Are crash diets the way to go?

[kellykatt]

I just read a news article on a study that said that in terms of losing weight, crash diets actually work best. It doesn't talk about long term, but to get the fat down, they could be the winner...could that be true?

Crash diets may be most effective weight-loss technique, U.K. study suggests | National Post

[Maggie]

That's an interesting article about the study but I really just can't believe that crash diets are the best weight loss method. They don't set you up for the long term, they don't teach you anything healthy, and they're hard on your body. I'd say yes, if you wanted to lose 2 pounds quickly, you could probably do it fastest that way, but for actual real weight loss, slow and steady is the way to go, hands down.

[Mike]

There are studies out there that can prove just about anything. Just because one study says that something is true, it doesn’t mean that this is the right one. Especially because there are so many other studies that would say otherwise. Just because it is the most recent study, it doesn’t mean it’s the right one.

[Penny]

Probably the best thing that you can do is to just go and ask your doctor what the best diet is for you. If you get a crash diet recommended to you, then you know that its' the right one for what you want. If you get another one recommended to you then you'll know it's what is right for you. For my two cents, I don't think there is much of a chance that your doctor is going to recommend that you start a crash diet

[treehuggertodd]

I just finished reading another new study that just came out a few days ago that now found sort of the opposite in terms of benefits of crash diets and fad diets. They found that while you can lose a lot of weight in a small amount of time, it’s nearly always sshort term. If you want long term results then the diet programs just aren’t going to get you there. You need to change what you’re doing for life, not just for a small period of time. It looked into a lot of more common diets, too like atkins and weight watchers.

[Tiff]

It's getting harder and harder to trust the results of studies. As soon as they use one to prove that something is the perfect solution to all of our problems, then another study comes along to say the opposite.

[char]

This may sound like a weird quesiton but are crash diets and fad diets the same thing? I've had a lot of luck with some diets that would probably be considered to be fad diets but I don't know if those are the same as crash diets or not. I don't think that any of the really extreme stuff is right for long term weight loss and maintenance, but there are some that really teach you a lot and that help you to get the weight off and keep it gone.