If you’ve been a fan of Gym Free Fitness for a while, you’re likely aware that we’re not fans of fad diets and crash diets. They promise a quick fix to a problem that has no quick fix, and usually require you to do/eat things that can lead to either more weight gain, or permanent harm (or both!).
Fad diets are schemes that often involving very strict and extreme eating plans, or very low caloric intake. Unfortunately, these diets do not provide any long-term benefits to anyone. If anything, they can cause serious, long-term, health problems.
6 Ways Fad Diets Can Harm You
1. They Make You Gain Even More Weight
What usually makes fad diets very tempting are the promises of quick weight loss with little effort on the part of the participant. Sure, everyone would love to lose weight in the shortest amount of time, with minimal effort and that is always the hook.
Unfortunately, the truth is that yes you can lose weight with fad diets but often it is mostly water weight. Also, fad diets are very hard to stick with, and so while you may lose an initial few pounds, once you resume your normal diet (and everyone always does), you will gain all the weight back, and more often than not, you gain more! This is called rebound weight gain and over time it leads to more weight sticking around for longer.
Fad diets never implement or address the permanent lifestyle changes required for lasting healthy weight management.
2. They Can Lead to Nutritional Deficits
Most fad diets restrict your options to specific types of food, thereby eliminating important nutrients the body needs. When you’re limited to a specific type of food(s), you sacrifice the nutrients that you would otherwise obtain if you were eating a healthy and well-balanced diet.
Carbohydrates are oftentimes considered a no-no in many of these diets, but in reality, restricting carbohydrates can significantly hurt your energy levels, making you feel fatigued. You will not have the necessary fuel to energize your workouts and function effectively on a day-to-day basis.
In reality, carbohydrates come in all forms, and not all are created equally. Good for you carbs include fruits and vegetables along with rice and other healthy grains.
The same misconception goes for fat. Many fad diets attempt to turn fat into a mortal enemy, when in reality, not all fats are bad. In fact, certain types of fats such as omega-3 are necessary for optimum health and monosaturated fats are required for brain and heart health.
3. Muscle Wasting and Hair Loss
Fad diets can lead to hair and muscle loss because they are nutrient deficient. For one, protein is a nutrient that you need if you want your hair to be and grow healthy. Not having enough may cause hair to fall out and become brittle.
Muscle loss is another common problem. Because of the caloric deficits associated with fad diets, the body naturally turns to other means to get that required energy, and as a result, muscle wasting occurs. You do not want to lose your muscle if you are planning to lose weight, because having more muscle mass can help you burn more calories by boosting metabolism even when the body is at rest.
4. They Ruin Your Body’s Natural Metabolism
Fad diets often dictate how much to eat and when to eat, which goes against your body’s natural eating pattern. Our bodies are aware when we need to eat and when we have had enough. While fad diets may give you temporary results, there are long-term implications that can affect your health permanently.
Mindfulness is a technique taught in meditation and yoga, and can help you to get in touch with your body and real hunger. This is a much more effective and healthy way to lose weight.
5. They Often Lack The Element of Exercise
Most fad diets are too focused on the food intake itself, and neglect the importance of exercise. Since they often advise the intake of very low amounts of calories, exercise is often not recommended, and sometimes even restricted. This can be detrimental to your overall health.
6. They Are Not Sustainable
Fad diets are just that – fads. They are not meant to last on a permanent basis. These types of diets promote rapid weight loss in an unreasonable amount of time, rather than a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable for the long term. They never address lifestyle changes, such as choosing an apple for dessert over apple pie and changing your taste accordingly.
Many people can attest that they have lost over 100 pounds over a lifetime in 10-pound spurts. Lose it, and gain it back, lose it, and gain it back, repeatedly in a vicious yo-yo cycle. Usually at the center of this merry-go-round is a string of fad diets turning the wheel.
How To Spot A Fad Diet
Now that you know all the reasons to avoid fad diets, the trick is being able to spot them. Beware of any diet which includes the following:
- Quick fix promises
- Involvement of “magic foods” or special food combinations
- Exclusion of a particular food group, for example, carbohydrates
- Unproven claims that are based on limited scientific study
- The suggestion that certain food combinations can alter one’s body chemistry
A Better Way
Instead of going for fad diets, the best way to lose weight is a gradual transition to a healthy lifestyle. By combining regular exercise with a healthy balanced diet, you are sure to achieve your weight loss goals and be able to keep it off for the long term.
Small Changes
Start by making small changes with the foods you choose. Replace three desserts a week with a piece of fresh fruit. Substitute French fries with a side salad or steamed vegetables at lunch two times per week. Then increase it to three times, and so on.
Assess your kitchen and begin to gradually remove all unhealthy snacks and foods from the fridge and cupboard. If you don’t know what is healthy and what isn’t, find out. Replace all that you have removed with better choices.
Exercise
Begin an exercise regimen by taking a two block walk every day, then keep adding a block every two or three days, you cannot imagine how fast you become acclimated and fit and with gradual increases you will be walking a mile before you know it, without even noticing how you got there!
Do some type of strength training be it with weights or bodyweight exercises three times per week. Building lean muscle mass will boost your metabolism and make you stronger and healthier, which will improve your overall quality of life.
It Works!
It is not difficult to implement small changes that together make for a big difference in your weight, health, and how you feel. The best part is that you will NEVER have to go on another diet, fad or otherwise again.
Photo credit: 从峰 陈 (congfengchen) | Flickr
Pamela Bruesehoff
Latest posts by Pamela Bruesehoff (see all)
- 28 Days of Healthy Habits: Week 4 - February 24, 2015
- 6 Ways Fad Diets Can Harm You and How to Spot Them - February 23, 2015
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Meals:Breakfast: A fist full of fruit.Lunch: Salad with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil driessng.Dinner: A fist full of Baked salmon with vegetables.Only drink water throughout the day, and if you feel the need for a snack, Suck on ice instead. Don’t eat more than a fist full at meal times.Exercise:Do squats, sit ups, lunges, and push ups for at least an hour a day.
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1)La bobina di Tesla è essenzialmente un trasformatore;2)In un trasformatore al secondario più si alza la tensione più si abbassa la corrente;3) Per superare la rigidità elettrica dell'aria la tensione è molto alta, di conseguenza la corrente è molto bassa;4) I fulmini in atmosfera scaricano in pochi millesimi di secondo energie molto alte e di conseguenza sviluppano potenze molto alte.
All of them are gorgeous. I love the fist one, the calligraphy it’s beautiful indeed! I like what I see in your new work, I can’t wait to see the end result. Have a great day!Nora
Moi, j’ai bien aimé, je souris souvent en lisant ce blog, qui n’est pas une tribune révolutionnaire, mais un blog humoristique…. hein les trolls ?je propose qu’on fasse un classement des trolls, par exemple, on pourrait regrouper les « trollls consternants »…. « les trolls excités »…
I am considering exactly how to get help with the fanzine, but haven’t made up my mind as to how to go about doing that. I’ll probably post to COTI as well as here once I’ve made up my mind, assuming there are people willing to help out with this. Enjoy,Jason “Flynn” Kemp
if you have suggestions for issues to discuss with regards to WoW, I’m very open to hearing those ideas, so don’t hesitate to share.Secondly, the point of my post is that, whether it’s meant to be funny or neutral- advocacy or portrayal- is rather *beside* the point. The question is *why tell the story in this way*? Why *this* item and *this* particular legend attached to it with *this* particular outcome? That’s the point of my suggestion to consider absences rather than presences.Also, I’m curious, how much furore is there about this? I honestly stumbled onto this on my explorations on WoWhead.
So many people want that quick fix. It’s understandable, we live in a “right now” society. Whether it’s medication or anything in life, it always has to be now. We even have some great herbal remedies that can just be as effective as the medicines we take, but it may take just a little bit longer. I feel people take this same principle into losing weight with fad diets. One of the biggest things I see with these diets are 1) They are not lifestyle changes and 2) Nutrient deficiencies. People don’t even understand that it is possible to eat less as long as you are eating more of a nutrient-dense diet! I believe that there is so much information out there now it is hard to decipher the good from the bad. Hopefully, it is articles like these that take the forefront and allow people to educate themselves enough to make the right choice.
Hi Author,
Here are tips on 6-way fad-diets that can hurt you. The tips are great. Thanks.
Hi,
Really I need the advice..