Admit it. We've all tried at least one irresistible, fat diet that promised magical results like "lose 10 pounds in 10 days!" Maybe it was the grapefruit diet, the master cleanse, the banana diet, eating no fat, the cabbage soup, eliminating carbs, the baby food diet or another seductive, promise-filled claim.
They're tempting! Most of us would love to drop 10 and fit into our skinniest of jeans by Friday.
Sorry to break it to you, but the truth is fad diets are just that - a dirty, ineffective craze. They're generally an attempt at quick-fix that sets you up for overall weight loss failure and disappointment.
According to an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association, two researchers, Sherry Pagoto of the U of Massachusetts Medical School and Bradley Appelhans of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have called for an end to the diet wars. They assert that people get confused with all the crazy fad diet options out there and end up not losing weight.
They say that years of research indicates that the key component to weight loss is reducing calories and that the most important aspect is lifestyle changes - not a short-term diet.
Did you get that? Success in weight loss happens when you change your life - not when you go on a short-term, miserable diet bender.
Furthermore, many fad diets can hurt your your beautiful bod. How?
The majority of the weight you drop quickly tends to be water weight, which can lead to dehydration. And guess what happens when you get thirst and drink water? You got it: you gain the weight back.
Calories = energy. If you're depriving yourself of too many calories, you're going to be seriously tired and fatigued.
You can have epic problems in the bathroom. Without getting into ugly details, your digestive track can seriously rebel and you'll be jacked up in a way nobody wants to experience.
You can suffer from malnutrition. Your body is an extraordinary machine that needs vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fat. If you restrict your body in an unbalanced way, you'll be deprived of essentials and could become malnourished and sick.
Lastly, we can all agree that eating only cabbage soup for a few weeks is downright miserable. Suffering this way is not a delightful experience for anyone - and it's unnecessary.
Ditch the fad diets and just eat healthy - veggies, fruit, lean protein and whole grains.