By in Health & Fitness

Fad Diets: Yea or Nay?

I've always believed that barring the existence of a true medical issue, like a hypoactive thyroid, the best and safest way to lose weight is to increase activity levels while decreasing calorie and fat intake. That approach is scientifically sound (since 3,500 calories equals a pound), relatively easy to track, and supported by doctors. You just figure out how many calories you need to eat in a day to maintain your weight, and then undercut your intake by 300 or 400 calories.

Still, it's amazing that so many folks choose to go with fad diets and pills and shakes and powders.

So it got me wondering: do any of you use alternative dieting methods? If so, which ones, and have they worked for you? Most importantly, have they worked for you over the long run, like more than five years? It's easy to lose 10 pounds rather quickly if you use things like meal replacement shakes that essentially reduce your calorie consumption by limiting your intake in an easy way, but how do things go for you once you STOP using the shakes or powders (or the like)?



TheTalker wrote on June 12, 2014, 1:36 AM

I am one for just eating smaller portions, avoid foods that are fattening like bread and deserts, and don't eat out of boredom.