Do Fad Diets Work?

A fad diet is simply a diet that quickly becomes popular, and then quickly becomes unpopular again. It is a “fad” that comes and goes.

One of the reasons why certain diets become popular is because they are actually effective at causing weight loss.

However, most of the time this weight loss is due to getting rid of water. This means that when you rehydrate your body again, you also gain back the weight again.

Other fad diets involve severely restricting the types of foods you eat, which does cause you to lose weight. But then when you go back to eating the foods you used to eat, you gain the weight back again.

This is why fad diets become popular, because they help people lose weight fast, but eventually that weight is regained and people begin to look for other more effective diets.

So if you are looking for a short term quick fix, then a fad diet may be just what you need. But before you rush off and start dieting, please be aware of the following disadvantages of fad diets as listed below.

Lose 10 Pounds In X Weeks

A fad diet which promises you quick and easy weight loss usually involves eating only one type of food, or eating one food more than other types of food.

A good example of a fad diet is the cabbage soup diet, where you eat nothing but cabbage soup.

The disadvantage of following such a diet is that in the long run you are likely to develop nutritional deficiencies as you are not eating a balanced diet.

As a result, it is often recommended that you take supplements whilst following such a diet.

Fad diets = Boring Weight Loss

Fad diets are notoriously boring, especially if you are only eating one type of food for several weeks. Whilst you may feel motivated to stick to your diet during the first week, this motivation is unlikely to last.

Fad Diets = Short Term Weight Loss

Eventually, people grow bored of eating the same foods all the time, and when that happens, they usually give up on their diet completely or look for another diet.

For this reason, fad diets are unlikely to result in long term weight loss, because as soon as you end the diet you will usually go back to eating the same foods which caused you to become overweight in the first place.

Lose 10 Pounds, Gain It Back Again

Because fad diets tend only to be effective in the short term, and people gain the weight back after they stop the diet, fad diets tend to promote yo-yo dieting.

This occurs when you quickly lose weight, then quickly gain it back on again and so you start looking for another diet to help you lose weight quickly again.

Yo-yo dieting is unhealthy, and is not a permanent solution to weight loss. This can only occur by making changes to your lifestyle and dietary habits.

Fad Diets Help Weight Loss But…

For some people, fad diets are an effective long term weight loss solution, although this is not because of the diet itself.

Very often fad diets are used to “kick start” a weight loss programme, so that once the fad diet is over, and a certain amount of weight has been lost, permanent changes are made to the types of foods that are eaten and the amount of exercise that is done throughout the week.

The fad diet helps to get the ball rolling and serves as a bit of motivation to continue losing more weight.

The trouble is, this requires a lot of discipline and is not always successful for all people. But for those who are able to change their lifestyle after their diet is over, they very often find that the fad diet they were following helped them to turn their life around for the better even though the diet only worked for them in the short term.