With the launch of “Lose Weight Look Fab” I was privileged to ask some very smart people a few questions. The first question I asked, was concerning faddy diets.

I was concern about all the new diets you hear celebrities are doing, and their claim of getting massive results fast.

So I asked the experts what they thought. You can also get in on the discussion by leaving your comments below.

“Faddy Diets” what are your views on quick fix diets, especially when you read about celebrities endorsing them.

Simon Lovell Health & fitness expert to Marie Claire, Women’s Fitness, The
BBC – author of The Lunch Box Diet www.lunchboxdiet.co.uk

I’m not a fan of faddy diets because they’re not a lifestyle solution. What will bring you short term happiness through what you see on the scales wont’ bring you happiness in the long term. Find a solution that you know deep down will take you close to your goal of optimum health. If the fad doesn’t have lots of vegetables in it, you probably know it’s not right and you should never be hungry. Some celebrity endorsed products are fine, but we need to know whether the person in question actually got results using that method, or is simply being paid to endorse, there’s a big difference there.

Heather Frey Owner, Founder and President of SmashFit; Certified Personal Trainer; National Figure Competitor; Graphic Designer; and Artist. Also the fitness expert on a new show called “Miami Mom’s” on NBC Miami Nonstop Station. www.smashfit.com

To be honest, it burns me up because all these do “diets” is prey on desperation. They tell people what they want to hear whether it’s the truth or not. The shiny commercials try to convince you that you can get your whole body in shape with one single gadget or by drinking a special “berry juice” and then in the fine print it says “combined with a sensible nutrition plan and exercise”, and my favorite, “These results aren’t typical”. As to the celebrities endorsing them, again it burns me. They put money in front of doing the right thing. I love the celebs who do it the right way and aren’t trying to sell a thing.

Justin Lord Celebrity personal trainer, ITV This Morning’s fitness and nutrition guru and Channel 5’s Live with Gabby. www.justinlord.co.uk

Considering the diet industry is worth over £1 Billion in the UK & U.S. Weight Loss Market Worth $60.9 Billion, coupled with the fact that we have unrealistic weight expectations or weight loss expectations due to all the hype and we’re more concerned about weight loss than a healthy lifestyle, is it any wonder that everyone from magazines and newspapers to television and product companies want a slice of this very lucrative pie.

We all want that amazing body, quickly, but when you throw a set of scales in to the mix and our lack of nutrition education, we unknowingly pave the way for more and more of these quick fix diets promising weight loss on the scales of sometimes 14lb a week or more!

If only you knew what you were losing in terms of weight on these faddy diets! Here’s a hint, it’s hardly any fat. What if I told you that most of the weight loss was water, glycogen (broken down form of carbohydrate), muscle and bone density? Do these faddy diets still sound so great?

The scales look good, but you don’t, and your body isn’t thanking you much either. So it hits back by finding ways of getting all that weight back, and some!

Faddy diets don’t work, full stop. Eat more and more often of the things that we were put here to eat. Stop counting calories, do you ever see lion’s or birds counting calories? No! When do you see overweight animals? When humans start feeding them their processed rubbish!

Faith Toogood An experienced and fully qualified dietitian, registered with the Health Professions Council. She has appeared on The Biggest Loser UK 2011-2012 and Daybreak’s ‘Downsize in Dubai’. www.faithtoogood.com

Quick fix diets have their place and yes you can argue that they ‘work’.  If you stick to them then you will lose weight, often rapidly but it is important to realise that this method of weight loss is unsustainable.  Faddy diets do not deal with the reasons that we are overweight in the first place.  They provide a comfortable and safe structure for us to hide behind.  All of our meals and snacks / drinks are planned out for us thus totally removing the need for the dieter to think for ourselves or make any choices about what to eat or when to eat.  More often than not, the weight is lost and then regained with frightening speed and unfortunately individuals are left heavier than when they initially started.  This is a very common trap and an unhealthy vicious circle which does need to be broken.

To lose weight healthily and sustain this weight loss, we must look at why we eat and take the time to explore our relationship with food.  We are all individuals and for this reason there is no blanket diet that works for everyone for the longterm.  It is key to realise that any healthy, safe and sustained weight loss must come from an individual plan focussed around you, your life and your needs.  It must also be balanced and by this I mean not ‘banning’ certain foods.  Many of my clients will tell me that as soon as they go ‘on a diet’ they think about food continuously and all the foods that are now banned.  Allowing yourself a little more freedom in terms of foods but in parallel to this thinking about WHY you want to eat it? and do you REALLY want to eat it?.  This will remove a lot of the mindless eating that is unfortunately the reason that many of us gain weight.  How often have you been half way through a pack of biscuits before you have really realised what you are doing?  The concept of balance essentially means  yes go out for a pizza and a glass of wine and maybe a pudding but knowing that you are doing this, eat a little less during the day and the day after and up your activity levels.  This way, over a period of a few days everything will balance out and you don’t stop living your life.
Simple changes around portion size, awareness of mindless eating and upping activity levels can have amazing and lasting effects.

Jim Katsoulis Master hypnotist & weight loss expert. Certified hypnotist & NLP trainer, certified yoga instructor. Founder of ProgramYourselfThin.com & TheEliteBody.com

I think quick fix, fad diets almost never help people permanently lose weight. I think people keep trying them because they don’t know how to change how and what they eat and they’re so desperate that they’ll try anything, including believing someone who is paid millions of dollars to endorse something that often times wasn’t even the cause of their own weight loss.

Natalie Jill Licensed Sports Nutritionist and Certified Personal Trainer who specializes in weight loss consulting and counseling people with food allergies and intolerance’s. www.nataliejillfitness.com

I don’t believe in “fad diets” as they never last. I believe in sustainable life style plans based on REAL food. Portion control and balancing healthy fats, lean proteins and natural carbs are very important. Quick fixes are temporary and not only can they not be sustained long term.

Shari Fitness is an ISSA Certified Fitness Professional, Certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, Natural Health Advocate, Winner of the 2009 Chozen Award for Health Practitioner of the Year, Host of FitTalk with ShariFitness, blogger about Natural Health and Fitness and soon to be author. www.fittalknews.com

Quick Fix Diets are a recipe for failure.  Simply put, they are not sustainable and once you go off the “diet”, not only do you gain back the weight you lost, more often than not, you end up weighing more than before you started the “diet”.

I believe in “nutritional sustainability”.  It’s not about the latest fad diet or a quick fix. If your nutrition plan isn’t sustainable, you’re not going to be able to stick to it as a lifestyle.

Eating a balanced diet consisting of a variety of foods that are nutrient rich, flavorful, low in calories, that you enjoy is much more sustainable and enjoyable than the latest starvation diet or the latest fad diet that has you eating as much as you want of one particular item and very little of another item.  Simply put, while you may get results in the short term, in the long term you can’t sustain it and end up gaining back the weight you lost and then some.

Have Your Say

There you have it, six leading heath and fitness experts giving their views on Faddy Diets. What do you think? Are faddy diets a short-term solution that can only do more harm than good. Leave your views in the comments section below and if you haven’t already; sign up below to get updates from Lose Weight Look Fab.