When it comes to losing weight, everyone has two things in common: they’re impatient to lose it, and once they do, they’re afraid they’ll gain the weight back. When it comes to losing the weight and keeping it off, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by avoiding the top five worst diets of all time.
1. Liquid Diets: There are some diets out there that claim that simply by spending a week drinking a patented juice bottle or a special tea, you can shed pounds like crazy and stop hunger pangs. The truth of the matter is that liquid diets allow you to simply starve yourself. Drinking so many liquids creates a temporary feeling of fullness, yes, but the drinks themselves contain little to no nutritional value. If you would like to supplement your meals with liquid nourishment, don’t choose ones that are advertised as being for diets. Instead, choose real fruit and vegetable juices to go with your meals.
2. Dieting pills: Dieting pills is where losing weight can become very dangerous indeed. Whether you choose vitamins, supplements, or simply capsules advertised as weight loss pills, you are running a risk. What many don’t realize about these items is that they are not FDA approved. This means that they can literally contain anything. Not only can this waste your time and money, but putting your trust in diet pills can actually make you sick if you’re not careful.
3. Any Diet That Touts Eating Solely One Food: It’s likely you’ve tried this kind before. You’ve had salad diets, grapefruit diets, diets that exclude meat, diets that are nothing but meat–what all of these diets have in common is that they are depriving you of food that you need to be healthy. Oftentimes they leave you hungry, weak, and miserable. As your body panics over the sudden lack, you begin craving intensely. Don’t deprive yourself. A nourishing, balanced diet will do more for helping you lose weight and feel healthier in the long run than living solely off of fruit salad will.
4. Diets That Boast Small Portions: While shrinking your portions is an essential part of almost any diet, avoid diets that serve exclusively small portions. Contrary to popular belief, being hungry all the time is not a sign that the diet is working. It merely increases your chances of binge eating later. By investing in diets that have sensible, balanced portions, you will be able to stick to the diet for much longer. Don’t restrict yourself, and don’t drive yourself crazy with charts, schedules, or calorie counting. In the long run it simply isn’t worth it.
5. Any Diet That Claims to Cause Unhealthy Weight Loss: Most doctors agree that losing about a pound a week over a gradual amount of time is the best way to lose weight and keep the weight off. Don’t trust diets that claim to be able to rid you of 30 pounds in a week, for example. Your body simply isn’t made for such abuse. It puts an enormous amount of stress on your body, which can have drastic results. Worse still, even if you do manage to lose the advertised amount of weight, it’s not unlikely that your metabolism will cause you to gain it all back.
When it comes to the top five worst diets of all time, the best way you can avoid them is to consult your doctor before going on any diet. He or she will be able to determine which diets are effective and which ones are scams. By choosing diets that are nourishing, sensible, and gradual, you will be doing your part to keep your weight at a good number while staying healthy at the same time.