Losing Weight Without a Restrictive Diet

New diets that promise quick weight loss are constantly making an appearance in social media feeds. While they may seem new and innovative, some version of most of these diets have been around for years. These diets are commonly known as “fad diets.”

While tempting, trying a fad diet is typically not the best plan for your overall and long-term health.

What Makes a Diet a Fad Diet

Diets that make the following claims should always be avoided:

• It promises rapid weight loss.
• It claims to have a secret strategy or markets specific “super foods” or products with it.
• It’s very low calorie or severely restricts or forbids certain foods or food groups, especially fruit, whole grains or fats. Ask yourself, “Can I eat this way the rest of my life?” If the answer is no, the plan is not for you.
• There is poor, biased or no scientific research to support the claims.
• The plan or product is temporary with no nutrition education or transition phase involved.
• The plan suggests that food or supplements can alter your body chemistry or pH.
• It makes claims that are “too good to be true.”

Why You Should Avoid Fad Diets

Simply put, you should avoid fad diets because they don’t work. They often encourage severe restriction, either of food entirely or of specific foods or food groups. This leads to increased cravings, binge eating and, as a result, weight regain.

In fact, it’s estimated that more than 80 percent of people regain weight after a temporary diet plan.

“Fad diets can negatively impact our mental health,” shares Deborah Karl, MS, RD, LD, a registered dietitian at ProMedica. "Not being able to stick to a strict eating pattern can make us feel like we have failed. It can also lead to depression. Binge eating can cause feelings of guilt and anxiety about food."

Restrictive fad diets can even negatively impact your metabolism. Eating less calories than your body needs can lead to fatigue and lethargy.

This can make you move less during the day. As a result, you burn fewer calories through non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT includes calories burned from everyday movements like walking, fidgeting or doing chores.

How To Lose Weight and Not Gain It Back

Rather than focusing on the newest weight loss trend, focus on improving your overall eating and exercise habits. Instead of stopping all unhealthy habits at once, try to reduce them slowly over time.

For example, instead of eating fast food every day, try it every other day for a few months. Then, have it twice a week, then once a week, and so on. Try slowly decreasing your portion sizes, eating slower and stopping when you feel full.

As you are reducing your unhealthy habits, begin increasing your healthy ones. Maybe you start with increasing your steps each day. Or making the goal to eat at least one serving of fruits and vegetables every day.

Prioritize keeping your stress levels low and getting adequate sleep. When you’re stressed or tired, it’s easy to binge on unhealthy comfort foods and get off track with your goals.

What Healthy Weight Loss Looks Like

A healthy amount of weight loss is between a half pound to two pounds per week. “If you lose weight too quickly, you will lose muscle, bone, and water weight, and you are more likely to regain that weight,” Deborah shares.

Be sure to not solely rely on the scale as your only measure of success. Focus on the healthy habits that you have established, healthier food selections you are making, and how much better you feel.

Think about asking someone to be your accountability partner. This could be a family member, friend, dietitian, or personal trainer. They can help you stay on track with your plan. Having someone check in on how things are going and offering advice can help make it easier to stay on track.

You don’t have to make big changes to have success in your weight loss journey. The small changes over time are what yield greater results in the long run.

Deborah Karl, MS, RD, LD
Deborah is a registered dietitian at ProMedica.