Can Fad Diets Work?

Everybody who is trying to drop weight wants to do it as quickly as possible, and this is where fad diets and short term quick fixes come into play. Instead of sticking to a diet plan or changing their eating habits over the long term, many would rather attempt a hair-brained diet lacking in any real research.

That being said, can fad diets work? The short answer is yes, they sort of can work — to an extent. Any diet that has you taking in significantly less calories than you are burning throughout the day is going to lead to weight loss — it's basic math. However, the real question is this: is any of this sustainable? Sure, if you want to eat like a bird for the rest of your life, it's then theoretically plausible that your diet can work over the long haul — most doctors would agree.

But, for most people, their will power to sustain that level of strictness in diet is unlikely — I mean, they are overweight to begin with. So, lets discuss the details a little bit deeper, and answer once and for all: can fad diets work? If it's a no, we'll try to give you a few diet tips that actually work.

How do I know if my diet is a fad?

Fad diets usually come with certain characteristics that are pretty easy to spot. They almost always have these qualities: they severely restrict or outright eliminate certain foods, and they make lofty claims about rapid weight loss in a short period of time.

For example, the Atkins diet doesn't allow you to eat carbs, but claims that everything else is pretty much fine. It also claims that you will lose at least five pounds a week for the first several weeks. While this is all plausible for a short period of time — hence, fad — these are all hallmarks of a fad diet. It's generally considered unsustainable and border line dangerous to lose more than a few pounds a week.

Can fad diets work? Well, the Atkins diet has worked for plenty of people, but just know that if you're planning on dropping weight by cutting out certain food groups and not being physically active, it's a fad diet.

You get short term results.

After you severely limit your caloric intake, the fast, short term results can be intoxicating. The typical diet is going to keep your intake well under 1,500 calories a day, while some liquid diets are going to push it further, closer to 500 a day. This will shock your system, causing you to shed pounds rather rapidly.

Since many overweight people consume well over 3,000 calories a day, initial weight loss occurs quickly, and often at the pace of five or more pounds a week. This type of dieting also exhausts the dieter, typically making them quit before they get any true benefits. Can fad diets work? If you want to make the claim that they work because of quick weight loss, then you could make that argument, but there is a reason doctors say all good things in moderation.

There may be long term complications.

When thinking "can fad diets work?" it's important to consider the long term complications you may be inflicting on yourself. The amount of muscle loss from this type of dieting can mess up your health, and less muscle means you burn less calories throughout the day.

Less muscle means fewer calories are burned during physical activity and even while resting. While the combination of these two factors reduces the rate of weight loss as the fad diet continues, which makes keeping the weight off after the goal weight is achieved all the more unlikely.

After the goal is hit, people tend to revert back to old eating patterns. Of course, the lost weight inevitably returns, leading the fad dieter to be even more dejected than when they started the diet. Worse yet, you might even require fewer calories because the severe caloric reduction of the fad diet lowered your base metabolic rate, and also stripped you of some very important muscles. Sadly, if you go back to eating like you used to you may even put on more weight than you did before — putting you back to square one.

So, what's the final verdict? Can fad diets work? While it is possible to lose a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time, I'm going to have to say fad diets do not work. Healthy weight loss is much more important, and if you want to change your long term eating habits, there are diet tips that work far better. As cliché as it sounds, if you hope to stick to a diet you're going to have to make a healthy lifestyle change.