The vicous cycle of fad diets

What are fad diets anyway? How can you tell you're looking at one.

I think I've posted about this before actually, complaining of the countless ads I have seen littered all over myspace and various websites I frequent, showing before and after pictures and proclaiming fast weight loss of amazing amounts, like 20 lbs in two weeks or 30 lbs in a month.

But ya know what, there are other fad diets out there, excluding "magic pills" that show great weight loss and make us say "heck yeah I wanna lose weight on that plan".

Before I start my opinionate bashing and execising my freedom of speech on how I feel these diet plan sales people are exploiting those of us who really want to get our weight off via our pocket books, I am going to relist my check list of things to look for in spotting a fad diet. I do this to remind myself periodically not to fall for the hog wash I see floating around that makes it seem easier.

1. general rule of thumb, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

2. If it promises weight loss with out changing your eating and exercise habbits....

3. if it promises large amounts and fast weight loss in a short time period ( 20 lbs in two weeks etc..)

4. buying meal plans or prepackaged foods....

5. Focuses on just a certian amounts of foods, excluding certian foods or groups and doesn't focus on a healthy balanced diet.

Ok, so, I've voiced my opinion on the magic pills and annoying fake diet blogs floating around advertising free samples of acai berry and green tea. Those really piss me off!

But this is what is urking me lately. It's the beginning of the year, everyone has done their new years resolutions. I'm laying back for the evening, relaxing with my family and watching television and guess what commercial I see? Jenny Craig....

I saw this commercial this evening, and of course with me wanting to get my weight off real bad, any diet plan or weight loss commercial is going to grab my attention. I see these people sporting their new look with before and after pictures and I did it with Jenny! It bothered me because I thought " what are these people going to do AFTER they lose their weight and they aren't eating their preplanned meals anymore? Their whole menu is set out for them. They eat what is on the plan, and it's all pre portioned and through the months they are eating this and losing weight, are they learning how to cook better, portion better and continue on a healthy eating lifestyle?

Like many other diets, slim fast, dexatrim, cabbage soup etc. If you aren't learning to cook leaner, make healthier choices and better portions, you're going to gain it back eventually. from my personal experience, you don't keep weight off if you don't make perminant changes in lifestyle, and I just don't see how these prepackaged meal plan diets are teaching anyone how to change their life style and eating habbits PERMINANTLY! It seems to me, it's another scam to dip into our pockets, by weighing on our emotional desires to lose weight, knowing full well that most of us would do damned near anything to get it off!!

It upsets me!!

I am not saying Jenny Craig is bad, or some of the other prepacked food diets. But I think it should fall into the catagory of fad diets and should be done with caution. Not so much because they are unsafe like magic pills, but because it doesn't seem to be a perminant fix to a life long problem. what happens when the weight is lost and you go back to eating your own prepared foods and the weight comes back? You go back to the prepacked meals to do it all over again?

Why would I want to do that? I want to get my weight off once and keep it off. I don't want to struggle like this over and over, or every few years. I want to learn how to exercise and eat properly and change my habbits so I never get here again!!!

And I certianly don't want diet scammers to feed on my emotional desire to look and feel better about myself to the point that they are getting richer by the day.