for some, especially those who have serious weight problems, some of the fastest weight loss diets may be beneficial...however some are proving in the long run to cause more damage than good

can fad diets go too far?


i think certainly they can get too extreme. BUT if the immediate affect works and you have enough will power to not go yoyoing your weight from extreme loss to extreme gain, i think there is no harm in it.

any thoughts?

oh bloody 'ell yes!

Diets are something that need to be carefully controlled with a doctor, not picked up from your latest TV ad.

I think I can speak from a bit of authority on the subject, due to my mother being a dietician, when I say, DR. ATKINS IS EVIL!



But seriously, this newest diet craze is kind of scary. You're eliminating important nutrients and cancer-fighting antioxidants when you go protein crazy. But the scariest thing is, biochemically, you throw your body's biochemistry way out of wack when you lack carbohydrates. Your body is designed to get its primary energy source from sugars and complex carbohydrates. When it starts breaking down fatty acids and proteins, it produces all sorts of nasty metabolic waste products. Namely, ketones. Your body enters a state of ketoacidosis, in which your blood becomes quite acidic (bad!), and also, ketones are quite toxic to various body systems (including the brain). Hence, you end up feeling really crappy/generally quite ill while on this diet for an extended period of time, like after a month or so. Plus you've put a lot of stress on your body.

If you want to go on a controlled diet, you should talk to your MD or dietician. Also, for a diet to be successful, an increased level of physical activity is usually required.

And that's my health-sciences rant for the day.

I've found the old eat natural, excercise often to work wonders.

I think we're too caught up with loosing inches (cm for you metric folk ), as long as your healthy and you feel good I think thats all that should matter. Everyone I know who has been on a diet says the following, "I'm hungry, I feel like shit, but at least I look good."

I agree with the previous posts, don't hurt your body at the just to loose a few pounds.

love, david

ps: I need to figure out how to gain a little weight, I hate it when friends just pick me up and carry my ass around. Makes me feel like a little kid. *pouts*

I cringe every time I see ads for diet pills in magazines....I know, KNOW, they are bad news, there's been some scary medical reports out lately about some of these pills... But when I see the ads, I think how appealing they look, and how easily someone could be sucked into buying the product. It IS appealing, though...just take a pill every day and never worry about your weight or having to exercize...but they're just bad news. That's not a solution. That's causing even more potential health problems for yourself, and is not a long-term change towards a healthy lifestyle.

I'm with Tigersong on this one...right now I'm dieting.....I'm on the "eat-healthy,exercize-regularly-and-lose-weight-over-a-long-period-of-time diet."

I giggle hysterically every time I see the word Atkins. Such a funny, funny concept. Such a funny, funny word.

Fad diets are a seriously bad idea, and I speak from my own experience as well as those around me, my grandmother for instance who ended up in hospital weak, anaemic and passing out every time she got up too fast after joining my grandad on the cabbage soup diet when he had to lose 40lbs for a heart op. It's just not sensible and you can really end up getting sucked in to the stupidest things that aren't medically proven and are quite obviously not going to be good for you long term. Also, so many fad diets are incredibley strict and the second you come off them the pounds start to sneak back on you...once more...it's just not sensible...

Some people don't seem to get that, to me it seems blatantly obvious, you're not going to loose much weight sitting on your arse eating healthily, silly silly people just want all the weight loss without having to get out of their arm chair/car.
Me on the other hand, i'm as skinny as a rake, i eat what i want, when i want and don't really put on much weight, i know this because last summer i was eating very large meals and not putting on much weight....though i was doing manual labour for 10 hours a day...that probably has something to do with it >_>

Eat chocolate, thats a fat diet.

Ummmm you said Fad ........../me slips quietly out.

*adopts glazed look and smiles wistfully* Ah if only the world were that simple and people could happily accept their body shape and quit without worrying what size they are!

We are constantly bombarded with images that say fat is bad. You wanna try telling them to stop that so we can all be happy with whatever size we choose and not the damned media!

I know I'm a healthy weight but I am still going to Slimming World coz I think I look fatter than I should be. Nothing wrong with that. I know my limits. At the end of the day though it just isn't possible for some people to accept that they aren't fat. I guess it's called anorexia in extreme cases. I'm not an extreme case. I just have low self esteem. I do however have a dietician telling me what I should and shouldn't eat and that's important.

that's the main thing, getting a dietician to tell you what to eat. that way, at least you're going to get it right. i have a friend that makes up oxo cube drink for lunch. WHY? and my sister is always complaining, but suggest exercise and i swear she lunges for you
i really do think there should be more emphasis on regular exercise.

Technically, being fat is bad though. It causes health problems such as heart disease and even diabetes. I guess I'm assuming being unhealthy is a bad thing, but I'd be suprised if you thought otherwise

Fad diets - very very bad.

I'm currently trying to lose the last few inchs of baby fat after the birth of my son (that was 9 months ago). I'm calorie counting and I'm pretty miserable actually. Mostly living on Riveta and low fat yoghurts. I'm exercising as well. I feel this is the best way to do it for me - although, I wouldn't suggest that anyone else do it!

I'm generally a really confident person but since being pregnant, my body is completely different to what it was. Dammit - 23 years of learning to accept my body as it is and then the rules change.

Natch!!

What's an oxo cube drink?

What amazes me is the success of the company that marketed the LA Weight Loss Drink. It's a laxative. I think they advise you to drink it once daily (could be wrong there though, as I've never actually seen the stuff). Talk about a health risk.

A *lot* of people seem to be getting into the low-carb thing these days. Scary stuff. All the fast food restaurants seem to be marketing bunless burgers and the like. I have to wonder...how do you eat something like that? With a fork? Cause, picking it up could get tricky. At any rate, there are definitely better, more healthy ways to lose weight than ordering a greasy hamburger and omitting the bun. It *does* take a lot of time to lose a lot of weight though...which can be very, very frustrating. But in the long run, it'll stay off longer if you learn how to choose healthy foods and get into the habit of exercising regularly anyway...so it's more worth it in the long run. Especially when it helps you actually become *healthy* rather than just *thin*.

if i were gonna diet, i'd do it to lose inches not weight...you can starve yourself and lose toms of weight and still look like a blob

Atkins being the main target here? Oh hell yes.... The Dr. got himself killed with his own diet, blood clots in his brain...

Oxo cubes are gravy cubes. "Oxo cube drink" makes me shudder.

There's nothing wrong with feeling the urge to eath healthy and exrecise regularly. After all, it *is* unhealthy to be obese -- diabetes and cardiovascular disease, of course, being the most apparent problems. The problem comes fromt he media telling us to be THIN THIN THIN THIN THIN. Which is ridiculous, because the thin image portrayed by the media is just as unhealthy as an overweight person. We *are* designed to have a certain level of body fat. But it's a delicate balance.

The most important thing, if you're neither obese nor underweight, is to feel good about yourself. You don't have to be a gym rat, you just need to get 30 minutes of moderate to mild exercise 5 times a week (or less, if it's intense exercise) and eat a balanced diet.

Meh, I can't keep a diet. But if I started calorie counting or the atkins, I'd probably be worse off...I do need to eat healthier and always take my vitamins. My systems are messed up enough as it is...I suppose it's okay to be a little overweight, maybe I'll worry about it when I get older and am done growing.

weve been studying anorexia in psychology, and since tv was introduced in the phillipenes, anorexia has gone from an unheard of problem, to as common as in uk and us.

food is, as long as you dont eat stupid amounts, irrelevant. exercise is what counts!

I've never really met anybody who's had a miracle makeover with the Atkins diet. People take these things much too seriously and half of them don't even work. They say the celebs have done it but we all know they have expensive liposuction jobs.

Not quite. I know many people whose diet consists mostly of pizza, french fries (read: Freedom fries, for you Americans out there), chips, beer, and pop. In fact, I know many people who drink insane amounts of pop, which is just... blah. It's so ubiquitous in our society for people to drink pop, when there's so many more healthier choices out there.

I'll agree exercise is perhaps the more important of the two, but chronic-overeating is an eatting disorder that is quite prevalent in our society (with anorexia, of course, being on the other end of the spectrum).

Fad diets are stupid. I've actually tried quite a few of them, so I would know. Yeah, they work (most people lose a LOT of weight on something like the Atkins diet) but you feeling hungry and miserable and, in some cases, not particularly healthy. "Diets" do not work. If people want to lose weight they need to change their lifestyles forever, not do some short-term starvation diet.

Being too fat isn't healthy, and neither is being too thin. Why can't people seem to strike some kind of balance? I don't know anyone who's gone on a diet to become healthy. I know there are many people who do, but the people I've known are all just trying to look like those skinny movie stars who haven't eaten in a week. In Singapore, slimming studios are advertised everywhere even though, for the most part, the women here are thin. It confuses me. I'm not happy with my body and I never have been, but I'm healthy and beyond that I've just learned to deal with it.

Some people really do need to lose weight, and if you ask me the solution is obvious: stop eating so much junk food, eat smaller portions, and get some exercise. The trouble is, of course, that common sense doesn't give you immediate results.

just a wee bit of trivia:
the average dress size of a model is 0.
the average dress size of an average woman is 8.
the average size of a plus size model is 8.

And I'm not fully grown yet and I'm in a size 12. Stupid society. Oh, by the way, why do they have to try to crack down on obesity like smoking? The majority of obese people just don't *care*, I think, or they'd be skinnier.

We need a Surgeons General's warning on cheeseburgers,

"Warning: Eating cheeseburgers causes heart disease and obesity."

That and attractive young people on television doing "Anti-Cheeseburger" ads.

Hey, that just might work... though a lot of people still smoke, so I don't know...

Maybe teenagers would start becoming obese to be "cool" and "rebellious". Or something.

Also, I wouldn't say that most obese people don't care (though that may be the case for some). I think a lot might have given up trying to lose weight, since it's pretty difficult, or just might not be willing to eat less than they do. I could be thinner if I ate less, too, but I don't because I like food and I like eating. When it gets to be a health problem, however, people just have to choose what's important to them.

No offense, but that is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a long time.

Don't care? Hardly. I'm sure there are some out there who like being big, but most keep trying and trying to lose weight...and they keep failing. A lot try these fad diets...so of course they fail. But it isn't that they don't care. Hardly anyone *wants* to be obese. It's not as simple as just wanting to be thin. Many obese people turn to food when they are feeling down about themselves....it makes them feel better temporarily. At least, that's how it works with me. And like Antagony said, it is very, very difficult. You go lose 100 lbs (in a healthy way, not on a fad diet), then tell me you didn't get frustrated and want to just give up at any time.

You've got a point, Cand, but it's still true that it remains a choice. Except in exceptional circumstances (which I admit do exist in some cases), nobody is forced to eat lots or unhealthily, and everybody has the opportunity to exercise. Most overweight and obese people have the ability to lose weight should they choose to spend the time and effort. The former category, yes, includes me, by choice. I like food and I don't like exercise, and I'm perfectly willing to accept my state of ill-health in return for indulging my preferences.

Yes, it's a choice...but saying they don't care is something different altogether. I would wager that most do care -- they've just either given up trying or keep trying and failing. And the fact still remains that it is exceedingly difficult to lose a lot of weight.

Mata pointed out in the obesity thread that income also plays a factor. People with less money generally can't afford low-fat alternatives. Food that is higher in fat is simply cheaper.

I'm not trying to blame my problems on anything, mind you. I never said it wasn't a choice. Any addiction -- food, drugs, etc, is a choice -- no matter how hard it may be to overcome, it can be done. But gothictheysay was saying that obese people simply don't care how they look or else they'd be skinny -- which is just a ridiculous concept.

No, not really, I agree it was a stupid comment, I didn't develop it. Yes, there are people who are obese and that is a result of some sort of problem. But obesity is still a choice. I didn't say skinny, either...I meant skinnier. As more and more fatty foods come out on the market, and the easier it is to obtain these foods and exercise less, more people become obese because they can. I believe that the majority of the people just lack the determination to become skinnier - perhaps it's something that just doesn't bother them. Higher-in-fat etc. foods being cheaper? Yes, I can see that, but I can also see that you can still make the right choices in eating, and that a box of Wheat Thins is probably not that much different in price from a bag of chips. I don't believe obesity is a problem affecting those of lower income specifically, correct me if I'm wrong.

In my case, lack of income is keeping me thin. Proper meat is freaking expensive, I don't get it but maybe three times a week. Lots of rice, veggies, and many many pb and j.

Though, I have yet to become so desperate as to eat fast food. I can't believe people can stomach that stuff... and the size of the portions, jesus. Though I can't deny I see the appeal, its alot of food, and its cheap.

Obviously it's a choice. I agreed with Sean when he said it...because it is.

However, I don't think people become obese simply because they can. Compulsive overeating is a serious disorder -- one that often requires professional help to overcome. Genetics also plays a role for many -- kids emulate what their parents do, so obese parents will more than likely have obese children. Habits that you learn from childhood onward are extremely hard to break.

And yes, people with lower incomes (not quite as low as only being able to eat rice and veggies....those who can afford meat, but only the cheaper, fattier meats) are, on average, more overweight than people with higher incomes (at least that's what it said in my old Psych book...which is fairly recent...2002). Chicken breasts are more expensive than chicken legs and thighs....lean ground beef is more expensive than the sort that is 20% fat. Anything that is "light" or "fat free" always costs more. Also, people with lower incomes often cannot afford the professional help from a doctor or a nutritionist. So it may not be that they have even given up -- they may just not know what they really should be eating. They may buy into the fad diets, then end up gaining all the weight back that they lose (and then some). These fad diets are popular for a reason -- people believe that they will work because they don't have the scientific background to know otherwise.

Obviously it's a choice. No one here is denying that. But I don't think you grasp how difficult it really is. You're dismissing it as something that can be changed overnight...instead of something that people try their whole lives to change and never succeed at. They aren't kidding when they say old habits die hard. I'd really love to see you try and fail at something more times than you can count...see nothing work...even when you do the right things -- you still see no results at all.......and then tell me that you aren't frustrated and angry and have just given up hope that anything will ever change the way you have been your whole life.

Again, I'm not blaming my problems on anything. I'm working to solve them. My only problem with you is the fact that you seem to think it should be easy for someone to lose weight. It never is...even for only slightly overweight people and especially not for those who are obese.

As someone floating in the nebulous area between "overweight" and "obese", I say "HEAR HEAR!!!" to cand's post. I have a slow metabolism, and don't even THINK of telling me that's an excuse because it's something that runs in my family and my doctor warned my mother about it when I was young. It's not debilitating, but let's put it this way: if I don't get at least a half an hour of high-level aerobic excercize every day, I will gain weight, guaranteed. It doesn't matter if all I'm eating is rice and celery. If I don't get high-level aerobic excercize, I gain weight.

Now for skinny people, people with high metabolisms, or other closed-minded people, I'm sure that sounds really easy. Well I'm sorry, but having a slow metabolism means you don't always have a big fresh supply of energy. My mom was constantly making me do extremely heinous chores to make sure I was always up and about, preferrably sweating, while I was growing up. I never really understood why until a few years later, after I suddenly gained about 70 pounds just being a college student and a wife. I didn't suddenly gorge on food, I didn't suddenly become a couch potato...I just wasn't getting 30 minutes of sweat in. I've been fighting the weight I gained for the last 8 years. I've gone on fad diets because people i knew told me they worked. I've tried excercize regimens, but they're hard to keep up with when you don't have someone to do them with you. It's gotten to the point from time to time when I've thought about liposuction, just to get rid of this weight that I CANNOT SEEM TO LOSE NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY.

So please...don't make the mistake of thinking weight loss is easy if you're doing it on your own and fighting your genetic makeup to boot.

Well, no, I don't believe I am.

Genetic makeup factors in as well, yes, I know that. I am sure there has always been people who struggle against obesity/overweightness and have problems with that, I myself am overweight and know how difficult it is to lose weight. But really, as the numbers go up, you can no longer blame the problem as wholly on genetic makeup and difficulty to lose weight that has already been added on. There have always been obese people and overweight people that struggle. But the fastly increasing numbers seem to reflect that perhaps people who are becoming overweight and obese do not always have these problems. I'm sure a lot of people do, though.

I never said all people can blame their problems on genes or how hard it is to lose weight...I am simply giving you some of the reasons why obese people remain obese. Obviously they don't apply to all people. That seemed so self-evident to me that I didn't feel the need to state it. I have also stated repeatedly that I personally do not blame my weight problems on anything. I am simply continuing this discussion because you still seem intent on defending your earlier comment of obese people simply not caring that they are obese.

As the numbers start to go up and up....then it's time for people to consider whether they should seek professional help to lose weight. If someone is obese (not just 20 or 30 pounds overweight...obese), then there is likely more of a problem there than them just liking food. They may eat for comfort, they may even eat because people call them fat and they're convinced that is all they'll ever be, so they might as well enjoy themselves. Psycological problems such as those often remain untreated. I already mentioned compulsive overeating...which is often ignored as an eating disorder, though it is every bit as serious as anorexia or bulimia...and it is a problem that is quite widespread.

Not everyone who is obese has the genetic problems, obviously, but I'd wager that most do eat for reasons like comfort. It's like an addiction, and people need a lot of support to get through it. It's easier if there's someone to do it with....and if you don't live with people who are also obese and continue to eat unhealthy foods. Otherwise it's just like being an alcoholic and working in a bar.

I don't remember coming outright and saying that you did.

Most of the rest of your post seemed to be restating what you had already said. Again, YES, there are people who have psychological problems and need help, yes there are people who have addictions and things such as compulsive overeating and other eating disorders that are widespread.However, I don't think these diseases are suddenly effecting more and more people. Eating for comfort can only go so far until it lands into one of the psychological disorder categories. There must be people that do not care as much about their weight, and they are probably the ones upping the numbers so much.

Me. I'm overweight (my BMI is one or two points above what it should be) and I'm fine with it, it's the price I pay for eating what I want and not exercising.

I have yet to meet a seriously obese person who did not care about their weight. Overweight, yes...but not obese (Commie would fall into the overweight category....since his BMI is only 1 or 2 points above where it should be).

And I've known a lot of obese people. Nearly my entire family. And that's just my mother's side -- probably about 30 people on her side are obese. My dad's side has quite a few as well. They're all fans of fad diets, of course, so none of them ever seem to keep the weight off....but they all keep trying, failing, then trying again. I'd hardly call that not caring. The only people I've ever met who didn't care weren't that overweight at all. They're the people I've always wished I looked like...because they seemed normal to me.

I'm finished debating here. We're obviously not going to agree on this...because I think more people care, and you think more people don't. I'm obviously not going to change your mind...and that's fine. I've stopped caring.

that is NOT how he died...he fell on an icy road or something and hit his head



being overweight definately is not the same as being obese...i know people who look normal and healthy, but they supposedly weigh too much for their height, weight, age.

and that's really a shame because people go to the doctors and they say 'you weigh too much' or 'you're overweight' when they don't look it, or think they're doing good, and then they do these extreme things because they thought they were fine when they really weren't (according to the doctor). and that is ridiculous...i mean, yes, there are seriously a lot of people who don't take care of themselves and are obese...but those that are 'overweight' aren't necessarily doing something unhealthy, so they shouldn't think they HAVE to diet because the average person their height/weight/age weighs less.

Yep, definitely something the doctors and everyone has to think about. The doctors don't want you gaining weight, I think. I'm overweight and every time I go to my doctor, she tells me to watch what I eat. I suppose it really doesn't hurt if you're a little overweight, but it's something that needs to be regulated with a doctor. I don't try to lose weight because a. I don't have enough spine to and b. I think that if I mantain my weight as I grow, I'll end up OK, and if not I want to wait until I'm fully grown to fool with my weight. That's not to say I'm not happy when I drop a pound or so

I tried to maintain my weight as I grew as well. I weighed what I should weigh now when I was about your age. I thought...hey, if I just stay this weight, I'll be fine when I'm grown up. That obviously didn't happen. But, it could happen for you...I'd just be careful...because it gets harder to lose weight as you get older. It's easier if you get into better habits when you're very young.

Oh, yes, I've forgotten about that. Thanks for reminding me, I'll have to watch out for that. I don't really have the best eating habits - i.e., I'll skip meals and I don't eat a lot of vegetables. I think I just need to find some more recipes with vegetables that hide that yucky taste. (I think I can eat cheesy broccoli with lots of cheese. ) Oh, and something my father says to my older sister almost every day: portion control. Heh, back on the subject - I don't think any fad diets work. The exercise machine ads are bearable, but the "Lose ten pounds in 48 hours" drinks are just stupid. I wonder where the fine print is on that stuff...someone could bring up a lawsuit.

Oooh, the lose 10 lbs in 48 hours drinks are something I mentioned earlier....a popular one is LA Weight Loss. It's a laxative! There's a few others floating around too, and I think they're the same. I mean, seriously...drinking a laxative for 48 hours straight? Yikes. There is fine print on all of them though...saying something like, "Consult your doctor before you begin any weight loss regimen. We are not responsible for any injury that results from using this product...etc." Exercise equipment says this too...and so do more recent aerobic videos and such. So they're pretty much covered.

Some of that stuff seems very scary. Like Leptoprin. They specifically say in their commercial that it's far too strong if you're trying to lose just 5 or 10 pounds.

Also scary -- stomach stapling. While I was in the hospital, a friend of my mom's was down in ICU because she'd had her stomach stapled a few months before and was having really horrible complications. I once thought of having my stomach stapled, but not anymore. Several women my family knows have had it done, all have come close to death. One of them doesn't have a belly button any more because she had all of the excess skin removed. Bleeghh. That particular thing didn't put her in any danger, obviously, but it just creeps me out!

During a discussion about how sushi can give you tapeworms, a mate's mother reasoned (seriously!): "Well, at least if you got them, you'd lose weight." euughh

I'm a vegetarian--not because I wanted to lose weight mind you, but because the idea of mad cow scared me shiteless and it all sort of snowballed. That was a year or so ago; and I can't even tell you how much healthier I feel. I didn't really lose all that much weight--when your body is adjusting to the sudden loss of animal fats, you will lose a noticeable amount, but not much--and in fact, if you do vegetarianism the wrong way (no meat? go pizza!) then you can actually gain weight. But with a mixure of soy products, several vitamins (including gobs of iron to make up for the anemia, oops), and black belt training in tkd, it's actually a good "diet". You don't get that heavy feeling after eating and I have a lot more energy, which in turn allows me to be more active. It's a good cycle; the trick is to talk to a doctor or dietician (I did both) and do a lot of personal research.

Because parasites living in your internal organs is by far the easiest way to lose. Eeyuck. "Parasite Infested Sushi!" "I lost twelve pounds and had to have major surgery done complicating my life forever to remove a large worm curled in my small intestine! Thanks Parasite Infested Sushi!"

Not to ruin your appetite or anything.

Ooh! Julia Willis imitated a weight-loss ad:

"Try ANOREX for just thirty days, and if you're not completely delighted with the results, have your next-of-kin return the empty ANOREX bottle for a full refund."