For a short while, but restrictive diets are usually temporary and the weight tends to return once old habits do. Harsh diets also cost muscle, which worsens the rebound. A maintainable way of eating beats a diet you have to end.

Weight Loss: What Works and What Doesn't

Q: What is the best way to lose weight?

Good nutrition with enough of the right nutrients and a sensible amount of energy, a combination of strength and cardiovascular training, plenty of everyday movement, and real sleep. The sustainable combination works, not any single trick.

Q: Is cardio or strength training better for losing fat?

They do different jobs and the combination beats either alone. Cardio improves how you burn energy, and strength training protects the muscle that keeps metabolism up and guards against regaining weight.

Reviewed by a movement scientist (MSc). This article informs and educates — it is not medical advice.

Losing weight has topped the New Year's resolution list for as long as anyone's been counting, and the industry built around it is happy to keep you trying everything: crash diets, punishing schedules, fat-burner pills, sauna belts, vibration plates. Here's the slightly deflating truth — the things that actually work are unglamorous, and the flashy things mostly don't. Let's sort the two.

What actually works

1. Genuinely good nutrition

Almost everyone believes they eat healthily; far fewer actually do. Your body needs two things from food at once: enough of the right nutrients — the vitamins, minerals and protein it's built from — and an appropriate amount of energy. To lose fat you do need to use a little more energy than you take in, but the piece people miss is that under-feeding your nutrients backfires: skimp there and your body holds on tighter and recovers worse. Eating well is not the same as eating less. Quality first, and let the quantity be sensible rather than punishing.

2. A combination of strength and cardio

Movement earns its keep here, but the mix matters. Cardiovascular training improves the way your body produces and burns energy — including on your rest days — while strength training does the job diets can't: it protects the muscle you'd otherwise lose while dropping weight. Because muscle is a major driver of your resting metabolism, hanging on to it is what keeps the loss from bouncing straight back. Strength work is your best insurance against the yo-yo.

3. Lots of everyday movement

Beyond your actual workouts, the ordinary movement of a day adds up more than people expect — walking, cycling, taking the stairs, being on your feet. It quietly raises the energy you use, aids recovery, and takes the edge off stress (which, as we'll see, matters for your waistline too). You don't have to train harder so much as sit still less.

4. Real rest and sleep

The most under-rated tool in fat loss is the one that feels like doing nothing. Skimp on sleep and your body recovers poorly and becomes quicker to break down muscle — and your appetite drifts upward. It's so important that we gave it its own piece: sleep, stress and belly fat. If you fix one thing this week, fix your sleep.

What doesn't work (or quietly backfires)

Restrictive diets, as a temporary fix

A strict diet can absolutely drop the number for a while. The problem is what happens next: when the diet ends and old habits return — as they almost always do — the weight comes back, frequently with interest. And the harsher versions take muscle with them on the way down, which lowers your metabolism and deepens the very rebound you were trying to avoid. This isn't a willpower failing; it's what temporary measures do. The fix is a way of eating you can actually live with, not a sprint you have to end.

Endless steady-state cardio

Hours and hours of the same moderate cardio can take weight off, but overdone — especially stacked on top of an aggressive diet — it can push stress hormones up and start eating into muscle rather than fat. It also blunts your recovery for as long as it lasts. A shorter bout of higher-intensity cardio is usually the better trade: similar benefit in less time, and the time you save goes back into recovery. More is not always better; cardio is a valuable tool used sensibly and a blunt instrument when it becomes a punishment. (For the related myth that cardio is simply "the best" way to lose fat, see weight-loss myths, busted.)

Fat burners, sauna belts and power plates

The gadget-and-pill aisle promises to do the work for you. It won't. A handful of fat-burning substances are genuinely safe — green tea extract is the classic example — but the effect is small, and only worth anything alongside good nutrition and training. The ones potent enough to matter on their own, like ephedrine, tend to be dangerous and are illegal in many countries. There's no shortcut hiding in a capsule.

Sauna belts sell the idea that heat "melts" the fat underneath — but your body decides where fat comes off, not your clothing. At best a belt shifts a little water locally and briefly; any real loss came from the training you did while wearing it. Vibration ("power") plates have been studied extensively, and for fat loss they add essentially nothing beyond how you actually train on them — about as useful as the sauna belt. If you enjoy one, it does no harm; just don't expect it to do the job for you.

The through-line

Notice the pattern: everything on the "works" list is sustainable and protects your muscle, and everything on the "doesn't" list is a short, sharp measure that costs you muscle and can't be maintained. That's the whole game. Build habits you can keep, guard your muscle, sleep properly — and judge your progress by your body composition, not a jumpy number on a scale.

At the extremes

If a calculator has put you in the high band, the most effective starting point usually isn't a diet at all — there's a strong case for building strength first, and this is a good moment to involve a doctor. And at the low end, remember that eating less and less is not a health strategy; losing weight by losing muscle is going backwards. Kindness to yourself is, genuinely, part of what works.

Questions worth asking

What's the best way to lose weight?

Unglamorously: good nutrition (enough of the right nutrients, a sensible amount of energy), a combination of strength and cardiovascular training, plenty of everyday movement, and real sleep. It's the sustainable combination — not any single trick — that works.

Do diets work?

For a short while, yes — but restrictive diets are usually temporary, and the weight tends to return once old habits do, sometimes with interest. Harsh diets also cost muscle, which worsens the rebound. A way of eating you can maintain beats a diet you have to end.

Is cardio or strength training better for losing fat?

They do different jobs, and the combination beats either alone. Cardio improves how you burn energy; strength training protects the muscle that keeps your metabolism up and guards against regaining the weight.

Does sleep really affect weight?

Yes. Too little sleep hampers recovery, nudges appetite up and makes the body quicker to break down muscle — which is why it's one of the most under-rated tools in fat loss.

Do fat burners, sauna belts or power plates work?

Not as advertised. A few fat burners such as green tea extract are safe but have only a small effect alongside good habits, while the potent ones tend to be dangerous or illegal. Sauna belts and vibration plates add nothing to fat loss beyond the training you do while using them — your body, not a gadget, decides where fat comes off.

The Chonkometer is a screening toy with real maths behind it — not a diagnosis, and never a substitute for a professional who can examine you.

References

Antonio, J., Kalman, D., Stout, J. R., Greenwood, M., Willoughby, D. S., & Haff, G. (2008). Basic and applied nutrition. In Essentials of sports nutrition and supplements. Humana Press.

Covassin, N., Singh, P., McCrady-Spitzer, S. K., St Louis, E. K., Calvin, A. D., Levine, J. A., & Somers, V. K. (2022). Effects of experimental sleep restriction on energy intake, energy expenditure, and visceral obesity. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 79(13), 1254–1265.

Geissler, C. A., & Powers, J. P. (2007a). Clinical nutrition. In Human nutrition (11th ed.). Elsevier.

Geissler, C. A., & Powers, J. P. (2007b). Dietary requirements for specific groups. In Human nutrition (11th ed.). Elsevier.

Voordouw, R. R. (2011). Obesitas en slaap. Infobesitas, 24(2).