Can You Lose Weight in the Winter? The Best Diet for Quick Results

Trying to lose weight before the holidays may seem futile, however, it's not impossible. Of course, those holiday parties full of cookies, cakes and candy don't help, and yes, there's only so much resistance you can show this time of year. Plus, there's the overwhelming amount of confusing research when it comes to weight loss.

Related: Holiday Recipes: Make Your Feast Healthier with These Three Ingredients

Well, the best way to lose weight quickly might not be what you expect. According to Dr. David Ludwig, endocrinologist and professor at Harvard University, many dieters turn to low-fat and low-calorie approaches, which are hard to maintain.

In a story in Time, he explained that cutting calories makes your body react negatively. "Hunger is very powerful and very primal," Ludwig told the magazine. "You can ignore it for a few days or weeks or months, or trick it by drinking lots of water or going for a walk, but it's very hard to ignore it permanently."

Instead, he recommends eating healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, nuts and nut butters. He advises dieters to eat plenty of these foods while cutting out processed snacks, and yes, that means limiting those holiday treats. But, if you focus on including mostly whole foods, you'll be able to eat until you feel full, which is likely to be sooner than if you nosh on empty calories.

Eating a high-fat diet worked for Candy Spiegel, who lost 77 pounds. As she explained in Prevention, Spiegel had high blood pressure and was pre-diabetic at 298 pounds. She struggled with weight since elementary school and had tried many diets, all without success. Her turning point was when she started eating more healthy fats.

"I began to lose weight immediately," she writes in her story. "And my cravings started to subside after the second day. In my first year on the plan, I lost 77 pounds!"

And it seems like diets high in fat might not just be good for your waistline, but your overall health, too. A study from earlier this year indicated that diets high in carbs and low in fat were linked to a 28 percent increased risk of early death, according to a story in CBS.

"The study showed that contrary to popular belief, increased consumption of dietary fats is associated with a lower risk of death," study co-author Mahshid Dehghan, said to CBS.

Outside researchers told the outlet that the research didn't look at the types of foods used in the high-fat diet to distinguish good carbs from bad carbs and healthy fats from unhealthy fats. But the success of low-carb diets have been well-documented. Atkins, for example, has a popular following and is based on a lower-carb, higher-fat and protein plan. And while you might have to limit the amount of holiday baking you consume, at least there's always avocados.