Dealing with people on fad diets

seltzermint555

I seem to have a lot of friends, coworkers, and acquaintances who are using various popular "fad diets". I won't name any of them because I know they're probably popular with some MFP members, too.

Whenever they notice my weight loss they always ask how I've done it and when I mention this site, they often scoff at it or tell me how they used to use it along with their fad diets and according to MFP they were supposed to be losing X amount when they were gaining, or MFP told them they should be gaining weight on the fad diet and they lost X number of pounds. It's like they are trying to prove that MFP doesn't work.

For me, MFP has been an awesome tool so far and I've found it very helpful. I have no interest in the fad diets. I am never sure what to say to these people. It's really none of their business. But just wondering if anyone has experienced this, too?

Another sidenote: I don't judge the fad diets, I say whatever works for you...great. But it annoys me when some of these people make comments like, "OMG you are eating a banana? NO bananas on THE DIET I AM ON"

How do you deal with these people??

GiGiBeans

Mmm bananas. They were a no no on my low carb diet for quite a while so I'd have been envious of your banana too. But really who cares what anyone else is doing if ya found something that works for you? Enjoy your banana, make lip smacking noises and say "oh that sucks cause bananas are required on mine"

JustPeachy044

Mmm bananas. Enjoy your banana, make lip smacking noises and say "oh that sucks cause bananas are required on mine"

LOL. That would be priceless. Do it and tell us what happens!

tessi1993

how could u NOT eat banana thats cray cray

tessi1993

PS: whats a fad diet? lol

melaniecheeks

I'd just shrug, smile, and say "It's a good thing we're all different, and find what works for us as individuals then".

Cindyinpg

I have friends on the HCG diet and I have been biting my tongue rather hard to keep from scolding them. Just today, one of them tried to helpfully give me a recipe for mashed cauliflower, because, "potatoes are not good for you." :noway: They are only eating 500 calories a day and seeing successful weightloss and are giving all the credit to the drops or injections or whatever. They are so stoked about their rapid weightloss and on how good they are feeling, that there is no chance they will listen to reason, so I just smile and nod. Maybe they will be the exceptions that prove the rule and will be able to keep the weight off. :ohwell: they are adults, so what can you do?

FeelingLessChubby

I've come to realise that fad diets inevitably force the dieter to exclude something that they're usually pretty interested in.

Some friends are now doing some diet, don't know what it's called, all they're eating is meat and eggs for the whole of the first week, then the second week they can add vegetables, then slowly over the next few weeks they can balance out things but still eat meat and eggs one day each week.

I don't think I could look at only meat and eggs after about 2 days...

I love MFP because it's nice and easy, I don't feel like it's restricting me in any way, I can eat what I want and just mind the calories. It's been a revelation really. I've never been much of a fad dieter, I did try the South Beach diet once and my body really didn't like it, and I also tried Special K and the portions were way too small.

Now I can eat until I'm full and I have barely any cravings and I'm still losing weight!

MFP works. End of.

FitnessBeverlyHills

Diets of any kind just don't work. There needs to be a healthy balance and it needs to be a lifestyle, not a quick fix. Bananas are great, I could see if you ate a pint of ice cream every night, but a Banana? That is a first. There are too many weird fads going on right now to keep track of. Some people are on the fat diet, some people or doing low carb...what ever happened to eating a well balanced diet and giving your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs. Or instead of putting so much focus on the diet, how about making goals to become stronger, start a new activity, stay active, improve your flexibility etc.?

RunFarLiveHappy

Since I've lost a fairly significant amount of weight and the majority of it being fat (96 pounds of 110) I always get asked. Anyone that has ever seen or talked to me before asks. "What's your secret?" "What program are you using?" Etc., etc. When I tell them diet (the noun, not the verb) and exercise they have one of two responses: exhilaration for me and massive kudos, knowing that it must have been A TON of hard work OR they respond in a way that is something to the effect of "oh crap! I was hoping you found the miracle ____ diet" The second response DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! So no this isn't 100% what you asked, but I find that it does apply. People will always want the EASY solution and I always have the SIMPLE solution ready. Burn more than you eat = very simple, but it sure isn't easy. Every day I have to convince myself that I'm worth this effort and that I want to keep on trying. I want to be healthy for myself and my family. I want this to be the one and only time I have to face this struggle. I want to do this the right way so that I keep the weight off.

Side note: I absolutely HATE when people say they "can't" eat a particular food because their diet doesn't allow it. The only foods I "can't" eat are the ones I am allergic to. (Unfortunately that does include a handful of things ????!)

_Zardoz_

WHy do you need to deal with them? Just continue what your doing

KarenJanine

I just keep my mouth closed these days when friends / colleagues are on their next fad diet. Sure they'll be losing pounds week on week but I know they'll be back to square one in a few months while. They'll also be complaining about being hungry or feeling like they've ruined it all if they have a slice of cake, while I get to enjoy foods I love every day.

JustPeachy044

Good old fashioned hard work works. No secret. It's almost as if people think there is one, and there has to be this special top-secret program that will "fix" them. I am going to hazard a guess that the failure rate on people trying those plans is close to 100%.

These people commenting about your food, that is so rude. It happens to me in the teacher's lounge too...last year I took a big salad every day. My favorite comment was along the lines of, "how can you eat SO much?!" followed by "oh, I'd never have time to make something like that." WTH? Just FYI, this year it probably won't be salads every day, I want more variety. Although I do love my salad!!

Mario_Az

30 Bananas A Day

seltzermint555

I just keep my mouth closed these days when friends / colleagues are on their next fad diet. Sure they'll be losing pounds week on week but I know they'll be back to square one in a few months while. They'll also be complaining about being hungry or feeling like they've ruined it all if they have a slice of cake, while I get to enjoy foods I love every day.

SO true!!!

I wish I could respond to everyone individually...awesome responses so far :-)

seltzermint555

I'd just shrug, smile, and say "It's a good thing we're all different, and find what works for us as individuals then".

I like this approach!

drop_it_like_a_squat

I just keep my mouth closed these days when friends / colleagues are on their next fad diet. Sure they'll be losing pounds week on week but I know they'll be back to square one in a few months while. They'll also be complaining about being hungry or feeling like they've ruined it all if they have a slice of cake, while I get to enjoy foods I love every day.

^ Yup. I just let them make their experiences.
Fad dieters are usually the people that want to put as little effort in as possible. They think hard work could be replaced with some crazy low cal diet but they all sooner or later will find out that hard work is the only way. So I just shut up and let them do their thing.

Faery_Dust

Unless I was genuinely concerned for their health I wouldn't get involved. If it was a family member who was living on 500 cals a day and exercising for 2 hours I might try and talk to them, but hopefully they would come off the diet before very long. If my colleagues wants to follow any kind of fad diet I would probably just say good luck and leave them to it.

I'm doing Keto at the moment which I know some people believe is a fad diet as it cuts out carbs, but I also know some people have followed this kind of diet for years and have maintained a keto lifestyle as a way to maintain their weight loss. For me personally I know I won't be on this too much longer, as there are far too many things I miss like certain fruits. But there are certainly aspects of this diet that I do like, such as not really feeling hungry and constantly thinking about food, and next to no cravings at all. It certainly makes losing weight feel easy.

jenilla1

I don't talk about stuff like that with people in real life. If I'm gonna talk about anything, I'm just going to emphasize physical activity and a balanced, healthy diet. People don't really want to hear it.

I wouldn't care what a bunch of serial, yo-yo dieters say anyway. I have a sister-in-law who is convinced that a certain diet program is the key to her weight loss. She's been using it off and on for years, but she only gets bigger and bigger over time. She goes on her diet, crashes and burns, then starts the cycle over.

She asks for advice and then rolls her eyes and says my lifestyle of exercise and logging food is "ridiculous" and "too hard," but hey, I've been successful. I've been at maintenance for well over 2 years. It is neither "ridiculous" nor "too hard." It's simple (but does take effort and dedication) and it's a healthy habit that takes just a couple of minutes out of my day. She's convinced it only works for "lucky" people like me - you know, the ones with the good genes.

Probably a lot of the haters you're describing are the people like my sister-in-law who half-*kitten* a program and then blame the program when it fails. I find that a lot of the people who have trouble on MFP either don't understand how it works or they try to cheat the program (guesstimating, sporadic logging, omitting things, overestimating exercise cals, etc).

It comes down to priorities. You have to want to be healthy and fit MORE than you want the comfort, ease and familiarity of your old lifestyle. That's a tough one for some people, especially the ones that want a quick and easy fix. You also need to actually understand how the body works and understand how the program works.

Good Luck with the haters. :flowerforyou:

adorable_aly

I just nod and smile, and continue to eat all the foods

Claire_x90

I work at a Mrs Fields cookie store and I get all the time comments about when I'm 'on a diet' how can I eat some cookies or the samples? I try to explain I need some cheats because I've tried being all or none and it isn't maintainable for me. because I have frequently lost and gained weight people ask me if I've tried things like coconut detox or shakes and stuff and I haven't, I like food. I don't want to put my banana, yoghurt, oats and protein powder into a blender and drink it, I want my bowl of oats and bowl of yoghurt and banana later on.

My best way to deal with it is to just turn it back on the person 'oh wow no I've never tried the coconut detox, I couldn't do it I like food too much, how are you going with it? wow your self control must be amazing!'

then they just talk about themselves and back off whatever I'm currently doing with my own body

chillycsmith

Yeah I've seen people that hate on MFP saying "It doesn't work" or "It's so annoying to use" and it's probably just because they're lazy, don't have time, don't know what moderation is, or just personally don't like it, and that's okay. I love this website so much because I know how much I need to take in every day and the community is generally so positive and nice...:happy: To each their own, I guess

TheFitnessTutor

It depends on how the conversation started. Sometimes I'll just let it go, usually i just call straight bullshlt and give a couple of quick correlations as to how it's dead wrong and unsustainable and I have a nice little talent for being able to communicate that very well.

I sure as hell do judge fad diets. It's our responsibility to judge them.

I tell ya what. Shortly you will be able to say "just go to the FitnessTutor dot com, he'll set you straight. As a matter of fact, you can do that now.

seltzermint555

I don't talk about stuff like that with people in real life. If I'm gonna talk about anything, I'm just going to emphasize physical activity and a balanced, healthy diet. People don't really want to hear it.

I wouldn't care what a bunch of serial, yo-yo dieters say anyway. I have a sister-in-law who is convinced that a certain diet program is the key to her weight loss. She's been using it off and on for years, but she only gets bigger and bigger over time. She goes on her diet, crashes and burns, then starts the cycle over.

She asks for advice and then rolls her eyes and says my lifestyle of exercise and logging food is "ridiculous" and "too hard," but hey, I've been successful. I've been at maintenance for well over 2 years. It is neither "ridiculous" nor "too hard." It's simple (but does take effort and dedication) and it's a healthy habit that takes just a couple of minutes out of my day. She's convinced it only works for "lucky" people like me - you know, the ones with the good genes.

Probably a lot of the haters you're describing are the people like my sister-in-law who half-*kitten* a program and then blame the program when it fails. I find that a lot of the people who have trouble on MFP either don't understand how it works or they try to cheat the program (guesstimating, sporadic logging, omitting things, overestimating exercise cals, etc).

It comes down to priorities. You have to want to be healthy and fit MORE than you want the comfort, ease and familiarity of your old lifestyle. That's a tough one for some people, especially the ones that want a quick and easy fix. You also need to actually understand how the body works and understand how the program works.

Good Luck with the haters. :flowerforyou:

Thanks! You rock!!

I've been using MFP and my best friend had to change her diet drastically for health reasons, and we've both lost a considerable amount of weight (I have thus far lost around 70 lb total but 26 on MFP). We have a third friend who is always on a fad diet and most recently used some sort of Magical Amazing Weight Loss Miracle Shakes. She gained weight after that. But of course we've had success because we're "lucky".

RhineDHP

I don't talk about stuff like that with people in real life. If I'm gonna talk about anything, I'm just going to emphasize physical activity and a balanced, healthy diet. People don't really want to hear it.

I wouldn't care what a bunch of serial, yo-yo dieters say anyway. I have a sister-in-law who is convinced that a certain diet program is the key to her weight loss. She's been using it off and on for years, but she only gets bigger and bigger over time. She goes on her diet, crashes and burns, then starts the cycle over.

She asks for advice and then rolls her eyes and says my lifestyle of exercise and logging food is "ridiculous" and "too hard," but hey, I've been successful. I've been at maintenance for well over 2 years. It is neither "ridiculous" nor "too hard." It's simple (but does take effort and dedication) and it's a healthy habit that takes just a couple of minutes out of my day. She's convinced it only works for "lucky" people like me - you know, the ones with the good genes.

Probably a lot of the haters you're describing are the people like my sister-in-law who half-*kitten* a program and then blame the program when it fails. I find that a lot of the people who have trouble on MFP either don't understand how it works or they try to cheat the program (guesstimating, sporadic logging, omitting things, overestimating exercise cals, etc).

It comes down to priorities. You have to want to be healthy and fit MORE than you want the comfort, ease and familiarity of your old lifestyle. That's a tough one for some people, especially the ones that want a quick and easy fix. You also need to actually understand how the body works and understand how the program works.

Good Luck with the haters. :flowerforyou:

THIS. THIS SO MUCH> You just won MFP MVP for life! :flowerforyou: :drinker:

AverageUkDude

Depends on the person, most of the time i just tell them how it is. Life's to short to care what people think of me when in a few months they will only prove me right.

whipsmart10014

I ignore them. My results speak for themselves.