A lot of diets get the reputation of being a fad diet. This is not necessarily true. Most diets when you first start them could be considered a fad diet because of all the carbs they take out of your plan so that they can achieve the original weight loss promise.
The truth is that after the first couple of weeks they start adding good carbs back into the diet. They only restrict it so much to start with because they know that a lot of people don't like to exercise and would refuse to start or try their diet plan if it includes a lot or sometimes even just a small amount of exercise.
The problem comes in because they restrict the diet so much that people can't maintain it so they quit and it becomes just one more failed diet attempt. What originally got many overweight people in trouble is that they are unable to control themselves. They find that complete freedom leads to bad choices. That's why diets like this work well for short periods of time. Dieters like to feel that they've regained control over their eating habits.
However even though you are certain to lose weight on these plans it's easy to fall off the wagon because they are so strict. Because these diets start out by making a very strict and planned eating portions they get the reputation and must be regarded as, at least in part, a fad diet.
This takes nothing away from the diets that advocate smaller portions of healthy foods spread out over the day combined with 20 to 30 minutes of exercise. Once somebody get's started on this kind of diet and exercise plan they find it's very easy to maintain. The problem comes in when you mention exercise a lot of people run the other way. They don't even bother trying.
The plain truth is that no matter what diet and exercise program you choose, if you consume more than you burn you will gain weight. If you burn more than you consume you will lose weight. There is no way around this. It works the same way for everybody.
While you can lose weight with diet alone you probably will not be able to maintain the weight loss. The best way is with a combination of diet and exercise. It develops good habits that make it easy to lose weight fast and keep it off.
