Possible points for how effective are diets in helping people to lose weight.
• To be effective diets need to help people lose weight gradually and steadily to achieve permanent weight loss.
• This generally means adopting healthy eating habits and lifestyle with some form of fitness exercise (appropriate for the age and interests of the person involved).
• Weight loss is a multi-million-pound industry and includes some of the ‘fad’, crash and celebrity diets which are often ineffective because they are unsustainable over time and weight is piled back on when they are discontinued (yo-yo effect).
• Some crash diets can be injurious to health and medical advice should always be sought before embarking on any diet.
• How effective are diets in helping people also depends on the will-power of the participants to stick to them – sometimes joining in with others on diets on structured programmes such as Weightwatchers can help people succeed in achieving their dietary goals.
