Fad Diets - The Truth Exposed

We've all heard about them, we've all read about them and I damn well guarantee that a large proportion of the people reading this has either tried one themselves or have a family member or friend that has. The 'fitness' market is saturated with them, Herbalife, Juice Plus, Forever Living, Clean 9, the list goes on and on and on.

Before I go too far into my rant and rave about them and the cold hard facts, let's go to our good friend Google and look at the definition of what a 'fad diet' is -

So they promise quick weight loss, through an unhealthy and unbalanced diet. They are targeted at people who do NOT want to exercise, and in actuality the weight that people lose is more often water weight, rather than fat loss. They sound amazing! Where do I sign up?!

In these articles and blog pieces I am writing, unlike some I will not try and baffle you all with science and massage my ego, these are designed for every day folk to understand and hopefully take something of value from, so let's get into the basic elements of what a fad diet actually does.

In layman terms a fad diet will put you in a massive caloric deficit, for example one fad diet company 'Cambridge Diet' on one of their steps will have you eating (I use the word eating very loosely!) 300kcals a day!!! 300, that is it! Now when you look at what the basic recommended kcals are you are looking at circa 2000kcals for women and 2500kcals for men. Now these aren't fixed numbers and someone's metabolism isn't a calculator and a subject I will cover at a later date, but it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to see that 300kcals is far from a healthy number to be eating. 

These diets, as tends to be the trend nowadays not just in these but across the fitness spectrum are low to no carbohydrates whatsoever. Straightaway when you eliminate carbohydrates from your diet you will lose a massive amount of water weight, ergo the initial and rapid weight loss that people see from these diets, therefore assuming that the diet is working. Forgot the chronic headaches and lethargy from not eating enough food, it's OK because Laura has lost 8lbs this week because she has effectively starved herself. 

What people also aren't told by these companies is that when you are in such a caloric deficit your body enters a state known as catabolism where in layman terms it begins to eat itself. Why? Because it needs to find energy to function, that's bloody why! Your brain requires a certain amount of glycogen just to function day to day, let alone all your other vital organs. When you enter catabolism your body will look for the most energy rich source available and will start to eat away at what muscle mass you have. So that's great then isn't it? Laura has already lost 8lbs, but now her body will start to eat what muscle mass she has as well, but don't fear that black dress she was desperate to get into she has done now. All be it at expense of her health and the metabolic damage she has caused by eating, or should I say not eating. 

So what happens when you finish these diets? And trust me you will finish them as they are not sustainable and eventually you will crack and gorge. Well the metabolic damage you have caused will mean that when you invariably binge eat all that cake at that party, all that alcohol, the food that is free your body won't be able to process it and guess what now? Instead of it being efficient and processing the food, the vast majority of it will become fat. 

So now Laura who lost let's say a stone in 4 weeks on Juice Plus (just picking one out of the air), has gone to the party, started eating again, badly as her blood sugar levels are spiking due to poor insulin management so she is craving anything and everything and the result of all this? She is 10lbs heavier than before. Well played Laura, well played indeed. Oh and on top of that she has less muscle mass than when she started and she has a higher body fat percentage than when she started, and she has spent £100+ on a load of pills and shakes that have effectively damaged her and her body. Sounds like a winner to me. 

You could get the same effect eating 4 Kit Kat Chunky a day, works out at roughly 828kcals doing so, you'd feel like absolute death but you'd lose weight - to begin with, but guess what? When you start to eat again, the weight rockets back up and with some more on top of it. 

For sustainable long term weight loss, and that's what people want that are losing weight there are a couple of simple points to follow 

• Find your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) this is the amount of calories you eat per day just to maintain weight. Take 5-10% off and spread it across the meals you eat, trust me you won't even notice you're dieting, you satiety levels will stay high and it will be a lot easier. 
• When weight loss plateaus, drop another 5%, again spread across the days meals
• Drink plenty of water, minimum 4ltrs a day, aim for 6ltrs if an active person
• Lastly and most importantly- EXERCISE. 3x a week for 45minutes a time, its really not hard to find the time to do so. What is hard is finding reason to nullify your excuses to not do so. 

So there we have it, Fad Diets and the truth. They're shit, they're dangerous, they're expensive and please read this and take note. 

We live in a society whereby everyone wants everything now, but for long term sustainable weight loss you need patience. Just remember that.