Each year millions of people go on fad diets hoping to lose pounds and gain a slimmer, trimmer body. They try low-fat diets, protein diets, milkshake diets, low-carb diets, and even diets that limit them to one food group like the grapefruit diet. Many lose weight quickly, touting the success of the diet. Unfortunately, most will not only regain the weight they lost, but gain additional pounds also. Below are eight reasons why fad diets don’t work.
1. Fad diets are quick fixes, not permanent solutions to the weight problem. You may lose weight initially, but as soon as you begin eating regular food again you gain the weight back. The problem is your eating habits and lack of activity. Until you begin eating healthier and exercising regularly, your weight will continue to go up and down.
2. Fad diets can play havoc on your metabolism. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. Depending on your age and activity level, it can burn fast or slow. The body, in its normal state, called homeostasis, learns to maintain the weight you normally carry after a period of time. Once you dramatically decrease calorie intake your body, after a time, will create a new homeostasis based on the lower calorie count. This means that when you begin eating regular food again you will gain back much more weight than before because your body is used to surviving on fewer calories. Losing weight slowly with a healthy diet of all types of foods will keep your metabolism working properly.
3. Most fad diets concentrate on the food you eat instead of the exercise you should be adding. By just eliminating calories and not exercising you may lose a few pounds by you are not turning it into lean muscle. Without muscle tone, your body looks flabby no matter how thin you are. An exercise program along with a healthy diet will make you look leaner and trimmer.
4. Losing muscle can also be the result of having little or no fat in your diet, as some fad diets suggest. Your body burns fat for energy. The idea is that if you don’t eat fat then your body will burn its excess fat for energy, thus losing weight. Unfortunately, when you begin to starve the body of the nutrients it needs it goes into starvation mode and hangs onto the stored fat. For energy, your body begins burning muscle instead. Once you go off the diet your body will begin storing all excess calories as fat, making your gain fatty tissue quicker. The loss of muscle mass slows down your metabolism, making it easier to gain additional weight faster. Your body requires a variety of vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and even fats to function properly and stay healthy.
5. Most diets concentrate on the 3 meal-a-day concept, leaving people hungry in-between meals. It usually isn’t the meals that sabotage a diet; it’s the hunger in-between. Snacking leads to over-eating and causes people to eventually give up the fad diet. People who eat several small, healthy meals and snacks a day tend to maintain their weight better while keeping their energy levels up. Those who diet this way also have more success in losing weight because they are less tempted to cheat.
6. Fad diets concentrate on losing weight too quickly. The initial weight you lose is water weight, fooling you into believing you are losing fat. When you go back to eating regular food, the water weight comes back too. Weight loss should be a gradual process to lose weight effectively.
7. Many fad diets limit carbohydrates, an important component in burning fat cells. The body extracts energy from fat with the help of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates from natural foods, such as fruits and vegetables, actually help muscle use fat for energy. Natural carbohydrates are actually good for you even when you are trying to lose weight.
8. Fad diets can actually be unhealthy for your body in the long run. By depriving your body of the nutrients it needs for long periods of time, you run the risk of damaging bones, vital organs, and even brain tissue. If you constantly yo-yo diet and lose and gain weight, you will put stress on your immune system and heart and lungs. Lose weight slowly with a healthy diet and exercise program. This really is the best, and healthiest, way to lose the pounds and stay fit for a lifetime.
