So, in a previous post I may have mentioned how I tried what seemed like every diet on the planet. A couple of weeks ago, I explained why Flexible Dieting and following macros/calories was the only thing that EVER got me results; helped me both put on muscle and helped me diet down for a show. Today’s blog post is about uncovering the most common diets that have come up in conversation with current clients, potential clients, strangers, friends and family. It is not about criticizing them (because any diet where you are in a calorie deficit works) but it’s more to keep you informed that for you to reach a fat loss goal, you do not need to go to drastic measures. Let’s begin.
HERBALIFE (and other diets where you consume just shakes all day and maybe 1 small meal in the evening)
My positives: I did this diet before I started weight training after I had put on a bit of weight. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to think about planning meals or cooking. All I had to think about was ensuring there was always milk in the fridge to mix with the powder twice a day. The flavours were tasty and I dropped a lot of weight in a short space of time.
My negatives: This diet did not bode well in social situations. Whereby you can save yourself calories if going out to eat with friends and picking a healthy option with flexible dieting, it is practically impossible with the shakes. Secondly, it is not sustainable to be on shakes the rest of your life. I built up intolerances when I came off it after months of being on them and had to re-train my stomach to deal with normal food. I binged after I lost the weight as so much of ‘normal’ food was not on the plan and although I kept some of the weight off, ideally it should have been a more gradual process. Unfortunately, there is no plan about what to do when you reach your goal weight and how you wean yourself back onto normal meals. Having 1200 calories a day is not sustainable (I was starving in my last month of doing it!) Also, consuming such a low amount of calories from the start to finish is not necessary as your body adapts to it so quickly. I also knew someone who actually had to have therapy after she reached her fat loss goal with doing this diet, as she felt lost and had a lot of anxiety about putting all her weight on and eating normal food again.
INTERMITTENT FASTING-this one definitely comes up A LOT!
My Positives: Again, if it means you’re in a calorie deficit throughout the day than that’s ok, you are guaranteed to lose weight. If you like having set times or a busy lifestyle where you can only eat at those times and it works for you, good for you.
My Negatives: Why go through the pain of forcing yourself not to eat if you didn’t have to? So many people have said to me ‘it really works for me!” My response has been: have you actually met your goal though? (The majority no). Secondly, have you kept that weight off for at least 4-6 months after you’ve reached your goal weight? Would that not be actual proof that it has ‘worked for you’? When I used to skip breakfast and only ate from lunchtime onwards, this one seriously backfired on me; I was so ravenous from not eating breakfast that I would then eat double at lunch. I was NOT in a calorie deficit. With fasting, I wouldn’t be able to train or be as active, so I wouldn’t recommend this one if you’re output is high or if you train regularly. I have experienced dizziness and headaches and feelings of sickness even when I’ve not eaten for 6 hours! Lastly, not fuelling yourself throughout the day for a period of time could also lead to losing muscle mass.
LOW/NO CARBS/KETO (the majority of people say they do this, but their body rarely goes into actual ketosis)
Positives: A lot of people will see drastic weight loss with these diets. I lost a stone in 4 weeks when I was 18 years old from avoiding carbs such as rice, potatoes, bread and cereal. Stupidly, I wanted a quick fix before my first holiday to America. The one good thing about this diet is that it forces you to increase protein intake (which many people seriously undereat on) so undoubtedly you will feel fuller for longer, which is why a lot of people believe it is sustainable and works for them.
My negatives: Avoiding carbs will affect your energy levels, so be prepared to feel tired and fatigued, (not to mention the prospect of headaches and feelings of sickness or dizziness)! Also, it could stir you in the direction of having a bad relationship with food and cause you to believe carbs are evil. No macronutrient should be eliminated from a diet. Also, the fact your body doesn’t need to be in ketosis to lose body fat, why bother?! Socialising will be an issue and when I cut out carbs completely I craved them so much that when I introduced them again, I put all the weight back on! (Not to mention there are carbs in EVERYTHING!) Especially fruit! I remember binging on bread with peanut butter and jam after about 4 weeks on this diet. Before you try this one, please remember the health benefits of carbs-they help your body function and also have the same amount of calories as protein-so why the hell would you cut them out? Lastly, the fact that you will be inevitably increasing fats in your diet just be aware they are over double the calories compared to carbs and proteins, so you need to be sure you are definitely in a calorie deficit for this one to work.
SLIMMING WORLD
My positives: With this diet, there is no requirement to weigh food or calorie count and it means you are guaranteed to eat more protein because lean meats count as ‘free food.’ Weekly meetings mean you’re not in it alone so that can boost motivation for many. It encourages the majority wo are uneducated around nutrition to get them to be more conscious of food and what they’re eating, forcing them to eat more protein, which if you’re wondering why you’re never full it is nearly always down to low protein intake.
My negatives: One weigh- in a week is not accurate enough (your weight fluctuates daily). Your real body weight is your average against 7 weigh- ins of the week. Also, I don’t like that sweets and chocolate etc are counted as ‘syns’, does that not just encourage good and bad foods, when what is most important is your calorie intake and whether you’re actually in a calorie deficit to drop weight? Also, copied straight from their website: ‘there's no judgement about how much or how little activity you do’. Clearly, this diet is for quite overweight people who have confidence and self esteem issues. I will always be an advocate of weight training for body transformations and as much as I understand many don’t enjoy weight training, I strongly believe it is all down to not knowing what to do and how to start. Believe it or not, there are many regressions of many of the exercises and we were all beginners once, so my best advice to you is give it a go!
WEIGHT WATCHERS (now WW)-the closest thing to Flexible dieting
Positives: Like Slimming World, weekly meetings will boost motivation and dedication and your weight loss is rewarded. I would say if you’re not going to follow calories or macros with flexible dieting, this one is definitely the closest thing to it. They use Smart Points (close to macros and calories). No foods are off limits so you are guaranteed a healthy relationship with food, so for social occasions it is about staying within your points. Hooray-you can still have your cake and eat it! Similar to macros and calories, your points budget is divided into weekly and daily. The app looks very similar to MyFitnessPal. Protein is not included in your points so again, people on this diet will be eating more of it and feeling fuller, ensuring sustainability.
My negatives: As good as it is that proteins are ‘free’ or 0 points, it leaves me wondering that as there are still 4 calories in 1g of protein (same as carbs) people on this diet could actually overeat on protein (calories are still calories!) So, what happens when your weight starts to plateau? I’m not sure there is enough emphasis that you can still overshoot your calories on the ‘free foods’. Like Slimming World, 1 weigh in a week is not enough to be an accurate enough reading of your true body weight.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (excusing the pun)
Like I said earlier, any diet works if you are in a calorie deficit but I know what I’d prefer (after trying many!) I haven’t even gone through the all fruit diet and Dukan diet I also tried when I was 18 years old. Flexible dieting hands down is the only diet that has ever worked for me. It was a struggle at first to understand macros, a pain at first to weigh foods but you honestly get used to it after a while. I love the fact that I can know how many calories I have saved myself for a meal out and I love that I eat carbs with every meal. It has worked for us, it has worked for past and current clients and along with weight training, the results have been astounding.
My advice? If you’ve tried many diets and you’ve lost weight but never kept the weight off, give flexible dieting a go. Download the My Fitness Pal app today and for 1 week just see what your daily intake is - I have a feeling you may be surprised!
One last note: diets don’t fail. It’s the aftermath. The hardest part is keeping it off and no diet presented in the media (especially fad diets) encourages a reverse dieting phase when someone has reached their goal. The ultimate failure. But that’s for another time.
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