Complex diets erode dieters' resolve, but they are necessary in the long run

A new study on 390 German women found that the more complex a person's diet plan, the sooner the person will abandon it. It was published online in Appetite.

The study attests to my post "In Defense of Fad Diets." However, I would like to clarify that a comprehensive diet that actually keeps weight off has to be complex. It is a way of life that has to address almost everything in life: emotional eating, social eating, mindful eating, how to count calories, calories from fat, sugar, complex carbohydrates, the right amount of each type of exercise (cardio, resistance, walking, etc.), eating in relation to sleep, snaking vs. big meals, the right distribution of calories throughout the day, morning eating vs. night eating, etc.

Since everyone is different, all these factors are things that only the dieter herself can determine through experimentation and contemplation, which makes it all the more complex.