All Diets Work (In the Short Term)

Here's a truth that might surprise you: every diet works. Keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, Weight Watchers, juice cleanses, the cabbage soup diet—they all produce results. At least initially.

The reason is simple: every successful diet creates a calorie deficit. Whether they do it by eliminating food groups, restricting eating windows, or making you count points, the end result is the same—you consume fewer calories than you burn.

The Universal Mechanism

Despite their different rules and philosophies, all diets work through the same fundamental mechanism:

  • Keto: Eliminates carbs, naturally reducing total calorie intake
  • Intermittent Fasting: Restricts eating windows, making it harder to overeat
  • Paleo: Cuts out processed foods, leaving mostly whole foods that are harder to overeat
  • Weight Watchers: Uses a point system that essentially tracks calories in disguise
  • Juice cleanses: Replace solid food with low-calorie liquids

Each approach has its own story and rationale, but they're all just different ways of creating the same outcome: eating less than you burn.

Why They All "Work" Initially

When you start any new diet, several factors contribute to early success:

Motivation and Novelty

New diets come with fresh motivation and excitement. You're paying attention to what you eat, making conscious choices, and feeling hopeful about change.

Water Weight Loss

Many diets cause rapid initial weight loss through water weight reduction. Cutting carbs depletes glycogen stores, each gram of which holds 3-4 grams of water. This creates dramatic scale victories in the first week.

Increased Awareness

Simply following any structured eating plan makes you more conscious of your food choices. This awareness alone often leads to better decisions.

Elimination of Problem Foods

Most diets eliminate or restrict the foods people tend to overeat—processed snacks, desserts, refined carbs. Remove these calorie-dense options, and total intake naturally drops.

The Real Challenge: Sustainability

If all diets work initially, why do most people regain the weight? The answer lies in a question the Weight Loss Experiment asks relentlessly:

"Can I make this a sustainable habit for life?"

This is where most diets fail spectacularly. They work until they don't. And "don't" usually happens when:

  • Life gets stressful and the rules become burdensome
  • Social situations make the restrictions impractical
  • The novelty wears off and motivation fades
  • The diet feels too restrictive or punishing
  • You haven't learned flexible eating skills

The Missing Piece

Most diets focus on what to eat but ignore how to build sustainable eating habits. They provide rules but not skills. They create dependency rather than independence.

The Weight Loss Experiment approach is different. Instead of following someone else's rules, you:

  1. Start with awareness: Understand your current patterns
  2. Experiment systematically: Test small changes and measure results
  3. Build gradually: Layer sustainable habits over time
  4. Adapt continuously: Adjust based on what works for your life
  5. Focus on process: Develop skills that last beyond any specific diet

A Different Question

Instead of asking "Which diet works best?" try asking:

  • "What eating patterns can I maintain for years?"
  • "How can I create a calorie deficit without feeling deprived?"
  • "What changes would improve my relationship with food?"
  • "How can I build flexibility into my eating habits?"

The Bottom Line

All diets work because they all create calorie deficits. But working temporarily and working sustainably are two very different things.

The goal isn't to find the perfect diet—it's to develop the skills and habits that let you maintain a healthy weight without constantly dieting. That's the difference between a short-term fix and a long-term solution.

The best approach is the one you can stick with not just for 30 days or 6 months, but for life. And that approach is probably more flexible, more forgiving, and more personalized than any named diet you'll find.

Ready to move beyond temporary diets? Check out our article on CICO with Experiments to learn a more sustainable approach, or explore our 12-Month Programme for a comprehensive long-term strategy. Also see why Wedding vs. Marriage Mindset matters for lasting change.