Which diet is best?

New year, new resolutions. But which way to turn?

“TAKING EXTREME MEASURES TO ACHIEVE WEIGHT LOSS OFTEN LEADS TO CHEAT DAYS OR BINGE EATING”

In January, it’s typical to be very focused on fat loss, with many people thinking that extreme measures are what’s needed: meal replacements, intermittent fasting, juicing, detoxing and so on. But these generally mean high levels of restriction, often leading to cheat days or binge eating.

KEEPING COUNT

Calorie deficit is the key to weight loss and this can be achieved without such drastic measures. Pick the method that you can keep up long term. Research has proven outright that no one diet is better than another and that you can lose fat while having carbs. Just be moderate, be sensible and eat a balanced diet with carbs, fat and protein to support your activity and recovery. Don’t eat the same number of calories each day, regardless of activity. Eating less on rest days and more on big ride days just makes sense – as long as you don’t eat so much that you ruin your deficit.

STAY ON TRACK

No matter what choices you make, what strategy you adopt, consistently track your food in a calorie tracker (not guesstimating, but properly calculating it), track your weight and track your steps. By doing this, you’ll be in possession of some definitive results: if you undertook x amount of exercise and you ate x amount of food but your weight stayed the same, you’ll know that you need to either eat less or do more. By being consistent in keeping these records week in, week out, you’ll reap the benefits, ending up where you need to be – and in a healthy way that didn’t promote hyper-restrictiveness or binge eating. Enjoy!