A Review of Popular Diets: Which Diets Really Work for Weight Loss?

The first step to solving your problem is admitting you have one. My problem is that all of the foods I love make you fat and I can't seem to find a diet that I can stick to. That's why I've tried every popular diet out there. The truth is, there is no easy diet and it's going to be a lifelong struggle to find a balance and achieve weight loss. Here is a review of some of the popular diets that I have tried including Atkin's, South Beach, Weight Watchers, and the Master Cleanse.

When I went to college, there was a lot of pressure to diet and be thin. That's when I decided to try the Atkin's Diet. The lack of carbs on the Atkin's was so draining, I could barely make it from class to class. Atkin's can also make you extremely constipated because you're only eating foods that are hard to digest. I ended up losing about 5 lbs on the Atkin's diet, but quickly gained it all back once I started eating carbs again. Overall, I just felt blah the whole time on this diet.

Towards the end of college, I got engaged. I decided to start eating healthy in order to look amazing on my wedding day. When that never happened and it got closer to the big day, I started searching for a new diet. Enter the South Beach Diet. I do believe that the South Beach approach is leaps and bounds better than the Atkin's. It at least allows you to eat some whole grains and recommends that you go for lean meats and lower fat cheeses. I ended up losing weight again, but put it all back on during the honeymoon. Bottom line is, any diet that heavily restricts carbs is never going to work in the long run, at least for me.

Shortly after the honeymoon, I found out I was pregnant. That was my free pass to eat whatever I wanted and by the end of it I gained 40+ pounds. I vowed to lose the pregnancy weight before it became mine forever. This led me to Weight Watchers, which is the best diet I've ever been on because it's the least like a diet. On Weight Watchers, you're not told that you can't have any certain food, but you do have to eat less of other foods when you do splurge. You also get bonus "points" every week to use as you please. I think having the big greasy splurge at the end of the week really helped me succeed on this diet program.

I ended up losing all 40 pounds of baby weight and then some with in three months on Weight Watchers and did really well for almost a year. I still try and use the "points" method, but due to lack of will power, usually end up with four splurges per week, which isn't getting me anywhere. I plan on getting back on the Weight Watchers wagon and if I had to recommend a diet plan to someone, it would be this one.

Last year, after my standard 10 pound holiday weight gain, I was finding it hard to get motivated. That's when I decided on the Master Cleanse as my next diet. The Master Cleanse is a 10 day cleansing fast where the only thing you're supposed to consume is a mixture of water, organic maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. It's also known as the lemonade diet. I made it about 8 days on the Master Cleanse and lost about 10 pounds. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. I did feel great afterward and received a lot of compliments. I have since tried to do the cleanse twice and failed miserably. If you have the willpower, the Master Cleanse is a good way to lose weight fast, but it's definitely not easy.

So, I guess my problem isn't that there's no diet out there for me. The problem is that I keep thinking there is one. As boring as it sounds, the only thing that's really kept me at a healthy weight has been exercise and good choices here and there in between all the madness. I still have a long way to go on my weight loss journey, but realizing and accepting that losing weight is never going to be easy is a step in the right direction.