A client came to me about 40 pounds overweight and frustrated. Over the three preceding years, he had lost 200 pounds, desperately trying a variety of fad diets. Sounds impressive, right?

It wasn't.

When I say he lost 200 pounds, that's counting the weight he had lost and gained back. He would drop 40 pounds, then gain 50 back. He would lose 50 pounds, then gain 60 back! It's called yo-yo dieting or weight cycling. It's not just a waste of your time; it could do your body harm.

Today's fad diets are merely the latest in a long line of ineffective and often dangerous diet crazes. Over the past 20 years, Americans have been bombarded with one diet after another. Though the diets appear to be as different from each other as night and day, they all have something in common: They only work up to a certain point, if they work at all.

I believe that once you understand why these diets fall short, you can choose a more sensible plan and achieve the body and healthy lifestyle you've always hoped for. I don't want you to waste any more time or effort on diets that won't work. Failure is something your body simply can't afford.

In doing research for the 5-Factor Diet, I read dozens of diet books. As someone who makes a living educating people about health and fitness, I was shocked at how ridiculous many of these diets were.

You see, whenever you begin a low-calorie diet, your body notices that it's being fed fewer calories and immediately lowers your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the rate at which your body burns calories. That means the result of eating fewer calories is burning fewer calories all day long. Once you quit the diet - and you will - it takes a while for your body to bring your BMR back to normal.

That's why yo-yo dieters end up gaining more and more weight with each diet failure. If you go back to your old eating habits while your BMR is still low, you won't just regain the pounds you lost, you'll pack a few extra on top. Repeat this cycle a few times and you end up gaining more weight the more often you try to lose it. It's physically exhausting and emotionally frustrating. I want you to ask yourself what I consider the single most important health and fitness question: Do you want to look good tomorrow or do you want to look good for the rest of your life?

You need to think of your health and fitness goals as a marathon instead of a sprint. Most fad diets claim they can help you drop pounds fast, and I know that promise can he incredibly alluring. But that weight loss is usually the result of nutritional tactics that are not only unhealthy but also impossible to maintain.

To take pounds off for good, it's all about finishing the race. You need an effective and efficient plan of attack that lets you lose weight consistently, not just immediately. What differentiates the 5-Factor Diet from all the fad diets that I'm about to discuss is this: While all of these fad diets work for a short time, only the 5-Factor Diet will keep you lean and healthy for a lifetime.

Pages: 1   2   3   4   5  

Copyright © 2009 by Harley Pasternak, M.Sc., with Myatt Murphy.

Tags: Diets and Weight Loss, Nutrition

About the Author

Harley Pasternak M. Sc. is a New York Times bestselling author and holds a master's of science in exercise physiology and nutritional sciences from the University of Toronto, as well as an honors degree in kinesiology from The University of Western Ontario. He is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, CNN, America's Next Top Model, Rachel Ray, and Tyra. Pasternak lives and works in Los Angeles. More

Myatt Murphy is a writer and ghostwriter for both books and magazines. He lives in Easton, Pennsylvania. More