How to spot a fad diet

As summer comes around each year, we see adverts, articles and videos telling us to “get beach body ready”. From scrolling social media to popping to the shops, they seem to be everywhere.  

Lots of these ads are tied to fad diets, promising rapid weight loss — often by cutting out certain food groups or severely restricting overall calories.  

But these “quick fix” diets are generally unsustainable — and can even be bad for our health.  

We are not here to sell you any quick fixes. We want to help you look after the body you’re in, and to support you to make healthy habits to last for summer and beyond. 

How do you spot a fad diet?

Luckily, it’s quite easy to identify a fad diet. Just look for any of the following:  

• Promises of rapid weight loss  

• Labelling certain foods “good” and “bad”  

• An unrealistically low allowance of calories  

• Banning entire food groups (such as carbohydrates)  

• Focus on short-term changes  

• Requiring money to take part  

• Little focus on physical activity  

• Lack of scientific evidence  

A good rule of thumb to remember: If a diet sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

Fad diets usually rely on asking you to drastically cut calories for a short period of time.  

This can be through calorie counting, cutting out carbs, intermittent fasting or even only eating a certain type of soup.   

These types of diet (also known as “crash diets”) can be difficult to keep going. We will talk more about that shortly.  

Also, they don’t really focus on what happens next, or what to do if you successfully reach the “end.”  

They are kind of like the rom-com of the diet world, it looks like you’re having a great time, but what on earth happens after the happy ending?  

Well, we know what tends to happen next. Just like a rom-com, fad diets can be pretty predictable.  

Fad diets often lead to “yo-yo dieting”, where people lose weight, then put it on again and give up on the diet because it’s too hard. They might then try a different fad diet later, hoping for longer-lasting results.  

As well as being difficult to maintain, these kinds of diets can also carry health risks.  They can potentially cut out key nutrients — and fasting can cause a lack of energy, feeling light-headed, constipation or headaches.

If the above rings true, we want to let you know that you are not alone. If you beat yourself up about not being able to stick to a diet or think you might do better next time, then you are doing exactly what they want you to.   

Some of these fad diets are actually designed to fail.  

When talking about fad diets, the British Dietician Association, said: “Often these diets cannot be followed long term as many people become fed up with the rigid rules and limits.”

So if you’re seeing ads for getting beach-body ready and getting a sinking feeling in your stomach about dieting — we are here to help.  

We do weight loss differently. We are not about quick fixes, but real changes which last. We want to help you feel healthier and happier.   

Do you want to understand your emotions attached to eating? What about getting support making new habits and making them stick? Or how about discovering the joy of movement?   

Our expert team are here to support you to make changes which work for you.  

You won’t find any fad diets here – in fact you won’t find any diets at all. 

We’re all about making small changes which make a big difference. You decide what you eat, and no food is off limits.  

Find the support that works for you 

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