Do You Fall Into The Fad Diet Trap?
By Coach Corey
A “Fad Diet”, something we may or may not have heard of, is a specific diet that promises radically improved health or fast weight loss, with very minimal effort.
Fad diets are extremely popular. With Australians always looking for an easier way to lose weight and forking out millions of dollars annually to try and do so.
Despite their popularity, it is always important to pose your own questions regarding whether a specific diet will benefit you or hinder you. Fad diets generally have several telling characteristics such as:
Encourage short-term changes in eating behaviour
Do not focus on long-term changes
Often contradict current health advice
Lack scientific basis (often based off testimonials or a single study)
Adopt a one-size-fits-all approach
Result in weight gain once the individual returns to their habitual dietary patterns
Focus on avoiding or entirely cutting out particular foods or food groups
Involve “miracle” pills, shakes or supplements
The idea of “success” of fad diets comes from the initial weight loss that occurs, as almost all fad diets involve some sort of calorie restriction, meaning weight loss is almost inevitable.
Initial weight loss may be from water loss, a result of depletion of glycogen stores, along with some fat and lean muscle loss. Due to the body being in an energy deficit, resulting in muscle break down due to an increase in energy demand, resulting in a loss of muscle mass.
On the contrary, once a fad diet is stopped it is much easier for your body to gain fat again. This is mainly due to the fact that many fad diets are often not only unsustainable, but no healthy eating habits have been formed and will go straight back to the old “unhealthy” eating.
Fat will be increased due to an energy surplus, plus a reduction in metabolic rate when returning to normal/previous eating patterns.
I’m not saying that dieting is a bad decision, as there is plenty of research to be found on certain diets and their benefits, however there are some important things to note before jumping into one.
Fad diets have a tendency to unintentionally set the consumer up for failure due to a number of factors.
Those being:
They are often difficult to follow
They can be monotonous or boring, resulting in people disregarding the diet
Have impractical requirements for food preparation
They can be expensive, or require the use of specific products
Specific amounts/types of foods.
Fad diets are extremely easy to spot, and there are some questions you can use to spot them:
Is a celebrity endorsing the diet?
Is the diet associated with a particular food?
Will the diet be unsustainable long term?
Is it too good to be true?
If the answer is yes, you are looking at a fad diet.
The reason why I wrote this article is to educate people on what a fad diet is, and how they work.
For those that are new to training or are looking for a quick solution in terms of losing weight, fad diets seem to be the answer.
Fad diets have been found to be ineffective, as they fail to promote long-term changes in behaviour and set very unrealistic restrictions and expectations – resulting in “yo-yo dieting” which can promote unhealthy habits, making eventual weight loss much harder.
If you are looking to change your diet and achieve your goals, it is important you seek the advice of a qualified Dietitian or GP who can steer you towards success.
Supafit Coach Corey