Nine in 10 slimmers 'take the weekend off'

Monday, 9 January 2012 10:20 AM

The secret to successful dieting is perseverance and realistic goals - not weekday starving and weekend binging! A staggering 92% of dieters polled said that they take the weekend off and risk destroying all their hard work, according to a survey.

The poll by XLS-Medical Fat Binder found nearly 40% of dieters said their naughty weekend food habits kick-in at Friday dinner time and not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds end the weekend binge with Sunday dinner, only sticking to their meal plan for less than five days a week.

A healthy, well-rounded diet seven days a week is the best way to lose or maintain weight. Fad dieters may be disillusioned and depressed because they feel they're making a real effort but are not seeing any results. In addition, one in 10 dieters polled said they have been on a diet their whole life.

A sensible regime, aimed at losing 1lb per week, relies on saving 3500 calories a week by having 500 calories less each day.

Helen Bond, Consultant Dietitian to the '123 hello me' weight loss programme, said: "Although the thought of rapid weight loss is appealing, crash or fad diets do not work in the long-term. Most are too restrictive in terms of cutting calories and are not nutritionally balanced which can be damaging to health."

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