A recent study gives some insight on several popular weight loss diets. Tufts University researchers assigned 160 overweight or obese people to either the Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, Zone Diet or Ornish Diet. After 12 months of dieting, the results showed that the individuals who followed their diet plan closely lost the most weight, regardless of which weight loss diet they were on.

The study concluded that all four diets worked equally well in the short term. As for the long term, there is no conclusive evidence that these diets are effective or safe.

As most weight loss diets can help you lose weight in the short term, developing a healthy lifestyle that helps you achieve and maintain weight loss is the best bet. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to burn more calories than you consume. A few safe and healthy weight loss tips are:

• Find an activity that you enjoy and plan to do it regularly. If you enjoying walking, do it during your lunch break or after dinner. It is a great relaxing way to burn up calories.

• Try to eat 75 percent of the amount your normally would. Do not fill your entire plate with food. If it helps, buy smaller plates, so it still looks like you are eating a plate full.

• At every meal, substitute one high calorie food with a low calorie food. Try a baked potato instead of French fries, salsa instead of butter. Every little bit helps.

Losing extra weight will not happen overnight, but can happen gradually. Any healthy weight loss diet or program should combine the two key elements: burn more calories (increase exercise or activities) and consume fewer calories (eat less calories). One last note, talk with your doctor before starting on any diet or weight loss program.

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