Many sites on the internet claim that their diet results in significant weight loss in just three, four or five days. This type of weight loss is always transient. It is usually 90% water which will be put straight back on as soon as your body rehydrates, which it must do if you are not going to suffer severe health problems.

Most quick weight loss diets are merely fashionable for a short while; though they do make a lot of money for the inventor in associated product sales.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

1. Diets that promise quick and easy weight loss are usually based on eating more of one food type and none of another. These do not give the benefits that you would get from a balanced diet. They may suggest you take supplements but many supplements are not absorbed by the body unless they are taken along with the foods that the diet has banned. After a few weeks, if you stick to it that long, you may begin to develop nutritional deficiencies.

2. Fad diets are often boring and over restrictive. After the novelty of the first day or two, you will find that you do not enjoy your meals anymore. You will then start to crave comfort food constantly and will give up on your diet pretty soon after. You may even feel guilty, blaming yourself for not losing weight.

3. Most fad diets do not follow the recommendations of the American Heart Association regarding the fat levels in the diet. Often the diet will recommend high fat foods and low carbs which if taken long term, could result in heart disease. The promoters may tell you that the diet is only intended to be followed for a short time. But you probably will not reach your goal weight in that time, and then what? You either continue with a plan that is not good for your health, or stop and probably gain back what you lost.

4. Many fad diets do not help you to incorporate enough servings of fruits and vegetables in your weight loss program, nor do they give you the variety of foods that your body needs.

5. Quick weight loss diets are a temporary solution and do not help you to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Permanent changes are the only way to remain at your target weight once you reach it. Fad diets encourage yo-yo diet-binge cycles of fast weight loss and equally fast weight gain. This is worse for your health and your self esteem than if you had stayed overweight.

Self-hypnosis, especially if combined with NLP, is a very effective way of changing your unhealthy eating habits and addictions permanently. You can also use it to reduce stress levels (and comfort eating!) and to increase your self-confidence dramatically.

Whatever the hype may say, these diets will not be helpful in the long run. The best way to sustain weight loss is to eat a varied and healthy diet, do not overeat, exercise regularly and avoid rapid weight loss diets.