The Pitfalls of Extreme Dieting

We’ve all seen those diets on Social Media, TV and other media outlets that involve skipping out meals and replacing them with shakes. Herbal Life, Boombod, Cambridge, Slim-Fast, fill in the blank. The marketing strategy for these products is a tried and tested one. Find celebrity A who has large social media presence or public profile. Pay them a significant amount of money to use their platform to promote your product and sell it as if they are a consumer of it, which has brought them the results many of their followers admire daily. This then drives sales of said product significantly, making both the company and celebrity or “influencer”, significant profit. Rinse and repeat. There are several issues with this though. Both ethically and factually. The issue isn’t because a celebrity or influencer is making money, it’s more about the method and consequences by which it’s occurring. In this blog post we’ll discuss this further and explain some of the main pitfalls you could suffer from following these extreme dieting strategies.

It seems reasonable to address one of the most obvious facts about some of these extreme diets. That’s that they DO GET RESULTS! At this point you might be thinking, “why are you writing a blog post about the pitfalls of extreme dieting when you’re actually saying that they get results!”. Let me explain further. The law of Thermodynamics and the concept of calories in vs calories out is one which has been well understood. That is that if you are in a calorie deficit, i.e. – you consume less calories than what your body requires (BMR), then weight loss WILL OCCUR! Therefore, the reason that these extreme diets achieve such drastic results is because they produce a significant calorie deficit. There isn’t anything unique about the way that this is achieved either. The standard model seems to involve skipping at least one or sometimes even two meals (usually breakfast and lunch) and replacing them with whatever product you’re using. This creates an extreme calorie deficit and results in rapid weight loss. This is helped by the fact that the population of consumers for these products tends to be people who have a significant amount of weight to lose and therefore have the greatest capacity for improvement and see large drops in bodyweight. The natural conclusion for consumers is to attribute the results achieved to the product that is being used rather than the fact they are in an extreme calorie deficit. The reality being, the “product” being used isn’t the thing that is bringing the results and could be replaced by anything – blend vegetables and drink it twice a day and you’ll achieve the same results!

The ethical issue is an obvious one, it’s that most of these influencers are selling the idea that any results they have achieved have come through use of the product they are promoting and most of the time that’s simply not the case. It’s likely that a lot of these celebrities or influencers have good genetics, have worked hard in their own training and nutritional habits, yet are selling the idea that what they have achieved is down to the product being promoted. This is disingenuous, unethical and quite frankly, a lie! Abusing your following and misleading consumers for the gaining of profit leaves a bad taste and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Especially when dealing with people’s health! These influencers need to be held to account for the information they are putting out and the consequences it can have on their followers. If you’re looking for advice on nutrition, seek professional help and ask for the persons credentials rather than being influenced by someone who looks good and has a large following. Looking “fit” doesn’t give you right of passage to dish out information on a person’s nutritional habits.

Although creating an extreme caloric deficit through use of these products results in weight loss, there’s also a few obvious negative aspects as well. IT’S NOT SUSTAINABLE. Who in their right mind, wants to skip meals every day? Honestly though!? Is that building sustainable good habits that can allow you to achieve the body you’re happy with for the rest of your life, or does it just sound like another quick fix? OK, so maybe there are certain occasions or events you might have in your life that result in you following a more strict or extreme protocol in order to achieve a specific look or weight by a certain date, but the most successful and healthy plan would be to start building lifetime habits that you can carry with you for the rest of your life rather than quick-fixes that you can’t sustain. Another issue with extreme dieting is the loss of muscle and the negative side effects that can have on overall metabolism. Extreme diets often result in a reduction in total bodyweight but that isn’t just fat that is being lost. When your body is shocked by an extreme calorie deficit, the survival response is to source energy from whatever stores are available. This can result in muscle-protein breakdown and the loss of hard-earned muscle tissue. This isn’t a good look and certainly doesn’t support your goals or health. The goal is to reduce body-fat, not just get the number on the scale to drop!

Hopefully this blog post has given you some food for thought in relation to following unsustainable, extreme dieting products that are marketed to us by celebrities with large social media followings. Some of the key things to remember are, it’s likely these influencers don’t use or believe in the product being sold or have any nutritional knowledge in relation to the effects that product might have on someone’s health. The results achieved through use of these products is brought about by creating an extreme caloric deficit, something that is not sustainable and doesn’t exclusively require the use of a specific product to achieve! Seek professional advice that isn’t just from someone who looks good and has a large following. Build sustainable, life-long habits that will allow you to achieve the results you’re looking for, without re-bounding back to a size or weight you were previously and feeling demotivated. Remember, extreme diets will make you lose weight, you just won’t be able to keep it off for any significant period.

Author – Scott McBride (McBride Fitness)