It’s a busy time of the year for companies who have a diet to sell, something new and shiny promising you the body of your dreams, that if you follow their diet and plan you are guaranteed to shed that weight.

It’s a competitive market and they are out there right now appearing all over your web browsers, sponsored links on popular websites vying for your attention, money and insecurities with click bait headlines.

And it’s a lengthy list of diets, plans, and clubs ranging from juicing, still popular, to Keto and intermittent fasting which seems in vogue right now to the classic pyramid schemes like Herbalife.

And let’s be real intermittent fasting is a fancy word for skipping breakfast, not to say it doesn’t have its benefits but let’s just call it what it is.

It’s an industry worth billions of pounds and these companies are all out for a share of that pie.

And they know you have probably gained some weight after Christmas due to the abundance of food and guilt you are probably feeling and are at your most vulnerable.

January diets work, no doubt about it, they are all really effective at creating a calorie deficit. You go from eating food, to drinking juices, cutting out all the carbs or salads only you will lose weight.

The question, can you maintain it long-term?

If you can’t, you will unequivocally regain the weight you lose.

So before you part with your money and jump on the band wagon of another January diet it’s important to know that the single most effective diet for weight loss across the board.

Doesn’t exist.

None of them are more superior to the other and there’s tonnes of research now to support this.

What matters is sticking to it long-term, which means the most effective diet is in those who are most adherent.

So, if you are someone who has struggled losing weight, bounced from diet to diet or keep regaining any weight you lose where should you start.

You already have a diet of food and drink you regularly consume, these are your nutritional habits and behaviours, start here.

Rather than succumbing to another January diet, spend less money and more time understanding the diet you have and what you can do to improve that.

Rarely is anything drastic required to create a negative calorie deficit, its often-implementing small lifestyle changes over time that you can sustain.

It means you can still live your best life and lose weight.

For more hints and tips follow @lukegouldencoach.