Too often these days people who are desperate to lose weight get taken in by the claims of self named fitness and nutrition experts who claim to have discovered the ‘magic weight reduction diet solution’. When viewed on celebrity TV shows these ‘fad diet’ claims are often believed by the viewers, many of whom start trying them out with the belief that they will shed their excess weight in a very short time by following the latest new popular diet. However most ‘fad diets are doomed to fail‘!
DEFINITION OF FAD DIETS
So what exactly are fad diets? Generally speaking they are those diets where claims are made that you will achieve fast weight loss in just a few days with very little effort providing that you stick to the diet plan. There are many of these being regularly flooded into the market regularly, always well promoted and sometimes well endorsed by celebrities. It is true to say that many of them will fail simply due to the fact that lots of them are starvation diets.
WHY FAD DIETS ARE UNHEALTHY
The reason why this is so is that fad diets contain foods that one has to eat in the diet plan, often no more than just juices or berries as examples and are not really good health products just by themselves.In addition, a person on a fad diet is told to eat less of their normal food and if the diet comes with an exercise program, to exercise more. The only perceived benefit is the diet being low on fat and often low on sodium but so also is water. To adopt to this change in diet needs preparation and many dieters find the change process to be very unappealing to them.
As previously mentioned these fad diets sometimes include an exercise program. However it is true to say that most people embarking on a structured exercise program will normally achieve some initial weight loss even without being on a fad diet. A person’s body that perspires during exercise loses water and water is heavy, so when the person gets weighed after exercise, there is genuinely some weight loss. But after drinking to replace the lost fluid lost through perspiration the body reverts back to the original weight. The impression gained by the person exercising however will be different!
RESULTS OF BEING ON A FAD DIET
Generally what happens next with someone on a fad diet is that the body starts to slowly react to the starvation diet losing water in the body’s cells which then result in weight loss. As the diet is continued, the body will start feeding at the muscle and therefore you lose weight. Because you are often told to avoid food containing fat (which the body really needs as a supply of our energy needs), it is usual now for the body is to conserve all the fat that has in store. This stored fat will last for approximately 2 weeks depending on your level of metabolism. The unfortunate part is that when the body has burnt most of the energy contained in muscle, the person then starts to get weak. The reason for this is that the body has already starting to burn the stored fats which it had tried to keep for energy requirements.
The reality is that, fats do not burn easy. Unlike foods which the body is used burning to provide the energy to stay alive, burning the body’s fat will usually take more time to provide the energy needed and then the person on a fad diet starts getting sluggish in movement. The person’s performance will be poor, activity will lessen and even the exercises will require a lot more effort with the obvious result that after a while they are stopped.
We all know that the purpose of going on a diet is to become healthier and fitter. A fad diet does not achieve these results. As mentioned before the weight loss effects from the diet will be immediate with what the diet promoter indicated it would however the dieter will not achieve what they were hoping for.
We also know that any body starved of nutrients and in an emaciated state will have suffered a lot of weight loss but that does not bode well for that person’s well being due to lack of energy and other unhealthy symptoms. Most people will quickly realize that they have been fed false hopes with the fad diets and that their bodies really need proper nutrition to keep them functioning. They will then abandon the fad diets and start to eat and regain all the weight which was lost during the time that the body is being starved. Unfortunately this often results in unintended consequences in that the craving for food that had been suppressed during the fad diet is so overpowering that the person gains more weight on resuming their normal eating habits.
FINAL TIP
In conclusion all those readers who have a strong desire to lose weight through a sensible diet and NOT from ‘fad diets‘ should read the following report to learn how to choose the right foods to keep fit and trim.
Keep fit and enjoy a happy, healthy lifestyle.
James Kelly
http://www.learnhandyhealthandwellnesstips.com
High Wycombe, Western Australia,6057
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