Why Fad Diets Actually Work For Fat Loss After 40

Just treat them as a tool, not a lifestyle

Allow me to explain my love of fad diets, even though I’ve built my entire coaching approach around what I call a No Weird Stuff Diet.

That sensible diet doesn’t involve cutting out food groups, eliminating things you enjoy, or turning your kitchen into a laboratory.

It’s just about prioritising protein at every meal, eating sensible portions, having very little alcohol during the week, and earning enough flexibility at weekends to have a life.

A No Weird Stuff dietary approach works, because I’ve seen it work consistently after 16 years coaching folks their 40s/50s/60s.

So this probably sounds hypocritical:

Restrictive, ‘fad’ diets still have their place.

Used correctly, for a specific window of time, with a clear exit plan, they can be a useful tool in your fat loss arsenal.

The problem isn’t the fad diets themselves, it’s that we treat them like a permanent solution that will work forever, rather than a short, sharp ‘turbo boost’.

Why A Sensible Approach Is Still ‘Home Base’

A No Weird Stuff approach produces around one to two pounds of fat loss per week when followed consistently.

Yeah, I know that’s not dramatic, but over three to four months it adds up to a genuinely significant change to your body shape without making you miserable, ruining your social life, or wrecking your relationship with food.

The catch is that from working with clients for so long, I know that one to two pounds a week feels painfully slow when you’re in the middle of it.

Saying No to tasty stuff all week, staying active, controlling portions… and the scales move down 1lb — woop-de-doo.

But that’s just what sustainable fat loss looks like when you avoid fad diets.

Most people know this. And most people still struggle with it.

The “Forever” Problem We All Have

When I read health-related articles online, laying out the BEST way to eat, they always ignore an inconvenient truth — we are not wired for ‘forever’.

“Work out three times a week, weights and cardio, every week, indefinitely” is a perfectly sensible prescription that most people will eventually abandon.

It will work, but our brains need variety, short term projects, quick visible wins to stay motivated over the long haul.

The same is true of diet.

“Eat sensibly and lose one pound a week until you’ve lost all the weight you want” is completely correct advice, but it still fails to keep most people engaged for long enough to see it through and lose a decent amount of weight.

This is why fad diets and training programs keep getting invented and why people keep trying them despite knowing they don’t work long term. The fast initial results feel like real progress in a way that a slow and steady approach never quite does.

And that’s why I’m a fan of fad diets, with one important caveat.

How To Use A Fad Diet FOR EXACTLY TWO WEEKS

The two approaches worth considering for a short fad diet blast are a low carb diet and a very low calorie diet.

Both produce faster initial results than a standard, no-weird-stuff, calorie deficit approach, but they come with trade-offs that make them unsustainable beyond a couple of weeks for most people*.

*I’m sure I’ll have low carb and keto disciples in the comments telling me otherwise, but I’m a 49 year old Dad of 3 teenagers and I’m past caring ;-)

So a typical low carb approach for two weeks looks something like:

• eggs and avocado for breakfast,
• a large protein based salad with chicken or tuna at lunch, and
• salmon or steak with roasted vegetables for dinner.

No bread, pasta, rice or potatoes, very little fruit, no alcohol.

It’s restrictive but manageable for a fortnight, and the initial water weight loss alongside genuine fat loss can produce a four to six pound drop in weight in two weeks, which will feel genuinely motivating.

Similarly a very low calorie approach, somewhere around 1,200 to 1,400 calories a day, follows a ‘protein-first’ meal structure, but with slightly more flexibility around food choices. You just need significantly smaller portions across the board to stay within that not-very-generous calorie allowance.

So things like Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast, a protein wrap at lunch, a smaller version of whatever the family is having for dinner.

Both approaches work in the short term for the same reason — they create a significant calorie deficit that produces fast results.

The question you may ask is “Why bail out after two weeks then?”, and the answer is that your body starts rebelling.

Why Two Weeks Is The Limit

If you try to stick with either approach beyond two weeks the side effects start stacking up, and will make you question whether the fat loss is worth it.

• Energy drops significantly, which tanks your training performance and makes every workout feel like you’re weak and wading through mud.
• Mood takes a hit, low carb diets in particular can leave you irritable and foggy, and your work and relationships can take a hit.
• Your metabolism starts adapting downward to your reduced intake, that means the same deficit produces less fat loss over time.
• Hormonal balance takes a knock, testosterone in men and estrogen in women are both sensitive to prolonged calorie restriction and carbohydrate depletion.

But perhaps most practically, just the sheer willpower required to maintain the fad diet starts running out as it becomes a huge pain in the a*s dealing with real life, the social occasions, stress, tiredness, and vacations.

So for me, two weeks is roughly the window where you get the benefits without paying too high a price. Beyond that the costs start outweighing the returns.

Now Get Back To Home Base

After the two week fad diet blast, you simply return to the sustainable approach for four to six weeks.

In my coaching work this means building out a No Weird Stuff Diet that suits each client’s life and meal preferences, something they can actually maintain rather than white-knuckle through.

Yes, the weight loss slows back down to the standard one to two pounds a week, but you’re now doing it from a position of feeling motivated by that visible early progress you made during the previous two weeks, and you avoided the side effects that come from staying in restriction mode too long.

So think of a fad diet as a ‘turbo boost’ you can use occasionally, maybe once every couple of months when motivation is flagging and you need to see faster results to stay engaged.

It’s not a replacement for the sensible, no-weird-stuff approach, it’s just a tool you pick up briefly, use for a bit, and then put back down.

The sensible approach is still home base. The fad diet is just a useful detour when you need one.

If you’d like some help building a sustainable approach to fat loss that actually fits your life, **fill out my Get Unstuck form** and I’ll come back to you within 24 hours with some specific thoughts and tips on your situation.