Lose 10 kilograms in seven days! Yeah, that sounds great! Then, gain it back by having a sip of cola. That doesn’t sound as appealing now does it? Well, it’s the ugly truth; unfortunately, people always seem to be falling into the black hole of fad diets. Marketing makes fad diets seem miraculous, yet they cease to mention the part of how the diets will only work temporarily and all the grams that you lost will come back faster than you lost them.  95% of people that lose weight by dieting will regain the weight in the time span of 1-5 years. The question now is: What makes people fall for fad diets every time?

One of the main reasons would be that people want results, but do not want to work too hard for it. For example, they would be willing to stick to a 4 week program and lose a couple of kilograms, than to change their lifestyle by exercising more, and eating better for the rest of their life. People would much rather diet for a few weeks on protein drinks and salad then gain the kilos right back, than exercising for the long term effect, and actually being healthier. And that, too, is an important point.

Most people that use fad diets, are the ones that just want to improve their looks, when they should be more focused on being fit, and healthy. For example, in diets where one completely avoids carbohydrates, they will lose weight, but it will be lost water rather than body fat, and eventually the body will start feeding on its own muscle due to the lack of carbohydrates, and nutrients. After the diet is done, and the person takes a bite of carbohydrates they will put on that weight again. Making all their effort worth absolutely nothing.

Another reason why some fad diets are so popular, is because it makes it simple for the person that wants to try it. For example, they clearly state the food that you should and shouldn’t  eat, or they state what food you should eat each day until the diet is over. Of course, that sounds very appealing to someone that does not want to bother thinking about what to eat or cook, or about the nutrition of their food. These types of diets make it much easier because they give you a specific diet, and they will make you lose weight, but in order to have a longer effect, people need to create permanent changes to their diet and actually think before eating; because having 200 calories of a smoothie, is much healthier than having 0 calories of Coca Cola.

People can’t seem to grasp the idea that fad diets only give temporary results, and that they mostly have some harmful effects. Because some diets lack certain nutrients that the body needs, and they may result in malnutrition of the body, which may cause fatal outcomes; the diets may also damage to the metabolism, sometimes making it too slow, to a point where the body has to keep storage of the calories, making it harder for people to lose weight. Fad diets that include pills can also have effects that are much worse than this. Most of those pills contain caffeine, and harmful chemicals that speed up the heart rate to abolish your appetite, but the body can not handle all that caffeine and chemicals, which can lead to heart failure.

However, people decide to put all these facts aside and continue to use diets as a way to lose weight. It is definitely not the healthiest way, but people still enjoy  the short term effect. They continue to use diets, because its the easiest way for them to put off some weight, it is temporary, simple, and it gives them a sense of satisfaction with themselves. Maybe fad diets can be a good way for people to get their healthy lifestyle started, and it may be motivating enough to get people to the gym, but it is definitely not the most beneficial way of weight loss.