How honest are fat burning soup diets? The cabbage soup diet is one example and has even been referred to as the ultimate fad diet. These fat burning soup diets make outrageous claims like being able to drop 10 to 17 pounds in just a week and appeal to many people but do they really live up to their word?

To this day, the cabbage soup is popular even among celebrities such as the actress Sarah Michelle Gellar who has been reported to use this fat burning soup diet to lose weight. However, the diet first gained popularity in the 1980s and now is all over the Internet for anyone to read about.

The idea behind fat burning soup diets is to fill you up on low-calorie soup and several other specific foods. The soup itself supposedly has fat burning properties. However, experts deny this and say that any weight loss achieved come as result of consuming very few calories, approximately 800 to 1000 calories to be specific.

Let's be clear, however, as I am not implying that fat burning soup diets are effective for losing fat. If we look at the cabbage soup diet, for example, this has been practiced for many years by individuals who want to lose weight quickly but when you take a closer look at the results you will see that this weight loss is very misleading.

When you drastically lower your calories and the amount of carbohydrates you consume your body will always lose considerable weight but this should not be confused with fat loss. Rather, you will lose water weight and become dehydrated, which will result in you feeling weak, having dizzy spells and even fainting if your blood sugar level shoots down too much.

On top of this when you lose water weight this is only temporary and will return as soon as you start eating normal foods again. If any diet claims that you will lose 10 pounds of actual fat is just a week then this is nothing but a lie, and the appropriate authorities should take action to stop such false advertising.

Furthermore you'll also burn muscle tissue in addition to the water loss. This will reduce your metabolism speed making it easier to put the weight back on as fat. Not only will you have a slower metabolism, but when you drastically lower how many calories you consume you also encourage your body to conserve energy, which is stored as fat tissue.

Along with the points mentioned above, you should also bear in mind that many so-called fat burning soup diets have high levels of MSG (monosodium glutamate) and sodium and will leave you undernourished due to the lack of necessary nutrients including protein, healthy fats and calcium, as well many important vitamins and minerals your body requires.

Something else to remember is that if you exercise when on a fat-burning soup diet this can have negative consequences since you are consuming far less calories than what your body needs for to function properly. If you attempt resistance or strength training (lifting weights, for example) this can result in even more muscle loss as you do not have enough protein in your diet for muscle repair/growth.

My personal recommendation is to avoid fat burning soup diets such as the cabbage soup diet like the plague. Not only do they leave you undernourished they are extremely low in calories which will have negative health consequences and have also been shown to be of no use for anyone who wants to lose fat and keep it off.