All Diet Trends Suck

There’s no beating around the bush with this topic… ALL diet trends suck. I mean, are totally and utterly piles of cow dung just sitting in an open field on a sunny July day. They stink. Bad. All of them. As soon as you start adhering to one diet, another one comes along that you want to consider. Do you know what each of them has in common? They aren’t going to help you reach your goals. Here’s why.

You have detox diets. IIFYM. Atkins. Ketogenic. Paleo. South Beach. Weight Watchers. Zone. Mediterranean. Military. Ice Cream. The list goes on and on. It’s as if every week something new comes out. Know why there are so many? Because none of them truly work as an end all be all nutrition plan. Yet, all of them have one thing in common – calorie restriction. That’s the common denominator for all diets that are geared towards weight loss.



There is no secret. There is no magic potion or special sauce that is available on the underground black market. It just doesn’t exist. And people look at personal trainers and nutritionists like they have the goods and aren’t sharing the secrets. That’s because there are none!

The reason why most diet trends come and go is that they are hard and unrealistic to utilize as a lifestyle. That’s why all diet trends suck. They’re just a trend and not a lifestyle modification. Most diet trends extremely restrictive of certain foods or food groups, and unless you live in a house with a personal chef who cooks everything and goes grocery shopping for you, you’re doomed to fail.

Now, I’m not saying that these diet trends cannot yield positive results. But, more times than not, the weight that you lose from these diet trends will eventually come back once the diet is discontinued. The same principle can be said about fat burners and diuretics. Sure, they can aid in weight loss, but once you stop using them, the weight creeps back up because you haven’t changed anything about your lifestyle.

Every time a see new diet trends floating around the internet and social media, I can’t help but roll my eyes. I wish I could sit here and type away at the perfect diet that I can give you to help you drop those unwanted pounds, but without knowing you, testing different foods and macronutrient ratios, I simply can’t. That’s not to say that you should just throw your hands up in the air and give up. Half of the battle when fighting the bulge is to figure out your own body. Everyone is unique. We all have different metabolisms. Our bodies process and utilize nutrients differently. Not everyone has the same activity level throughout the day either. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to weight loss.

If there was a nutrition plan that worked for everyone, you wouldn’t see the obesity rates rising each year. Don’t believe the hype behind diet trends. If you truly want to lose weight and improve your health, you need to find a dietician to work with. They will be able to put together a plan that is specific to you and they’ll have the ability to monitor your results and make changes quite quickly to ensure you keep progressing. Dieticians take the guesswork out of trying to figure out what your body needs from a caloric and macro perspective.



I will give you one word of caution, and that is to vet each potential dietician that you are considering – especially if they are an “online” dietician or as they like to call themselves, “diet coaches.” They will toss around terms like “guru” and “expert” as well, yet have no true credibility in the industry. If you can find a dietician that is in your area who you can physically go see in person, I would recommend that over anything online. Heck, there are even online coaches that contract their work out to other people and they simply use their name and marketing to gain new clients. So, as they say… buyer beware! Do your homework before signing on any dotted line.

If you are a follower of my articles and work, then you know I’m a huge fan of the app, MyFitnessPal. As much as I plug them, they should really start cutting me a royalty check (are you listening, MyFitnessPal?). But seriously, it’s a free app that can definitely help you lose weight without falling victim to all of these nonsensical diet trends.

By plugging in your personal information and telling it what your goals are, it can help put together a plan for you to follow in terms of how many calories you should be consuming each day along with the number of macros you should be taking in to reach your goal. Honestly, it’s not rocket science and this isn’t some magical weight loss app – it simply keeps you honest with your nutritional intake. By logging the foods you eat, you can track where you are at any given point during the day.

What most people fail to realize is that at the end of the day they are overconsuming calories which is leading to their weight gain. Even if you aren’t eating a ton of food, they might be calorically dense foods. Without tracking everything, you wouldn’t know the difference.

It’s ok to go at it on your own. Some people even consider it fun trying to figure out their body. They journal how they feel each day and evaluate the results based off of the foods they ate. Yet, there are many who don’t want to go that extra step and that’s fine. Either way you slice it, just make sure you aren’t jumping on the next big overhyped diet trends or you’ll be let down time and time again. Don’t get frustrated and remember that weight loss isn’t a race to the finish line – it’s a long, drawn-out process that takes time and consistency.