Anyone ever try a fad diet before?

I did the HGC diet and drops before. Lost 30lbs in 5 weeks, then gained it all back. you can NOT live on 500 calories a day.

I've done a few...they all worked to drop the weight, but not to keep it off. Reason they tend not to work long term is that they are something your start and then stop at some point...i.e. they're not a diet (noun), they're a diet (verb).

You also don't generally learn about how many calories your body actually needs...calories in/out...portion control...what a serving of something is and looks like, proper nutrition and macro/micro-nutrient content of food, etc. Everything is just sort of handed to you with a fad diet and you're left blowing in the wind when it's all over.

Your diet and fitness profile should be sustainable for life if you want lifetime results, with the only difference between now and maintenance being the number of calories you're consuming...i.e. a deficit now, maintenance later. Equally important, your fitness "lifestyle" should also be something sustainable and should have it's own, independent goals...independent of just calorie burn. You'll be much more likely to stick to a fitness regimen when you have independent fitness goals outside of calorie burn.

I also started with the HGC last August and lost 30lb but since than I've lost another 26 the MFP way.

I did this thing called "Bio Diet" once many years ago....it was this juice fast thing, and probably only totaled 500 calories or so a day.. The fruit one wasn't too bad, but there was vegetable juice that, to this day, when I think about it hard enough, I can still conjur the taste and want to gag :sick:

I also tried Metabolife at one point too....and Atkins...

Obviously, none of those 'quick fix' things work (this should be no suprise to anyone here)

Air Force Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, Weight Loss Clinic, Slim Fast, Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, yep all of 'em. With EVERY ONE of them I gained the weight back because they weren't sustainable after the weight loss phase (for me). That's why MFP and eating foods I can live with for the rest of my life, in sustainable amounts is working for me.

I did three days of the Atkins fat fast diet, I finished yesterday. While I lost 7 pounds in those three days, weight loss that quickly was not my aim. I needed to break a plateau and I have done that. Would I recommend it? Only if you really are stuck on a plateau and are prepared to feel really bad days 2-3. I know I will regain some of the weight, but it is usual to have a net loss. I was also deeply into ketosis, which is a very good place to be if like me you eat primal/paleo.

I have done Atkins, but I don't consider that a fad, it worked for me, I changed to primal as it's a way of eating I can sustain for life.

You'll be much more likely to stick to a fitness regimen when you have independent fitness goals outside of calorie burn.

What is an example of an "independent fitness goal?" Something like: "today I biked 1 mile, tomorrow I'm going to go for 1.5?"

Yes. and I agree. I started running last year and I loved the challenge - I never ran at all so when I started the C25K, it was very motivating to reach the mini goals (able to run 2 minutes straight, then 3 minutes, etc.) Now I still run, but I am having trouble being motivated. I can run a 5K, I have no desire to run further, lol. And now I exercise simply because I "have to" if you have an independent goal, it is easier to be motivated and feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of your workout that keeps you going even if the scale isn't budging.

Trying to find a new goal for myself outside of running.

Teresa

Not a fad diet, just stupidity, but in highschool I ate fat free pringles and junior mints for lunch for a few months. I lost weight, then went on vacation and gained it all back.
My mom tried every fad ever and watching her made me never want to do any of them.

I tried the MILITARY DIET and it worked gr8t; however, after going "off" the military diet, I gained the weight back

Currently on the Keto diet but it's not really a fad since it was designed in the 70's. The diet is simple, minimize carb intake to start ketosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

Not trying to gimmick anyone but this is an excerpt from another post I made;

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Carbohydrates in the diet cause an insulin (a "storage" hormone) output in the pancreas. It is used to store glycogen, amino acids into muscles, while causing excess calories to be stored as fat. So common sense asks me, "How can one try to break down fat, when your body is in a storage-type mode?" Difficult to do, indeed. That is why it makes perfect sense for step one to be cutting carbs.
The next thing that happens in your body is the rise in catecholamines (a "fat mobilizing" hormone), cortisol (a "breakdown" hormone), and growth hormone. Now your body realizes there’s no more carbs to burn for energy, so it must find another energy source: fat.
This usually happens during a metabolic condition called "ketosis." This is when your liver is out of glycogen and starts to produce ketones (by-products of fatty acids). You can check your status of whether or not you are in ketosis with urinalysis strips you can pick up at any local drug store called "Ketostix." Just urinate and see if it turns color. If so, you have ketones in the urine.
When the body is fed fat and protein, it will use dietary fat along with bodyfat for energy with protein going towards repair.
As a side note, there is another reason why this diet makes the most sense to use while keeping muscle. When one follows a high carbohydrate, low-fat, reduced-calorie diet, there’s a point when some bodyfat is burned, but when the body is still in a carbohydrate burning metabolism while trying to lose "weight," it will strip down precious body protein to convert to glucose for energy.

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I researched this diet a lot to be convinced as I am not big on nutrition since growing up my body has always had a high metabolism rate. But I am convinced and have been tracking weight lost and while not in huge moderation it is working well. I have read a lot of body builders will do Keto to keep definition without losing muscle mass.

Diets work, people just give up or cannot keep a positive vibe about them.

The closest I did was weight watchers, but you can eat what you want, so I don't know if that counts. My mother has tried most of them. But diets don't work, b/c you're going to just go back to your old ways. It's a good jump-start, but you have to make a life choice to clean up your diet for the rest of your life. Yea, you can binge every often, We're only human, but those fad diets don't really, truly work for the long haul.

I have tried quite a few over the years:

1. Slim Fast (hated those "chocolate" drinks!"
2. Abs Diet (this is healthy eating and I had good success with it)
3. Juice Fast (vegetable and fruit juicing for 3 days -- did lose some weight, but it's a pretty miserable experience)
4. Dukan Diet (did lose weight but then it came back on with a vengeance)

Can you call anorexia a fad diet considering many people did it and suggested it when I was younger?

I did that, I was rail thin and then when I would start eating again I would gain like nobodies business. I had an extremely unhealthy relationship with food because of that 'habit' or 'diet' and not only am I paying for it now with long term consequences I also paid for it back then by always yo-yoing and never finding happiness with my body.

Never do a diet that you cannot maintain for the rest of your life, you'd be kidding yourself if you think it would be the best choice to do so.

I did the Scarsdale diet which is basically just a VLCD. I lost about 30-40 pounds on it, then switched to more realistic plans like south beach, then switched to just eating healthy and working out.