The three simple reasons why fad diets don’t work

Lots of people are tempted by the idea of fad diets, which promise dramatic weight loss in record time.  If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  Around 83% of people who shed the pounds via a fad diet regain or even put on a little weight once the dieting comes to an end.  Whether it’s the low-carb Atkins diet, the dairy-free Paleo diet or the high-protein Dukan diet, there are three simple reasons they don’t work in the long-term and should be avoided.

They are impractical

Fad diets do not replicate how people eat ‘in real life’.  They usually work by giving strict orders on what you should eat, when you should eat it and how much you can have, demanding military precision and forbidding you any spontaneity.  While these overbearing rules might work and help you lose weight in the short-term, you’re unlikely to want them as part of your life for the foreseeable future.

Having so many rules can also have a damaging effect on your relationship with food.  Food should be about enjoyment, pleasure and company, and having to abide by strict instructions strips those good things away from the experience.  You may find yourself unable to enjoy the fun side of eating, if impractical rules mean you can no longer enjoy the odd meal out with friends or cooking a Sunday roast.

They offer no long-term health benefits

There’s a reason why fad diets are popular and that’s because they work.  For a few weeks at least.  Most people who stick to the rules will lose the amount of weight advertised, but deprivation diets do not deliver long-term weight loss or improved health.  Most are nothing more than a quick-fix solution based on deprivation.  It may not even be excess fat you’re losing – some of the weight loss could be a loss of lean muscle or even loss of water.  

Deprivation may in fact have seriously damaging effects on your body.  There’s a reason we need to eat certain quantities from each food group, and that’s because the body needs them to function.  Cutting out carbs, protein or healthy fats, for example, is going to do you more harm than good.  Fad diets don’t provide you with the nutritionally balanced diet you need.

They may see you gain weight

When your body is deprived of something it craves, it increases the release of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol.  Cortisol prompts your body to develop visceral fat, or fat under the muscles.  That means that once a short-term fad diet comes to an end, most people react to the increased cortisol levels by overeating, compensating for all the stress the body has been under.

Yo-yo dieting tends to condition the body to gain weight faster, regardless of your genetic predisposition to weight gain.  When you put your body under the stress of deprivation, it tends to react to the ‘times of plenty’ more quickly.

MVP runs workplace-based fitness programmes.  A balanced diet and exercise are the only way to lose weight and keep the weight off in the long-term.  To find out more, get in touch today.