Do you tend to fall for fad diets? You’re not the only one! Even if we might know they’re unhealthy, there’s just something about the promise of losing weight quickly and easily that has us hooked. But remember that old rule: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Here’s why fad diets don’t work, and what the better options are.

1. You miss out on the good stuff

Fad diets DO help you lose weight….short term. That’s usually because they restrict what you eat in, well, a less than healthy way. You could miss out on important nutrients and food groups (for example, if the diet you’re doing focuses on low-fat, you might not be getting enough good fats). Some diets also restrict your calorie intake far below what’s healthy.

2. You can’t keep it up

Many fad diets are pretty intense. So intense that you can’t actually keep doing them forever. And this is where all that hard work falls down. Studies have found that most dieters tend to put the weight straight back on (and then extra) once they stop the diet and go back to their normal routine. This is because extreme diets change your metabolic rate, meaning that your body finds it easier to gain weight.

3. They just don’t work

If you want long-term improvements, an intense, restrictive diet isn’t any more effective than making lifestyle changes and setting manageable goals. Fad diets also haven’t been found to improve other areas of health, like blood pressure or cholesterol levels, any more than just living healthily. Exercising regularly and eating healthily have been found to work just as well for weight loss – and it’s better for you (and more fun!) as well.

That’s why we’re running Fit N Quit – because we want to make it as easy as possible for you to start making healthy, long-term changes to your lifestyle.