You are not alone if you have been pressured into one of the quick fix weight loss diets as a nation, Australian spend over $400 million per year on them!

These “fad diets”, which only offer short-term, quick-fix solutions to weight problems do not improve your health or maintain your weight loss permanently. Rather they suggest avoidance of particular foods or nutrients (eg. Carbohydrates) and inevitable when you revert to normal eating you put back what you lost plus some more.

Hence not only are they ineffective but they are also a health risk by ultimately depriving your body of essential nutrients which can lead to major health problems and even malnutrition.

Why do you lose weight so quickly on a fad diet?

The weight loss experienced in fad diets is generally fluid and muscle loss, rather than fat loss.
In breaking down your muscle (making your muscles smaller) while on these fad diets, it will decrease your metabolic rate, therefore, your body will find it much easier to gain fat than it was prior to going on the diet.

Furthermore as muscle weighs three times greater than fat, these fad diets create the illusion of rapid weight loss when really it is muscle loss (THE ONE THING THAT WE NEED TO KEEP!).

Is there any scientific evidence that “fad diets” work?

Most fad diets presenting with what looks like scientific backup or evidence for the diet, is often incorrect or misleading- the information is usually from non-credible sources or a single study using small sample sizes in which the results have been exaggerated to support the diet.

Is there any health risk associated with being on a “fad diet”?

Fad diets lead to many unhealthy misconceptions about weight loss and cause yo-yoing of your weight, which can ultimately increase your risk of heart disease.
Furthermore in restricting macro nutrients i.e. carbohydrates, protein, and/or fat you are placing yourself at risk of being malnourished and even getting ketosis!

Does your metabolism increase or decrease after being on a fad diet?

Dieting can slow down your body’s metabolism as restrictive eating sends a signal to the body that there is a food shortage, and the body immediately thinks that its survival is threatened. So the body’s natural defence mechanism starts to kick in by lowering the body’s metabolism (the speed at which the body burns up energy). This in turn slows down body fat loss (due to the body conserving fat) making it harder to lose the body fat. When the metabolism drops, the body becomes more efficient and will survive with less food- starvation mode.
Furthermore the weightloss you experience on the “fad diet” may mostly be muscle loss rather than fat loss which also decreases your metabolism even more!

Can you be on a fad diet for a long period of time?

Most diets follow a “one diet fits all” principle, meaning that they don’t take into account your individual lifestyle, cultural or social practices, biochemistry and pre disposed genetics. This most certainly makes them harder to sustain, and hence, more difficult to keep the weight off long-term and they can even create future problems medically such as Metabolic Syndrome .
Do diets make me feel hungry and deprived of food?

Research shows that, whether you are fat or thin, diets make you very hungry and create powerful cravings for the very food that dieters try to stay away from- such as sugars and fats.

On top of these cravings, dieters also have to manage feelings of deprivation. Thoughts such as- ‘Everybody is eating, why am I not allowed to?’ and ‘They can have it- why can’t I?’ This kind of thinking is likely to lead to rebellious overeating.

Do diets change my core dietary habits?

Dieters usually fail to change their core eating habits. The only people who lose weight and keep it off permanently are those who have made permanent changes to their own eating and exercise habits, and to those of their families.

Dieters too often say or think: “When I’m slim I’ll never overeat again” or “when I’ve lost this weight, I’ll go out and celebrate with a cream cake”, or “Why should I change the family eating habits just because I’m on a diet?” Too often those old eating habits will creep back in, no matter how much weight the dieter has lost, and in time they’ll find themselves back at square one.

Will I still be an emotional eater after and during a “fad diet”?

Diets fail to address the emotional aspect of overeating- People very often eat to help deal with emotional problems such as stress, rather than because they’re hungry.

Dieting doesn’t solve the problem of ‘emotional’ eating. If anything, it makes people more depressed!