Magazine articles, Internet sites and television commercials often feature the latest diet for rapid weight loss -- often promising you that you can lose 1 lb. or more each day. A diet for quick weight loss may seem like a good idea to get in shape for a high school reunion or shed extra pounds packed on after a long holiday season. However, Mayo Clinic experts and medical researchers caution against diet plans that promote rapid weight loss-- these are almost always fads, and their results are short-lived.
Identifying Fad Diets
You've likely heard the term "fad diet" before, but you may not know how to identify one. Any diet used for quick weight loss is a fad, according to a report issued by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other earmarks of fad diets are that they severely limit your food choices and calorie intake. Many fad diets use the testimonials of famous celebrities to back them up or include the use of costly dietary supplements. However, diets for quick weight loss don't make permanent changes to your eating habits, and most don't include exercise as a part of your weight loss program. According to the research center, fad diets fall under the broader category of quackery -- and if you buy into them, you may fall prey to diet advocates trying to make money off of your attempts to lose weight.
Low-Carb/High-Protein Diets
Diets for quick weight loss that are low in carbohydrates are the most common form of fad diet, says the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. You can lose weight very quickly in the short run because your calories and food selections are extremely limited. These diet plans, which often advocate excessive intake of animal fats, can cause nutritional deficiencies, says Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky. High-protein, low-carb diets can also cause constipation, diverticulitis, kidney stones and, due to the consumption of a lot of red meat and whole milk foods, put you at risk for heart disease. Examples of low-carb fad diets include the Atkins Diet, Sugar Busters, the Zone, the The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet, the Scarsdale Diet, the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet and the Five-Day Miracle Diet, among many others.
Low-Fat Diets
Low-fat fad diets are diets in which you get only 5 to 10 percent of your energy from fat. According to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, these rapid weight loss diets typically restrict animal proteins, including fats, nuts and seeds, and focus almost entirely on fruit, vegetables and grains. Due to the restrictive food choices in low-fat diets, most people can't remain on them very long. Because low-fat diets are extremely high in fiber, this can result in reduced mineral absorption and gas. Examples of low-fat diets include the Pritikin Diet, the Fat to Muscle Diet, the T-Factor Diet, the Pasta Diet and some macrobiotic diets.
Novelty Diets
Novelty diets such as the Rice Diet and Egg Diet emphasize one food, combination of foods or food groups and ignore the others, says the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Yet other novelty fad diets, such as the Fit for Life and Beverly Hills Diet, assert that certain foods, when eaten together, form "toxins" that enter your bloodstream and cause you to gain weight. This type of fad diet may be designed to sell diet books, says the research center, or lead you to have unrealistic expectations of "miracle foods" that purportedly burn fat or give you unique health benefits. Like other fad diets, these are also difficult to maintain in the long run because they are so limiting. Novelty diets may also result in malnutrition or binging on the foods to sate hunger.
Better Weight Loss
Weight loss of 1 or 2 lbs. per week might not excite you; however, Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist Donald Hensrud, M.D., indicates that this is what doctors generally advise. If you want to lose weight for good, short-term changes in your diet aren't the solution. Successful, permanent weight loss is about changing your lifestyle so that you eat more healthfully and get regular exercise. According to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a nutritionally balanced diet such as Weight Watchers that gives you moderate calorie restriction of between 1,000 and 1800 calories a day with moderate fat intake is best.
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