Avoiding Dangers of Fad Diets

Speaker 1 0:04

We all sometimes are guilty of trying to find that instant gratification . We've all been there wanting that fast result , and sometimes our desperation leads us to making some pretty unhealthy choices , especially when it comes to our diet . So , while a lot of diets can be guilty of kind of disorder eating approaches , there are some that just are completely out there , bonkers and can have some really lasting negative effects on your health and , as you mentioned , as morbid and as maybe intense as it may sound , there are some out there that can actually lead to your death .

Speaker 2 0:39

Hey guys , it's Kori from Redefining Strength . Welcome to the Thin Attack podcast . All of us want better results faster . It's why fad diets are so appealing and why we can't help but seek them out . However , fad diets not only cannot lead to the lasting results that we want , they can also be incredibly dangerous to our health and even lead to death . I'm not trying to be overly dramatic or scare you . However , I think it's really key that we understand there can be lasting ramifications to some of the things that we do . That's why I'm super excited to dive into five different fad diets and the dangers of them and discuss with Michelle how we can avoid them . I'm also going to go over tips and questions you should be asking yourself to assess what is right for you as you're trying to work towards specific goals .

Speaker 2 1:22

So let's jump right in and learn more about fad diets . When we think about crazy fad diets , we think , well , I'll never fall prey to them . But I can tell you , despite our best intentions , despite how much we might know about things , we can all fall prey to fad diets because we all want better results faster . I know , I've even personally tried things like the potato diet , because it promised better results and had different research behind it that I thought was valid , and so I gave it a shot and it was miserable . But , no matter what , we can fall prey to these different things being pushed on social media that sound too good to be true , because we can't help but want that better result or think that there might be an easier way out there . So I wanted to discuss questions that I find myself asking when I presented with something new I haven't heard of before , something on social media that seems very appealing and questions I ask my clients to ask , when we might not be seeing results quite as fast as we like and a shiny object is drawing our attention away . So , in terms of these questions , the first question I always like to think about is is this being promoted by someone I trust that I know will do their research ? Because there can be people that even have titles I've seen , unfortunately , dietitians , trainers , coaches on social media pushing things that feel aren't really backed by research and because I don't know anything about them , I'll dive into them . I want someone to do the same with me and all the information I present . Look at my background , look at my team , look at how I'm presenting things in the research there so that you can really know if I'm to be trusted or not . Then the second thing is like what studies have been done about this ? So I have mixed feelings about science when it comes to nutrition and workouts and studies in general , because I think a lot of times they're being used to just prove what we want to prove and you can find a lot of studies that argue against other studies . So there's always going to be differing opinions . But you want to look at the research and look at research to see do I believe in these studies ? How they were done ? Does this show me that there is potentially validity to what's being promoted or an opportunity there ?

Dangers of Fad Diets

Speaker 2 3:20

The next question you want to ask is does it seem to be too good to be true ? Unfortunately , to get results , we have to go back to those boring basics . It's the stuff that it takes learning , takes time , takes practice , takes us being bad at it . It's not really very big aha moments that we should be really seeking out or newer sexy things . Often what's really going to work is those boring basics . So if it seems too good to be true , if it promises overnight results , really dive into what it's telling you and why that might be the case . Then number four ties into that . Is it boring ? Is it found in the basics ? Is there something there that you're like , hmm , this is really not going against what the fundamentals of nutrition or fundamentals are working out really are . This is really too exciting , almost , in a way , to be true . So if it's not boring , to some extent , it might be too good to be true and it might be a fad diet .

Speaker 2 4:10

Okay , number five does it rely on drugs or supplements or things I can only buy from this one source ? I've seen this happen . When it's come , it comes to different forms of training that are even valid , like blood flow restriction , places will promote a specific form of that and only work if you have their bands right , only work if you have their supplements . And if this happens where they're the thing only works with their specific thing that you have to buy from them . It might be a little too good to be true . It's probably a fad diet . Not that we can't use supplements and different tools and different things to get better results faster . So I'm not saying that someone that promotes a specific thing isn't trying to help you out and fill gaps potentially that you're not able to get , but if they're creating gaps through the , the diet or workouts that you can only solve by getting their thing , it's probably too good to be true and you probably want to do a little bit more research on that .

Speaker 2 5:01

The next question you want to ask is does it involve food related items or , sorry , non food related items , or very restrictive guidelines ? So if it's asking you to consume something that's not food , it could be really dangerous and you want to look a lot more into it . Also , if there's really restrictive guidelines and it's , you could only have these very select , small amount of things . Hey , that's probably not a longterm fix or a lifestyle solution , but you really want to look at why is this being restrictive ? Because often diets that are more restrictive , they don't really care if you succeed , it's a short term fix , and maybe you decide , hey , I am going to do this short term fix , knowing that I have an exit strategy , but it's not a longterm solution and they don't really care if they're setting you up for longterm success . They're getting you the result , so you buy that thing and then maybe even have to buy more things from them . So really think about those restrictive guidelines , especially if it's related to any non food related items that you're supposed to be consuming .

Speaker 2 5:52

The next question you want to ask is does it demonize food groups or huge , a huge range of things ? The more something is saying things are bad demonizing foods , the less sustainable it's ultimately going to be . And again it goes back to they don't really care if they're selling you this one thing , trust me , guys , like if there was a faster fix than macros or creating workout progressions , I would be pushing it to you because I would want to use it too . But I know it comes back to those boring basics and that's why I always tell people , even when they're going to work with me , it's not going to be some big aha moment Not that there won't be . You know things that we learned about ourselves that are kind of aha moments but it's going to be little tweaks often to our lifestyle that really add up .

Speaker 2 6:28

So if they're making these sweeping changes , making you cut out things , think about whether or not this is truly a long-term solution or if it's just going to lead to you doing the thing to lose the weight , to ultimately fall back into old habits and not know what you need to do to maintain the results . The last question I like to ask is does it really limit what I can and can't do in a way I can never sustain which ties in right ? What you do to reach a goal will be different than what you do to maintain that goal . However , you can't go back to what you were doing prior . So if the changes you are making are not built on some foundation that will then help you adjust your lifestyle to move forward , you're probably going to fall back into those old habits and it's just going to be a fad diet that keeps you stuck on that yo-yo dieting cycle . So really think is this going to give me the foundation I need to move forward , even after I achieve my goals ?

Speaker 2 7:12

We always want to be assessing all the information presented to us , especially on social media , where there can be such a wide variety of things shown . Thank you , there's a lot of opportunity in this . I don't want you just demonizing something because it's a perspective that's different than yours , because in seeing these different perspectives we can constantly learn to meet ourselves where we're at and see opportunity in them . But we always want to be assessing what is right for us and what might be derailing our success or shiny object that we chase . That leads us down a bad path . Okay , so please make sure that you're always assessing , to learn to meet yourself where you're at .

Speaker 2 7:43

So we're going to talk about fad diets today and how fad diets can be very dangerous and even lead to death . And some of the fad diets that Michelle shared I wasn't even aware of and they seem kind of ridiculous and many of us think , oh , I would never do that , even though we've been guilty of doing some pretty ridiculous things . But the last fad diet we're going to touch on , many of us actually have probably confused this for being healthy and we want to talk about why it can have negative ramifications , because really things aren't just good or bad . So , michelle , I'm excited to talk about fad diets that can kill us . Can you explain , like why fad diets can be so dangerous ?

Speaker 1 8:20

Yeah , absolutely . The big thing is is we all sometimes are guilty of trying to find that instant gratification . We've all been there wanting that fast results and sometimes our desperation leads us to making some pretty unhealthy choices , especially when it comes to our diet . So , while a lot of diets can be guilty of kind of disorder eating approaches , there are some that just are completely out there bonkers and can have some really lasting negative effects on your health and , as you mentioned , as morbid and as maybe intense as it may sound , there are some out there that can actually lead to your death and it's just because they are so poorly founded or just really unhealthy and causing you to ingest things that aren't actually food .

Speaker 2 9:09

And aside from death , there's some less traumatic consequences but still some negative side effects to fad diets and I think it's so key we realize that our desire for faster results can often sabotage not only our long term health but our long term weight loss results . Can you talk a little bit about some of the things that you see often happen when people are seeking those fad diets , those overnight changes ?

Speaker 1 9:33

Yeah , I hear it so often like clients will come in and be like hey , I rocked this X diet or whatever this fad diet was , but my discipline gain just was weak . I wasn't able to hold to it and I have to tell them guess what ? It really wasn't a discipline thing , it was simply that your approach was completely wrong and what you were doing wasn't sustainable . So it's really trying to sprint , trying to sprint to the finish line , but you're actually starting the race backwards , so you're only at that finish line for a brief moment and you're actually running it clear back to the starting line . So it really is a total no go . It's just not going to work when we are using these bad diet approaches .

Speaker 1 10:14

But a big thing is , is all fad diets often are , like we mentioned , short term results that can be seen quickly but aren't going to be lasting . Oftentimes this can actually lead to an increase in weight because things like metabolic adaptation is going to occur . A lot of times clients are actually losing muscle mass because they're taking things too extreme . So we're losing a lot of muscle . That's actually occurring . That's going to decrease your weight loss down down the road and it really can be draining not only on you physically , mentally , but also on your wallet as well . A lot of these diets are so poor that they require other supplements to even somewhat be able to keep you functioning . So if you're on a diet that's like , oh and on this , you needed to be taking these vitamins , these minerals and this other supplement to actually fill in the gaps that the fad diet is creating , you're probably on the wrong route .

Speaker 2 11:17

It's kind of crazy to think that , like , we can do these different things , see results , then lose all the results and then even want to go back to it saying , hey , this worked for me in the past . It's like , but did it really work ? If you're now seeking a new solution , like that's something we have to ask ourselves that , even though something might have produced results , it might not have been the right thing , the thing we should be doing , the thing that actually fits our lifestyle , and so , going off of that , let's talk about the history sort of of these fad diets that you've seen , going back through all the different options and some dangerous ones that we want to really avoid .

Speaker 1 11:53

So some of them you've probably heard and , as you mentioned , you're going to think to yourself oh yeah , there's no way I would have ever done something like that . So one that's actually still popular still happens today , but most people know it's not a good thing is actually the tapeworm diet . It's been around for decades and it's just like it sounds . You actually swallow the egg of a tapeworm and it hatches inside you and starts ingesting your food , and I hope all of us know that having parasites inside of us , eating our nutrient nutrients , can have ramifications that are going to be negative . But some big things that can happen is if you ingest a tapeworm egg and you are not only letting it consume things from your intestines , but it can also damage your intestinal wall .

Speaker 1 12:42

And then , of course , once people have it in their mind well , there's medication for that . I'm going to just have it for a little bit . I'm going to get down to my goal way . I'm going to use this as a springboard to a healthier diet . And once I'm there , I'm just going to have the doctor prescribe me some medication , some anti-worm medication , and I will just pass it . But the truth is , is some tapeworms eggs can actually migrate to various parts of your body and actually cause cysts in organs such as your liver , your eyes , your hearts , your brain , and they are going to actually , they can actually even cause seizures , which can be very common , and , of course , organ failure , which can lead to death , so it's definitely one that is not recommended . Of course , like I said , I know most people know that this is not a good thing , but yet people get desperate when they are trying to find solutions , and this is one that has been around for decades and people are still trying to use it as a weight loss aid .

Speaker 2 13:46

I think it almost even relates back to the fact that we think , okay , well , I'm going to get to my goal and then I'll start to make the changes right . It's why we seek out you know , magic pills , these fast fixes is even in the weight loss journey . When you're doing it the right way , so to speak , you're making the healthy changes . What you do to get down to the weight or the goal that you have isn't what you'll do to maintain it . So I think there's some realization that it's not a lifestyle that you're fully building . But we also can't let that become we're going to do something that's going to sabotage the long-term success or not be based on a solid foundation , just to get to a goal , because if you don't actually make the changes , you're not going to maintain it once you're there .

Speaker 1 14:24

And I think that's a good point to have , even if it's something that doesn't seem as extreme as like taking a tapeworm . But I've had I've heard that conversation many times where it's like , well , I'm just going to do this until I hit this weight loss and then I'm going to go about it the healthy way and then I'm going to do learn how to eat right , learn how to exercise . But the truth is is you're not starting laying down that foundation at the very beginning . You're going to bounce back up . Like you said , it's not going to be a sustainable thing . So if you get to that weight and then all of a sudden you try the healthy weight , you're still going to see that increase and unfortunately it's going to kind of reinforce that mindset . That's like , oh , I'll just do this again , I'll just get back to that weight that I wanted and try it again .

Speaker 2 15:10

So we're not swallowing tapeworms , but we're also not trying to out sleep our diet and I thought this was an interesting thing because I can see the rationale for wanting to do it . But we want to talk about the negative effects of what you called the sleeping beauty diet .

Dangerous and Unhealthy Diet Trends

Speaker 1 15:26

So this came about on the theory that if you're asleep , you're not eating . If you're not eating , we're not going to be in a calorie , you know a calorie surplus . So you're going to be able to lose weight . And unfortunately , celebrities tend to actually be a huge driving force when it comes to fat diets , and this one was rumored to actually be popularized by Elvis Presley . So the theory of this , or what was actually happening during this time , is people would be taking sleeping pills and would sleep for days on end , not eating , and lose pounds .

Speaker 1 16:00

Fortunately , if you're not eating calories again , you're going . Your body is going to be not only burning fat but also burning muscle and once it gets past that , it's now going to be turning to your organs . So you're quite literally starving yourself to death . And every time you go under , every time you take that pill , there's a risk . Sure , you may wake up you know two pounds lighter but there's also a chance that you may not wake up at all the next time you do it . I think we all know that overmedicating , depending on medication and , quite frankly , sleeping pills in general , can be a scary substance to utilize day to day , but if you're abusing it to purposely kind of sleep your life away . Then we are . We are dealing with all these other issues , and of course I mean what ? What kind of life is that to live ? If you're tipped , you are literally sleeping your days away .

Speaker 2 16:55

Not to mention who has time for that . Aren't all of us struggling to find enough time to even get quality sleep , as is Exactly yes , so so that definitely , anytime we're bringing in medication to it , there's always a risk and unknown with that , and then again you're not getting that quality recovery , even necessarily , even though you're sleeping more , not to mention as if you're starving yourself , as you said , you're going to be seeing all these negative effects and it's not , again , the lifestyle changes we actually need to make to see lasting results . It's that quick fix , it's that thing that we're relying on , whether it's discipline or medication , something else outside of what it actually takes to create the healthy lifestyle we need Exactly . And so the next bad diet slightly does border into trying to make lifestyle changes , but they're just slightly misguided . And it's the five bite diet . What is this ?

Speaker 1 17:52

So this one is fairly simple you get to eat whatever you want , but only five bites of it .

Speaker 1 17:58

So , on this diet , the issue is is you actually are skipping breakfast and you're only eating five bites for both lunch and for dinner .

Speaker 1 18:07

Now , while I am completely okay with the idea of eating whatever you want in smaller portions to kind of work within a calorie deficit , and with the requirement , of course , that you are focusing on nutrient dense foods surrounding those five bites , this simply just isn't a diet that's going to give your body enough fuel that it needs .

Speaker 1 18:27

So one of the things that I really want to highlight here is if you only have five bites a day for you know , okay , so 10 bites total for a day are you actually going to be making sure all 10 of those bites are going to be high calorie , nutrient dense foods ? There really doesn't leave very much room for actually enjoying the fun foods in life that are going to be less nutrient dense . So if , out of those 10 bites , you know you take two bites of the tree or two bites of a dessert , or , heck , even if you wanted to take all 10 bites of a dessert and that was all you had for the day , you are really looking at major nutrient deficiency . Again . We're looking at basically a starvation diet , because I don't care how big your bites are , most likely you are extremely under in calories and we're hitting that extreme calorie deficit where , once again , your body's gonna be not just burning fat but burning muscle and eventually turning to your organs . If this is something you were pursuing long term .

Speaker 2 19:30

And at some point , this is where we start to think we don't have the discipline , the willpower , the self-control , when really it's that we're doing something that our body , our mind , is going to fight against . Not to mention even hearing this , where my head instantly goes is how can I cheat on this ? Like , if we're questioning how we can get away with more , it's probably not a change . That's meeting us where we're at , because my thought is is okay if I have five bites and I don't chew anything ? If I dump a whole bag of Reese's into my mouth and then just like puff out my cheeks and I can just chew it all at once , that's one bite , right , like I mean , that's where your head goes . The least healthy version , too , of something that you're doing , especially the more extreme it is , because it's just not sustainable . And the less we're meeting ourselves where we're at , the more we're trying to force these unrealistic changes on ourselves . Ultimately , the less we're gonna truly see the results that we want building and being maintained .

Speaker 1 20:24

Yes , exactly .

Speaker 2 20:26

Okay , so the next one when you mentioned this one to me and then we got on a whole tangent about the texture of this thing is the cotton ball diet . Can you talk a little bit about the cotton ball diet and the theory behind it ?

Speaker 1 20:38

Yeah , so the cotton ball diet is you take a cotton ball , you dip it in orange juice to make it a little bit more palatable and you swallow it , and the idea is this is purely as an appetite suppressant . Now , despite that , once again we're looking at some non-food form of ingestion that most people would be like , hey , probably eating cotton isn't a good idea . What's the most horrific thing about this is this is a diet from the past that has actually recently resurfaced In TikTok and social media . This is actually tips that you can find people sharing that are not and shouldn't be sharing these things actually in chats with each other on how they suppress their appetite .

Dangers of Non-Food Fad Diets

Speaker 1 21:23

Now , what's really dangerous about this is , of course , once again , it's a non-food product , but you are one depriving your body again of meat and nutrients by eating anything that isn't actually food . But this can actually cause intestinal blockages , and blockages can not only cause major dehydration but also bowel obstruction , which can cause the death of actual the actual gastrointestinal tract itself . So it will cause tissue death and damage to internal organs .

Speaker 1 21:55

So , despite me just gagging about the thought of putting cotton in my mouth , but the cotton itself isn't even actually true cotton anymore . So if you're thinking like , well , it's a natural cotton substance . No , the cotton balls that you're getting are actually a bleach , synthetic fiber . So it's completely astounding to me that this is even something that , again , we're having to address . But it was something that has come out on the market before , has died because people have had deaths from it and we've seen the major negatives of it , and it's been addressed before by medical professionals . But here we are , back in the year 2023 and we are having to even talk about this again because it has resurfaced as a diet again .

Speaker 2 22:43

We can't help but want a faster fix , like we all do , like even when we know something isn't healthy , like I've done the potato diet . So I get the attraction to something because if it says these things can work and you're like , well , that doesn't sound that bad , I could do that , for short term you are drawn to it , which is , honestly how we even got on the subject of dangerous fad diets was because a new diet came up on TikTok that we wanted to touch on next , that we really want to make sure people don't fall prey to with the presence of it on social media .

Speaker 1 23:13

Yeah , the borax diet . So if you've been on TikTok , tiktok , tiktok , tiktok at all recently , you're going to probably have seen some emerging videos about the borax diet . I think there was hundreds that were like I've jumped on the borax train . And it's again unfortunate that we even have to discuss this about not ingesting non-food components in your body . But this is the .

Speaker 1 23:39

Borax is a powdery substance that's actually found in laundry detergent and sold on its own as actually a cleaning product .

Speaker 1 23:47

So pretty much people are ingesting cleaning products because somewhere someone decided that if you were to put some into water just a pinch of it that it would reduce inflammation , joint pain and even soaking in it can detoxify your body , and all of this down the road will actually lead to weight loss . So all of that has been debunked . Borax is not healthy to consume . If you are someone that is consuming it regularly , you are going to have major stomach irritation , potentially result in blue and green vomit , and even if you're soaking in it , which you're thinking , oh , it's a cleaning product , I should be able to at least soak in the tub and get the detoxifying effects . Now most of you are going to end up as bred as a strawberry and actually even have your skin start to peel off , so it is not a substance that has any place within your weight loss journey , or even your overall health journey , for that matter . So great for cleaning , great for the laundry leave it in the laundry room .

Speaker 2 24:55

And presence of diets like this on social media are concerning .

Speaker 2 25:00

I think it's like this interesting thing of there's lots of different opinions as to what is the perfect diet , what is the right diet , what diet works for people , and , ultimately , what we can get consistent with is what's going to work , despite , maybe , what studies have proven to be most optimal , which you could even argue about right .

Speaker 2 25:16

So we have a lot of different opinions and this is opportunity for us to find what we really need . However , we do have to be aware , if something promises results that haven't been proven results overnight , if it's not a food related product , if it's not something that you can actually find any data on , be very conscious of who you trust and make sure that you're doing your own research behind it . And I even mentioned this as we're going to talk about the last fad diet you have on the list , which is the raw food diet . Because this one , on the surface , seems very healthy , because , as you said , michelle , we think of raw food as healthy food , right , all natural , whole natural foods . This is what we should be consuming . So , off of that , why is this fad diet concerning and why do we have to be conscious of the demonization of anything but raw food .

Speaker 1 26:08

So yeah , just like you said , raw and health have kind of people have been confusing the definitions of the two . People think raw as unprocessed and that unprocessed we also think healthy .

Raw Food Diets

Speaker 1 26:20

And the truth of the matter is is we as humans just simply cannot survive on raw foods alone anymore . We do not have the adequate enzymes to actually be able to break down all of the raw food products . This is why it's actually can be better to cook foods , because we are oftentimes breaking down and actually making it easier for us to get some of the nutrients from our food intake , and I mean we can even I can even go off on a tangent on why pairing and cooking foods and fats actually make it so we're able to absorb more of those fat soluble vitamins and making them better for us to consume . But I'll table that for another discussion and we'll really just focus on the raw side of things . So we no longer have the intestinal muscular strength to actually break down these foods , nor do we have those enzymes . And just looking at the food safety side of things , we are looking at foods that actually are going to be have a higher risk of containing bacteria if we're not cooking them , and there are several different ways that people go about the raw food diet . Some do like a raw food plant only , some do like a raw vegan , some do raw vegetarian and there is some people out there that do a raw , more traditional diet where they are still consuming animal proteins and , yeah , they're not cooking them , they're eating them raw . So the problem is , of course , the bacteria that you're going to have in these issues . Just for example , if you are drinking raw milk , you have a higher risk of getting listeria . If you are consuming raw meats or meats that aren't cooked to the proper temperature because there is some there are some people that will even have a little wiggle room where you can cook but you can't eat any like you can't cook over a certain degree in Fahrenheit of the foods . Well , certain bacterias are only killed if you take a food and cook it to a certain level . So things like chicken , pork , those type of things have to be cooked well above the range that most of these people are deeming as safe .

Speaker 1 28:32

So this is a diet that again appears healthy on the outside . I know as a dietitian , we're always asking people to get in more plant points , focus on those plants , but this diet makes it very difficult to actually be able to consume protein products , especially if you're doing the vegan , vegetarian or even the traditional approach , because you're eating raw meat basically . But if you are eating vegan or vegetarian , where's your plant protein options ? Because , again , we're focusing on raw and on processed , so a lot of processed vegan foods that are going to be fortified with protein aren't going to actually be available for you , and even things like kidney beans , kidney sprouts those type of foods can actually be dangerous when consumed raw .

Speaker 1 29:23

So this is a diet that Gwyneth Paltrow has actually made pretty famous and a lot of people have kind of jumped on the bandwagon and , like you said , from the outside it sounds like it should be good , but there's a huge gap in there and I again , this is something that we could probably go on another tangent on . But Gwyneth Paltrow also does IVs with lots of vitamins and minerals that she gets fairly regularly , and it's because she doesn't get what she needs from her diet and , quite frankly , it's a little bit of an elitist approach to a diet when you're not able to get it from the foods you need , so you have to pay for the expense to get it via your veins , and we can even go off on how getting IVs when you don't need IVs , getting stuck with a needle when you don't need to be stuck with a needle , is actually opening yourself up to other risks with infections and things like that as well .

Speaker 2 30:23

It really comes back to with all these different diets the fact that if something is being touted as an overnight fix , if it's eliminating a ton of other things from your diet and being really restrictive , if it's really demonizing things and saying only these things are good , this is all bad . It's something that you want to do more research and dive into . Whether or not it is raw foods , which on the surface again does look healthy , or cotton balls or tapeworms or whatever else it is by bites . If something is eliminating too many things , not meeting you where you're at and honestly not boring , it's probably not good , and I know that sounds really weird to say , but I've even had a conversation with a number of clients coming in . Well , what will I learn from this ? And like what will be my aha moment ? And I'm like nothing .

Speaker 2 31:11

Like , honestly , if somebody's promising this big aha , eye opening , life changing thing that's super shocking to you , there's probably a reason why it's not good . It's only being used in this one area or it's new and not been tested or around for a while . Like the foundational things , the basics that we come back to are boring . They're usually small tweaks to what we're currently doing that really add up to make not only the changes that we need to see the results we want , but lasting changes . So if something is promising this big aha moment thing that you've never heard of before , that goes to extremes it's probably not something you want to be doing .

Speaker 1 31:46

Yeah , it's going to be hard work , getting back to the basics and I think for most people that is the aha moment is realizing like , oh , I don't have to do anything to the extreme . It really is about understanding the basics of nutrition , laying down that foundation and being consistent . And it's not a sexy cell . It's not . That's why these bad diets are going to stay around is because it does offer that quick weight loss , quick results . That's why people fall victim to it . But it's really going to be the non-sexy . Back to basics , just proper nutrition working out , getting in an appropriate calorie deficit . That's going to be where your weight loss journey is truly going to take off .

Speaker 2 32:34

And I mean , I get it . We're all still , no matter how much knowledge we have , we're all still searching for . Is there this new thing ? That's something that I'm missing . That's the secret that will finally make everything easier . And then , when it really comes back to , is now getting results , maintaining results . I guess you could say life in general , not to go all deep is kind of difficult , it's sacrifices and not always doing what you want when you want , but it's always coming back to those basics and realizing that small tweaks , small changes are what will ultimately always help you meet yourself where you're at , to move forward . Yes , exactly . Well , thank you so much , michelle . I think we will all be avoiding these things and really focusing back on those basics .

Speaker 2 33:14

The final thing I really want to discuss when it comes to fad diets is the fact that if nothing changes , nothing changes . So there are different techniques and tactics we might implement that aren't necessarily fad diets , but they are more quick fixes . I'll even use mini cuts with clients , which I don't consider to be a fad diet , even though they are a short term solution . So there might be short term solutions you encounter . You might even choose , after talking with your doctor , to do a weight loss drug or a surgery , and while , of course , I am a huge advocate of controlling what we can control from a lifestyle standpoint , if you determine that something that is maybe a short term fix is right for you , you want to recognize that if nothing changes , nothing changes . So while that might help you reach your goal faster , if you don't ultimately make a lifestyle change , you are never going to sustain those results , no matter how much you got down to your goal . And so I bring this up because it's always key we learn to meet ourselves where we're at . So , whether or not you decide to do a mini cut maybe you even decide to do a fad diet that is what someone else might deem to be a little crazier or you choose to go a little bit more restrictive with your nutrition or do anything else you've ultimately got to change that lifestyle as you're doing this and have that exit strategy if you want to maintain those results . Because you have to adjust your lifestyle , you can't go back to old habits and expect to keep your new result .

Speaker 2 34:35

So , with all this , if you do decide to do something that is a quicker fix , make sure you're learning the basics along the way . Assess where you're at , assess your lifestyle , think how you can make small adjustments to that as you're even using that other solution . So , if you're not training currently and you want to make sure that you're adding in that workout so that you can build that lean muscle and maintain your results , think about how you can meet yourself where you're at right now . Maybe you just go for a walk to start . Maybe you just had five minute workouts Right now , as you're fueling . However you're doing it , or whatever you feel like , is your lifestyle or something that you would want to return to think about .

Speaker 2 35:11

Okay , here's my actual lifestyle and my nutrition . With this lifestyle , what's one small change I can make ? It seems simple and sometimes we're even selecting the lesser of two evils , but even making one little swap can really add up . So , if you're drinking like five sodas a day , maybe you go back to four . Something else is going to be like oh , soda , so bad , don't drink it . But you know that might be the change that you need to ultimately start shifting that lifestyle to maintain the results that you get .

Speaker 2 35:36

Okay , the more we meet ourselves where we're at , the more we're going to make something sustainable . If you're eating out all the time . Maybe you cut back on one meal you eat out or you make a swap for something with a few more vegetables out of the meal . Maybe you cut out one snack and add in a fruit or vegetable instead of you know that more processed snack , the smaller the change we make , often the less painful it is and the easier it is to implement and almost make unconscious , because really we do run off of unconscious patterns and habits that we built up , built up over time . So the more we can make changes that easily become those things , the less willpower and self-control we're going to be having to exert to keep maintaining those things . So if life gets stressful , we'll keep doing them . So think about how you can really meet yourself where you're at .

Effective Fitness Exit Strategy Creation

Speaker 2 36:17

But , no matter what , think about that exit strategy . Even if you aren't doing any sort of quick fix , even if you're really making lifestyle changes now , there might be more sacrifices you're making along the way to reach a goal , because what you do to reach a goal again is not the same thing you'll necessarily do to maintain it , especially over time . So always be thinking about that exit strategy . How can I make this a lifestyle and evolve something into maintaining my results , know when you can't go back to what you were doing prior .

Speaker 2 36:44

But small changes are not sexy , but they really add up . Sometimes even embracing the lesser of two evils might be the path that you need to go to meet yourself where you're at but realize you're creating your lifestyle balance , not somebody else's . You're not trying to hit someone else's arbitrary standards of clean or what they think is right in terms of workout schedule . You're basing everything off of what you need right now to even sometimes do the minimum to move forward . Well , that's a wrap for this episode of the Fitness Hacks podcast . I hope you enjoyed these tips and you're going to really look at assessing all the information that you see out there to find the diet and workout routine that works best for you .