Why fad diets don’t work

Impossible promises

Do you remember how often you believed and then tried different fad diets? If you are the same as I was, you have tried these miraculous solutions a million times. Only to get to the conclusion that you are useless, worthless, and good to nothing if you are not able to stick to a diet for more than a week.

There is a lot to think about here. Why you weren’t able to stick to the diet? It looked so easy on paper but almost impossible in real life. If you stick to this 300-cal-a-day diet, you will lose 30 pounds in a month. Like… in theory it is possible and most likely, if you were really able to do this, you would lose a significant amount of weight.

That is the paper part of the story. But let’s check this in real life. 300 cals are 2 coffees and some tuna. Nothing more. Every day and nothing more. For a month. If you are super brave and very stubborn, you can do this for a week. Most likely till Friday. By the way, why do we start all the diets on Monday? 😀 It is so little food, actually next to nothing.

Failure ensured

You can’t do this. It doesn’t matter how much you need to lose weight, eating this much is not doable for a whole month. You would faint sooner or later. I am letting apart the emotional impact and your functioning during that time. You might be able to lie in the bed and sleep not to feel the horrible pangs of hunger. You would be weak, extremely irritable, and not able to do basic things.

All these extreme diets that promise you rapid and extreme weight loss are first absolutely crazy, and second do a lot of damage to you, your tummy, and your self-esteem. Why do you think that you are so worthless, weak, and stupid? Because you weren’t able to stick to the diet. But let’s be honest here. Do you think that the person who claimed that they did this for a month actually underwent this diet? I seriously doubt it.

Hollywood shining ads

Yes, they are slim, no doubt about that. Hmm, are you sure there is no Photoshop involved in the afterpicture? I am just asking. And the Hollywood smile on their face, I don’t know. After starving for a month and smiling like this… they might have gone crazy. That is why they are smiling this much. I can’t see any other explanation.

It is the same with all those super teas, slimming drinks to curb your appetite and special shakes with I don’t know what extract. Most likely they work like a placebo, so you convince yourself you are not hungry and you might even lose some weight. In the worst part, you will be drinking some nasty chemicals that will kill half of the bugs in your tummy and you will be constipated or with nasty diarrhea, or it will simply not work at all.

The crucial question

Anything that I previously mentioned has one single problem. But it is the crucial one. WHAT WILL YOU DO AFTER THE DIET??? I mean, yes, you will lose some weight, but with a very restrictive diet, it is almost ensured that you will gain it all back.

But do you remember how much you were always looking forward to the last day of the diet? Before you could eat “normal” again? And that is the problem. All those super diets were only to lose some weight but there was never a plan about what you will do after.

Emotional aftertaste

So you lost something but the moment you stopped the diet, what did you always do? You vacuumed the fridge and pantry, ordered a lot of takeaway food, and ate it all, felt sick and disgusting but incredibly happy. Am I right? You were elated that the diet was over.

You didn’t change

And this is the problem. You didn’t change anything. The diet was a quick fix that actually didn’t fix anything, only made things worse from the long-term perspective. The diet itself might not be as bad, but you would have to stick with it for the rest of your days. That is why I always ask: are you able to eat like this forever? If yes, and be brutally honest here with yourself, then go on. If not, and this is the most normal response, don’t even start.

The thing is that if you don’t change things from the long-term perspective, any diet will solve the underlying problems you have with food. Are you an emotional eater? Are you starving yourself all day and you eat a pile in the evening? Are you binge eating all day? Are you using food as a coping mechanism? These are the real problems that need to be tackled. If you don’t solve them, no diet will ever solve your weight problem.

Habits are powerful

We all have some habits around food. And they go very long into our past. It is possible that even when we were kids. Who likes Cola Cao for breakfast? A lot of Spanish people drink it every day even when they are long adults 🙂 It is a habit from when they were kids. It is warm, it is sweet, it is comforting. A perfect drink to start the day with, right?

And because our habits are a very strong power that drives us, it is very difficult to change them. I get up, I go to the bathroom, I have my Cola Cao and croissant, I have a shower, I dress myself… the list goes on. We do this every day for decades. This is very hard to overwrite. But if you want a different outcome – meaning lower weight, you will have to give up Cola Cao and croissants and you will have to start eating something else. And most likely it won’t be sweet. That is for sure. I get it, your morning will be ruined.

Slow change

Let’s not be so pessimistic here. What I had in mind was that we would have to start changing our habits. Little by little. No drastic change will ever stick with you. And with anyone. If you want to change something, you will have to start slow and keep working on the change for weeks and months to come.

Why? If you decide that you don’t want to eat any more sugar and you will do that from one day to another, all you will have is a nasty headache, the irritability of Godzilla and you will want to eat even the person who sells you the donuts in the bakery.

But if you start slowly, it is much more likely that the change will stick. Ok, no more 4 donuts for breakfast, let’s have 3  and an apple. Can you do that? I am convinced that yes and you won’t mind that much.

Patience is the key

The problem is that you are not patient. You want to see the results super fast. Like losing 30 pounds in a month. But come on, you haven’t gained those 30 pounds in the past month, right? So that is exactly why you will have to be patient and start losing it slowly. Your skin will thank you later.

The problem is not the diet itself. The problem is that you want to see the results immediately, you want to do the least effort, and if it can be done through some pill or injection, even better. I will keep eating like usual, in piles and lots of sugars, fat, and even alcohol and the pill will make me a model. No, sweetie, nothing like this was ever invented, and when they are trying to convince you that yes, it is a big fat lie.

Playing with your despair

These people are only playing with the feelings of desperate people who would sell their souls to the Devil for a slimmer body. That is the saddest part of this story. They will promise you heaven and hell, anything is possible. Yes, you can lose 50 pounds in 2 weeks before your vacation, no problem. But is this realistic? I don’t know on what planet you live, but where I am, it is not doable no matter what you do.

Bariatric surgery is not a miracle

A lot of people who end up with bariatric surgery, which I had myself, have tried it all. And they did try. They tortured themselves with so many diets that were so nasty that you can’t even imagine. They destroyed their metabolism, their willpower, and their self-esteem, they would do anything, and they were desperate. And yes, bariatric surgery can do wonders in a relatively short time.

But there is one very important thing that you have to know: no diet in the world, no surgery, nothing will work if you don’t put in the work. Yes, they will cut your stomach in a small tube, and they may even make you malnourished (supervised), but if you keep eating the same you were eating, the weight you have lost will come back. There is no miracle behind it.

Unrealistic expectations

A lot of people will be very disappointed, they might feel even deceived, that the surgeon was lying to them. No, he wasn’t. That is why you had the psychological evaluation and that is why you made your nutritionist your best friend. You have to change. If you don’t change, no devil will save you.

Every diet is about profound change that will last a lifetime. If you don’t change what you eat, how much, who with, where, and when, if you don’t start even thinking about your meals in a very different way, every diet that you do will be only a quick fix that will lead nowhere. It is a waste of time, energy, and money.

Ugly truth to finish with

I know that this is very hard to admit, but it is like that. Just think about it. Have you ever heard or seen anyone real, I am not talking about the ads all over the internet, who would be eating pizza, burgers, cakes, flushed them down with coke, and had the body of Bella Hadid? NO! Because it is all a lie. They are playing with your feelings and with your despair.

There is hope

If you want to lose weight, you will have to do that the old-fashioned way. Eat less, move more. BUT! Make it sustainable. Eat better food and start small baby steps. Can you get off the bus one stop earlier and walk the rest? Sure you can. Can you skip the creamy cake and have a small cookie instead? It won’t hurt that much.

Build on these small changes and you will see that soon it will be your new normal. And build from there. Where you can continue? What else can you do? Focus on one small thing and when it sticks, go for the next one. Make one small change every week and in a year you won’t recognize yourself.

No fad diet will do this for you. But I guarantee you that success is ensured 🙂 Hugs to all who need it 🙂