What Makes Fad Diets so Appealing?

When you look at the kind of fad diets on the market, you have to wonder what makes them so appealing to the huge numbers of people that try them. Some diets are so restrictive that following them for too long could damage your health, not that anyone would want to stick to a diet of just cabbage soup or just apples for longer than necessary. People don't seem to be too bothered about the health issues that can arise from going on a diet, though, as they are more concerned with losing weight as quickly as possible, something which fad diets can help with.

In most people's minds it is far worse for your health to be overweight than to go on a diet that provides you with nowhere near enough calories so that you lose weight quickly. They decide to ignore the fact that there is a high failure rate amongst dieters. If you go on a diet to lose weight in the belief that this will offer you the quickest route out of obesity, you are very much mistaken. You might be able to lose weight quickly, but keeping the weight off is another matter. If you really want to maintain a healthy weight, you have to be prepared to make lifestyle changes.

Unfortunately, although individuals may not like being fat, most cannot be bothered to change. Fad diets are appealing, because for a short time you follow a very prescriptive plan that tells you what you can and cannot eat, so that you don't have to think for yourself. You know that sticking to the diet is going to enable you to shift a lot of weight quickly, so that you somehow manage to fight through the hunger pains and cravings for sweet stuff. It is when you come off the diet, though, that you realise it isn't quite as easy to avoid temptation.

Fad diets really shouldn't be that appealing, since most either come with a complex set of rules or are so simplistic that you basically eat exactly the same food for each meal of the day. Usually, you end up eating foods that you know are low in calories, but that also lack in taste and don't provide you with all the nutrients your body requires. However, when you open a magazine and read about a particular diet and see pictures of someone who has lost weight using that diet, you want to give it a go, so that you can hopefully achieve the same results.

You don't even stop to think that you won't be able to keep the weight off, because that is something you can worry about later. You may know people that have followed a fad diet and achieved success, to that dieting appeals to you. Although sticking to a diet can be a challenge, you generally feel that it is worth it when the pounds start to fall off. Even when you are unable to keep the weight off, you just go on another diet and hope that this time it will be different. It never is, though, which is why there will always be a new fad diet that promises the world and fails to deliver.