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

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Replies

  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
    Richard Simmons Deal a Meal. Anyone remember that? Back in the 80s. I actually lost a lot of weight on that. LOL

    Also, Hydroxycut. Awful.
  • RunsWithBees
    RunsWithBees Posts: 1,508 Member
    concordancia wrote: »
    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!).

    Oh I had forgotten I tried slim fast shakes! They just tasted awful and never satisfied my hunger :|
  • sarah7591
    sarah7591 Posts: 415 Member
    I tried Keto.....I could not sleep or concentrate. It was not for me!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,488 Member
    LifeWithPie wrote: »
    Richard Simmons Deal a Meal. Anyone remember that? Back in the 80s. I actually lost a lot of weight on that. LOL

    Also, Hydroxycut. Awful.
    Well the ephedra based one wasn't for everyone. ECA (the actual stack of ephedra, caffiene and aspirin) is still considered one of the actual working OTC stacks that can assist with weight loss. Like any supplementation or medication, it's NOT for everyone.


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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    Fortunately, none really. I really only had one go around with losing a significant amount of weight in my life. I tried many weird things to gain weight though as I was pretty much a beanpole until my mid 20s when I filled out a little bit (a good thing). I put on a good bit of weight in my 30s after I graduated college and started working a gazillion hours per week and traveling for work six months out of the year. It was very slow though...so much so that I really didn't notice it was going on.

    I did do South Beach once for a bit with my wife when we were dating...well, kinda...I would eat SB type meals with her, but when she wasn't around I was eating pretty much normal...but I was also not trying to lose weight, only be supportive. It actually helped me be a bit more mindful about getting in my fruit and veg and I think overall, it's a very good concept and program...but it was pretty huge at one point.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
    Adkins diet
    Scarsdale diet
    Carbo-Calorie diet
    a powdered drink meal replacement diet... don't remember the name but it was torture (and unsuccessful)
    and other extreme stuff in HS like fasting all day and eating 3or 4 steamed zucchini at night.

    You know, the issue was always adherence. So why didn't I intentionally pick something easier to adhere to? SMH
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,190 Member
    Ww when it was regular points, then WW when it was pro points. I call a fad because it never actually taught me how to eat well.

    In NZ and I think AUS there was a company call sureslim. Cost $1000 and was very very strict. They took a blood test and "taylored" your plan to your results. My friend did it, so I did too. It was brutal. Had to leave 5hrs between meals. The list of foods was incredibly small. I had to have set portion sizes, but no real control over what I ate. It was like pick one from this pox (protein) and 2 from this box (carb/veg) but never eat this box.

    I did it for 3 months lost 10kg, gave up cause way to hard and limiting.

    Just googled. They are still in business! That was about 15 years ago

    4 years ago I started MFP, lost 20kg in that year and kept it off. No limits, way easier.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,241 Member
    Slim fast in college. Which I did not need to do because I was a size 6, but still felt so fat. Lord do I wish I could have that body back now and appreciate it.

    South Beach. My mom and I did this one together along with my best friend at the time. We all did really well on it. Out of the fad diets, I feel like it is the least troublesome. While it is low carb, it's not as extreme as others pushing the same thing. I actually am thinking about using some of the recipes and ideas again to reduce carbs from things like pasta and rice because I feel they are pushing out the carbs from fruits and vegetables which have a higher nutritional benefit.

    Weight Watchers. Didn't last long because I thought the idea of points and "free foods" was stupid.

    VLCD. This happened right before I started MFP and reading these forums. Realized I could eat a lot more food and still do well.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    SlimFast
    Atkins
    LA Weight Loss type place - TWICE! And that *kitten* was expensive.
    Hydroxycut
    ACV (that lasted like two days. YUCK!)

    I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    @Avidkeo, regarding WW - yes, that's it exactly. No matter what their "system" is at any given time, I consider it a fad diet because it doesn't actually teach you how to eat. They also tend to discourage many questions about how and why the system works the way it does, or at least, that was my experience all those years ago. It also presents weight loss and the use of their system as a temporary thing you do until your body is an acceptable size, which is the kind of mindset that leads to yo-yo dieting. That's what they want, of course; you give them your money until you're a size whatever, then you stop using the system without having learned anything so you balloon back up, so you get back on WW since it worked before. And yes, the periodic "changes" to how the system works also serve as quasi-scientific window dressing; that, combined with how long the company has been in operation, lend it an air of legitimacy. It does just come down to calorie restriction, which is how all diets work, but it's calorie restriction dressed up in bright colors and obscured with funky math.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    edited March 2021
    goal06082021 wrote: »
    @Avidkeo, regarding WW - yes, that's it exactly. No matter what their "system" is at any given time, I consider it a fad diet because it doesn't actually teach you how to eat. They also tend to discourage many questions about how and why the system works the way it does, or at least, that was my experience all those years ago. It also presents weight loss and the use of their system as a temporary thing you do until your body is an acceptable size, which is the kind of mindset that leads to yo-yo dieting. That's what they want, of course; you give them your money until you're a size whatever, then you stop using the system without having learned anything so you balloon back up, so you get back on WW since it worked before. And yes, the periodic "changes" to how the system works also serve as quasi-scientific window dressing; that, combined with how long the company has been in operation, lend it an air of legitimacy. It does just come down to calorie restriction, which is how all diets work, but it's calorie restriction dressed up in bright colors and obscured with funky math.

    That's an interesting take, but totally different from my take away. To me the points system was basically the same as calorie counting, but simplified, and I ate whatever I wanted within my points. So it was basically portion control. I actually only counted points for the first few weeks though and then just continued to lose weight until I hit my goal (and beyond actually, I kept losing a bit too much weight).
    I guess I can't really wrap my mind around how calorie restriction from any method is teaching you how to eat? Both of them are based on portion control, and if you let your portions creep up after you are done you will gain. I certainly didn't "balloon back up" when I was done with it. Like a lot of people (even here) over a few years my portions, and thus my weight, did a gradual creep up to where I need to lose again.
    I actually would have done weight watchers again, but they changed the system and it seemed more complicated than when I did it, so I ended up here instead.
  • MsBaz2018
    MsBaz2018 Posts: 384 Member
    Slimfast
    South Beach Phase 2
    It was before calory counting apps and they were good ways for me to control my food intake. They also "worked" inasmuch as I was exercising 2hours a day when I did either of them.

    I see a lot of people mentioning Atkins as a fad. But then people who do keto swear it's a lifestyle not a fad. Isn't it the same thing ?
  • SabrinaJL
    SabrinaJL Posts: 1,579 Member
    Avidkeo wrote: »

    I wouldn't call c25k a fad. Its an excellent way for someone to slowly build up to running. It's not only still around, but recommended a lot by most runners for new runners for the above reason. Also its free.

    Colour run is a fad, that I agree with

    I agree. c25k is what really got me started 10 years ago and helped me lose 61 lbs. I'm up 16 since then, but I still run regularly and I ALWAYS recommend it to newbies who wanna start.

    As for fads I've tried...grapefruit diet, cabbage soup diet and slimfast are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Logging was really the way to go. I think logging for so long gave me a much better understanding of food/calories and is probably what helped me not gain ALL the weight back once I quit logging.

  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,039 Member
    My last day with WW happened when they would beat the drum about eating ALL the points and ALL the water every single day Even though I knew that my late day meeting weigh-in would be thrown off by a large meal and meeting my water goals that day, I did as advised. Naturally, the just-consumed food and water made a difference and the group leader admonished me for not following the plan.

    Buh-bye!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    33gail33 wrote: »
    goal06082021 wrote: »
    @Avidkeo, regarding WW - yes, that's it exactly. No matter what their "system" is at any given time, I consider it a fad diet because it doesn't actually teach you how to eat. They also tend to discourage many questions about how and why the system works the way it does, or at least, that was my experience all those years ago. It also presents weight loss and the use of their system as a temporary thing you do until your body is an acceptable size, which is the kind of mindset that leads to yo-yo dieting. That's what they want, of course; you give them your money until you're a size whatever, then you stop using the system without having learned anything so you balloon back up, so you get back on WW since it worked before. And yes, the periodic "changes" to how the system works also serve as quasi-scientific window dressing; that, combined with how long the company has been in operation, lend it an air of legitimacy. It does just come down to calorie restriction, which is how all diets work, but it's calorie restriction dressed up in bright colors and obscured with funky math.

    That's an interesting take, but totally different from my take away. To me the points system was basically the same as calorie counting, but simplified, and I ate whatever I wanted within my points. So it was basically portion control. I actually only counted points for the first few weeks though and then just continued to lose weight until I hit my goal (and beyond actually, I kept losing a bit too much weight).
    I guess I can't really wrap my mind around how calorie restriction from any method is teaching you how to eat? Both of them are based on portion control, and if you let your portions creep up after you are done you will gain. I certainly didn't "balloon back up" when I was done with it. Like a lot of people (even here) over a few years my portions, and thus my weight, did a gradual creep up to where I need to lose again.
    I actually would have done weight watchers again, but they changed the system and it seemed more complicated than when I did it, so I ended up here instead.

    I believe with calorie counting anyway, it depends on how you choose to use the tool. If it is simply a means to an end to simply count calories to get to some arbitrary number on the scale then one probably wouldn't learn a whole lot...particularly if it is viewed as a temporary weight loss effort. I personally found it very educational in teaching me how to provide my body the energy it needs to do the things I want to do and to also improve my overall nutritional profile. I haven't logged or had to log in years or done any kind of special diets and whatnot, and I credit that mostly to what I learned while I was calorie counting for about 7 or 8 months. I can eyeball portions pretty good and I'm pretty good at guestimating calories and whatnot in most things give or take, and my nutrition is far better than it was 8.5 years ago when I started with MFP.
  • ridiculous59
    ridiculous59 Posts: 2,819 Member
    edited March 2021
    I can remember as a teenager doing the "Mayo Clinic Grapfruit Diet" with my mother. Of course it wasn't affiliated with the mayo clinic in any way but having those words typed on the page made it sound very scientificly based. I was into sports and a healthy size so didn't actually need to lose any weight. I just wasn't small and cute like other girls at school.

    Had success with WW after my first pregnancy. Rhubarb counted as a free vegetable so I ate gallons of stewed rhubard with artificial sweetener. Haven't touched rhubard since.

    Attended a place called Diet Centre after my second pregnancy. Very restrictive and had daily weigh-ins with a counsellor. Lost the pregnancy weight in no time.

    Tried Slimfast after my third child. Lost the weight and promptly re-gained it when I stopped drinking the shakes. Spent the next 23 years gradually gaining weight. Finally decided enough was enough and found MFP.

    I have definitely learned the most by using MFP. It changed my way of thinking from "temporary diet" to "way of life".

    Re: C25K. I don't run at all in the winter months so every spring I re-start C25K and run till late October. I think its a great app.

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