Why Fad Diets Are Bad

Fad Diets:  What makes them so bad for you?

If these fad diets are so popular and all you can seem to hear about when trying to find a diet to help you lose weight, then what could make them so bad for you in the first place?  The answer is simple, these diets will lead to quick weight loss, but not the appropriate kind of weight loss.

For weight loss to be healthy, you should only lose 1-2 pounds a week, unless you are so overweight that rapid weight loss has been approved by a physician.  This healthy weight loss should be pounds of fat, versus pounds of fluid.

Many fad diets offer quick fixes of 10 to 20 pounds in less than two weeks.  While you will see a weight loss and believe it is working, this weight loss amounts to fluid.  When you resume your normal (likely unhealthy, I mean why else would you be seeking to lose weight in the first place?) diet, the pounds will come right back from gaining the fluid again.  Then, you get the guilt and all the other feelings that come with weight gain, leading you searching for another diet, and you constantly ride this weight roller coaster.

These crash diets are bad for you because many of them do not factor in nutritional need.  They have the goal of making you lose weight fast, because as humans we all strive for instant gratification, which is not something you will see with weight loss that comes about the healthy and correct way.  This is the primary reason that even the right sort of diet is tossed aside.  If you do not see it working, you do not think it is working, give up, and resume whatever it was you were doing before, saying, “Oh well, better luck next time!” or something of the like.

These fad diets are even bad for your mentality because the weight loss leads to feelings of elation and success, like you actually did it.  You set out to lose weight, you stuck to your guns, and you did it!  Now that it is done, you can safely go back to your previous lifestyle, and when the pounds come back, you feel failure.  Losing those good feelings you had before, and being overwhelmed by the bad ones will cause a depression that will likely cause you to lean on the very foods you need to be staying away from. 

Instead of leaning on a fad diet for quick fixes, stick it out for the long haul.  Eat right, and exercise, and in the time you would have completed more fad diets than I care to think about, you will have lost that weight, and kept it off!