popular diets that people follow randomly to lose weight, and if they are really sustainable.
Detox Diet
What is it?
Detox diet is also called as ‘Juice diet’. It is followed by consumption of vegetables or fruits, mostly in the form of juices, for a small period of 2 days to 21 days. To substitute the nutrients, supplements and laxatives are also consumed. Since the diet consists of only fruits, the daily calorie intake will be very less, lower than the BMR.
Advantages - People find loss in weight which is mainly due to reduced water content in the body.
Disadvantages - Extreme low calorie intake for long duration would result in low-energy levels, nutrients get depleted and results in increase in stress. Stress can result in increased intake of food (eating disorders) and weight rebound.
Sustainable - No
Intermittent fasting
What is it?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is a weight loss strategy but not a diet type. Like in the name, one does fasting for a period of time without any intake of food which has calories, and feeding window, in which with consumption of any food. The fasting:fed window is typically 16:8 hours period of time, though more other variations exists depending on the individual lifestyle.
Advantages - Weight loss is observed because of lesser intake of calories due to no food consumption during the fasting time. It is found to maintain lean body mass.
Disadvantages - It is hard to maintain this strategy for a longer time. May lead to binge-eating on non-fasting days. There are very few studies to understand the side effects of following fasting for longer duration and periods. There is no difference in weight loss comparatively to normal calorie deficit diet.
Sustainable - No
Keto Diet
What is it?
Keto Diet is also termed as ‘Very low carbohydrate diet ’ (VLCD). In this diet type, the macronutrient ‘ fats ’ composition, which around 70% of total calorie intake, acts as a major source of fuel. The macronutrient protein is kept adequately, 15-20% and carbohydrates between 5-10% of total intake (approximately 20-50g per day).
Advantages - Short-term weight loss due to decrease in water weight and glycogen levels. This dietary pattern is used as a therapeutic diet in various lifestyle conditions and diseases, with the advice of an experienced dietician and physician.
Disadvantages - Long-term sustenance due to low intake of carbohydrates and risk of increased serum cholesterol.
Sustainable - No. It is not necessary to follow keto diet for general fat loss goal.
How to know the calories to lose weight?
Based on the age, weight, and height, one can initially know if they fall under the extreme categories of BMI, which can only serve as an indicator of current health status. Hence, the percent of body fat is not known or tracked by this BMI value. To choose a diet type, one needs to rely on many other factors such as physical activity , food habits, and health disorders.
At first, a person has to calculate the BMR and TDEE based on their anthropometric measures and physical activity. A calorie deficit, that is, reducing calories from TDEE (around 200-300 calories) is an ideal way to start with and weekly tracking of the progress.
In the chosen daily intake of deficit calories, one has to make sure to keep the protein adequately (minimum 0.8 g/kg of body weight) and rest of the calories can be covered in carbohydrates and fats, depending on the person’s preference. Healthier options of carbohydrates and fats should be included that has nutritional value. Foods from all food groups should be included to keep a balanced approach with respect to both macronutrients and micronutrients.
Conclusion
Instead of relying on various diet types, that could be either a popular diet or a strategy, doesn’t matter as long as the calorie deficit is included. The only key is the energy balance, that is, eating fewer calories (calories in) and spending more energy (calories out).
There is no best diet, but there is the best way to get healthy. Prioritize healthier foods more than less nutritious foods, take care of stress and be active throughout the day.
References
- Ludwig, D. S. and Ebbeling, C. B. (2018) ‘The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity: Beyond “Calories In, Calories Out”’, JAMA internal medicine, 178(8), p. 1098. doi: 10.1001/JAMAINTERNMED.2018.2933.
- Obert, J. et al. (2017) ‘Popular Weight Loss Strategies: a Review of Four Weight Loss Techniques’, Current Gastroenterology Reports, 19(12), pp. 17–20. doi: 10.1007/s11894-017-0603-8.
