Fad-Diet Downsides

Fad diets don’t work long term for at least three reasons: are usually unbalanced and often turn on survival genes (that makes the diet lose its effectiveness over time); doesn’t allow for flexibility in food selection or match way you normally eat; requires a change to another diet method for long-term weight control once the weight is off. When you diet the body thinks its starving and becomes more efficient at holding onto the calories you ingest and stingier at giving them up for exercise. You may lose some weight initially (often fluid), but your body has been ‘reprogrammed,’ when you stop dieting you will gain your weight back faster and eventually go up to a higher weight than before. Fat tissue is 97% water. That’s where the weight of fat comes from, its water content. (Brent W. Bost MD, FACOG. Hurried Woman Syndrome.)