Diets, do they work?

[Bonnyyy]

My mom's a nutritionist, so I think the whole pyramid thing works, but I'm wondering if you guys believe in miracle diets or if any have worked for you.

Hmmmm? Girls, I know you've all tried at least a couple. ;)

[kheserthorpe]

It depends what you mean by 'miracle diet' and what you mean by 'work'.

Most diets work, in the sense that you can lose weight on them. You can't lose like 10 lbs of fat in a weekend. Generally to lose fat you need sustained caloric deficit over time. You can't lose much fat in a few days. In a month, you can lose quite a lot. In 6 months, you can lose more.

People often say 'diets don't work' because people regain the weight they lose. I'm not sure that's a reasonable criticism. It would be more accurate to say 'dieting doesn't teach most people new eating habits to maintain the lower weight'.

In terms of fat loss diets, most of the ones I see women try are stupid and going to hammer water first, lean body mass second. A very low calorie diet should be heavily skewed to protein, but not many women do the 'all chicken' crash diet, which is pretty much what they should be on (plus vegetables). I did a protein-sparing-modified fast with my wife, we were both sub 1000 calories, and she complained that she was stuffed by how much meat she was eating. A lot of women eat so much garbage and so _little_ nutritious food.

In my case, I actually found it easier to shift to maintenance eating after the PSMF. Tweaking how I used to eat didn't work. Eating nothing but lean meat, eggs, low fat dairy and vegetables for a while kind of reset me. Then rather then going back to how I used to eat, I just added whole carbs back over the PSMF.

[WeaponZero]

most miracle diets work for short term weight loss, you just can't stick with them over long term because they usually involve depriving yourself of key nutrients (carbohydrates, for instance) that can have an adverse effect on your health if you try to live by them. that being said, I had a friend who lost over 50 lbs in 5 months just by trying out different fad diets and switching between different ones every month or so. however she wasn't able to keep the weight off. that's another downside of miracle diets. they usually work by way of using means that if you stop and go back to "normal" eating habits once you reach your weight goal, the weight comes back.

[madmisskelly]

No, crash diets, quick fixes, none of them work in the long run.

If you can't see yourself sticking to an eating plan for more than one year, it isn't the right plan for you.

I've tried starvation diets, and they suck, they are so horrible and I was hungry all the time.

Now I eat between 1200-1500 calories per day and I keep it balanced.

As you know, those crash don't work and the weight usually comes back.

[candlewax]

No, they don't work. They're temporary quick fixes that usually do not so cool things to your body and can make it even harder to get things back to normal. Solution- stop being a lazy douche about what you eat and do it right. :p New motto for Americans.

[Bonnyyy]

Hey! I'm American! :p lol

[WoIIie]

The pyramid is full of donkey feces.

As long as you make healthy choices, and eat fist-sized portions 4-6 times per day, there is no right or wrong answer. Oh, besides the stupid pyramid that preaches 3 big meals per day.

[funkadelic5]

Eating more meals a day doesn't help.

In fact, I eat ~2 meals a day and I've uber f***ing lean compared to being fat around a year ago.

[WoIIie]

That's coincidental.

[funkadelic5]

Or you could actually care to look at peer-reviewed scientific journals and tell me what they say instead of regurgitating bro science.

[goflipaburger]

Didn't the pyramid get a makeover recently? :O

[WoIIie]

If you consume less calories, you're going to shed body fat. That's a fact.

But just because you managed to eat less calories the wrong way does not make it the most effective nor healthiest approach. It's coincidental.

You could have eaten 17 servings of broccoli and lost weight. That doesn't mean it's the best approach.

[funkadelic5]

And yet you failed to even read what I posted.

Go read a bloody scientific journal.

Then come back and talk.

[WoIIie]

Point me a link. My advice is based 100% of what fitness trainers recommend and get results from.

[funkadelic5]

And guess where those fitness trainers get there advice from? Companies. They are spoon fed whatever bullsh*t propaganda will make the most money.

link

Meal frequency does jack squat.

Try it some time.

[WoIIie]

They use a 0.01 significance level for a study involving sample size of 8 people? Those statistics are flawed. You need a sample size of at least 30 people for a normal distribution curve, anything less will provide a skewed test statistic that doesn't correlate with the population.

[ManaX]

Their only temporary, once you inevitably stop you'll just put the weight back on. Diet and exercise together is more effective but again you have to maintain it.

[tc1125]

diets work if you stick to them religiously, if you stray all the time then no they do not work.

[Anonymous]

i cut my carbs and eat a lot more salads and I lost weight so I guess it worked lol