Diet and fitness FADS you’ve tried before...

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RunsWithBees
RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When attempting to lose weight and get fit I’m sure a lot of us have tried many of the fads that are out there, most of them will eventually fail us because they are simply not sustainable. What fads have you tried before and how did it turn out?
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  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
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    Years ago before understanding CICO and counting calories I tried water fasting. I did it for 3 days straight (ugh!) and felt just awful afterwards. To break the fast I ate some pineapple and it gave me a very strange mouth/throat feel, like puckered but almost painful. I am not allergic to pineapple but it kinda felt like my body was rejecting it anyways?! It took awhile to feel back to normal about eating, needless to say I will never put myself through that willingly again! I also remember at some point buying “metabolism booster” herbal pills of some type or other and a “cleansing tea”... they were absolute rubbish of course!
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I've also tried Couch to 5K a few times - it seemed pretty popular in the early-mid 20-teens when I was doing it, so I'm comfortable calling it a fad. And when I finished the program (the one time I got past week 4 and kept at it), I did one of those gimmicky "color run" 5k races where you get pelted with colored cornstarch the whole time. It was a fun thing to do once, and I took the most colorful and satisfying shower of my life afterward.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,677 Member
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    I started with Dr. Stillman, which was all protein: eggs, meat and cottage cheese, nothing else. I got so I couldn't look at eggs or chicken breasts. Then I did all fruit and vegetables. That didn't last long. I tried very low calorie diets (900 cal. IIRC). Generally I would only last 3 or 4 days. I did a little fasting. That lasted even less time. I lost a lot of weight on Atkins, as I could sustain that longer, but had to have cheat days in order to continue, and once I lost the weight I always regained it because I wasn't willing to give up sugar and bread forever.

    I have the Kraus book as well.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    edited March 2021
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    The first diet I tried I found in a workout book of my mom's. It was very restrictive on fat - I think maybe 15g of fat per day? I think that's how I picked up my Diet Coke habit, to combat the crazy fatigue and brain fog. I was probably also really low calorie to dangerous levels (calorie counting was trashed by the author.)

    I've also tried variations of low carb, South Beach, and intermittent fasting. To the extent that any of these helped, I think it was honestly just keeping track instead of doing whatever.
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
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    goal06082021 wrote: »
    I've also tried Couch to 5K a few times - it seemed pretty popular in the early-mid 20-teens when I was doing it, so I'm comfortable calling it a fad. And when I finished the program (the one time I got past week 4 and kept at it), I did one of those gimmicky "color run" 5k races where you get pelted with colored cornstarch the whole time. It was a fun thing to do once, and I took the most colorful and satisfying shower of my life afterward.

    That sounds like fun!
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
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    rosebarnalice wrote: »
    I'm old enough to have tried the grapefruit diet

    That diet cycles around again every few years, I usually see it advertised on magazines :s
  • GeminiLady159
    GeminiLady159 Posts: 120 Member
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    Juicing! Haha. But I did discover fresh juices are very good (along with actual food!)
  • amart4224
    amart4224 Posts: 345 Member
    edited March 2021
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    Slimfast
    Keto
    Atkins
    Whole 30
    Does Zumba count? Seems like it was at its height of popularity back when I did it.

    Edited to add: wouldn't waste my time on any of the diets again, they just aren't sustainable for me. But would do Zumba again given the opportunity!
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
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    My first diet was the "crash diet" suggested in this book I got from the library at age 14: The Woman Dr.'s Diet for Teenage Girls. It was recommended to do it for only 2 weeks, but after 2 weeks I felt I could keep going. Lost a lot of weight, but became obsessive and eventually my calorie target was 500. This set me up for years and years of restrict/lose some/binge cycles. I also went to WW a few times (although I think now that's a reasonable "lifestyle change"), LA Weight Loss Center, a "medically supervised" weight loss clinic (where they basically gave me some prescription pills, had me fill out a food diary and meet with them once a week), and a number of OTC pills and supplements. I also read the "Buff Brides" book before I got married. Using that, I was able to dial in my workouts and lose some weight to get into a healthy BMI range without changing my diet too much. I've also done "The Body Reset Diet," but that was always meant to be a brief jumpstart to my more sustainable weight loss.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,605 Member
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    Was it grade 9? Or 10?
    Ayds to the rescue....
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayds
    The weight loss lasted a summer...by December it was all back with friends
  • Arralethe
    Arralethe Posts: 222 Member
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    Weightwatchers
    Atkins (gave me gastritis, so had to stop)
    Callanetics - anyone remember that?
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,507 Member
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    Before I actually researched everything, I did the "no fat" product eating which of course still had loads of calories and sugar. Also did the "ab cream" thing back in the 90's because of pseudoscience that I couldn't verify was true or not until internet became much more available.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • Janatki
    Janatki Posts: 730 Member
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    Tried:-
    BBC Diet
    Weight Watchers
    Cabbage Soup Diet
    Atkins
    Slimming World
    IF
    Fast 800

    Think Soup & Atkins only Fad ones ?

    All worked to a various degree, some more painful than others 🤣
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    I did the 'eating 6 meals a day thing', popularized in the book 'Body for Life'. It worked very well, I lost 40 lbs. At the time it fit my life well and the weight training program that came with the book has given me a love for the gym that I never had before.

    I have since moved on from the eating program because I understand that nothing magic happens by spacing your meals out, and at this stage of my life, eating less often just seems to be more sustainable for me.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    I have always been wary of fad diets, since Grandma used to drink SlimFast with her meals.

    I did do South Beach when I lived in Miami, but frankly my current diet is very similar to the second stage.

    We did a Whole 30ish elimination diet about a year and a half ago, but we did an even slower reintroduction phase and did indeed find two food triggers for my husband's chronic pain (and snoring!).

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