Obesity is killing us but using a fad or extreme weight loss diet may be making it worse.

Obesity is a condition of excessive fat. If you are obese, chances are high that you have tried more than one diet plan to lose weight.

Close to a hundred million Americans go on a weight loss diet in any given year and up to ninety-five percent of them regain the weight they lose within five years. Worse, a third will gain back more weight than they lost, in danger of "yo-yoing" from one popular diet to another.

The singular reason why most diet plans people follow do not work at all is because they are fad diets or diets that rely on weight loss drugs. These diets either work temporarily or not at all. The high protein and low carbohydrate diets for example are not healthy. While protein is an excellent food source, it should not be taken in excess.

The Role Of Protein In Weight Loss

Today, as many as 65% of Americans are either overweight or suffer from obesity. Although this makes them look unattractive, far more serious issues are involved here.

Obesity is known to be a precursor to many debilitating health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder disease. Obesity contributes to as many as 375,000 deaths every year.

Obesity is also very expensive for both the patient and public health care. Harvard researchers estimate obesity plays a major role in heart attacks and diabetes. 19% of heart diseases have been related to obesity and 57% of diabetes are related to obesity. Health costs for heart diseases are $30 billion and for diabetes, $9 billion each year.

Set Realistic Goals

You have probably fallen for more than one fat loss plan that failed over the years. The promise of a quick and painless change never happened.

The worst thing about many of these diets is that they made you feel worse. You may have suffered health problems like aches and pains, flatulence, and feeling exhausted all the time.

There is one reason that fad weight loss diets don't work: they emphasize the value of only eating one type of food source. This is in direct contradiction to the principles of good health, where a balanced diet is the way to go.

Safe, healthy, and permanent weight reduction is what's truly lost among the thousands of popular diet schemes.

weight loss schemes change like the weather. They attract attention for a short while before fading into oblivion. Some lose popularity because they are not safe and create health problems.

These fad diets advocate a specific technique (such as eliminating a certain food, or eating only certain combinations of foods) in conjunction with the basic idea that the body makes up the difference in energy by breaking down and utilizing some part of itself, essentially converting matter into energy.

Instead of choosing a fad diet that does not work, find a weight loss diet that is both healthy and that can help you lose weight.