Counting calories meticulously before spring break; cutting out food for 12 hours at a time to lose weight; avoiding certain foods like the plague — even in small portions. These common behaviors illustrate the effects of fad or restrictive diets.

Fad diets, quick and easy weight loss programs and restrictive eating plague the fitness world. There are many contradictory fitness and meal plans that different people swear by. What are these fads and diets? Are they even effective?

Fad diets are a way to approach meal planning that claim to help you lose weight very quickly. Similarly, restrictive diets, which may be a part of fad diets, are meal plans that emphasize less caloric intake to help you lose weight. Some infamous examples are keto, paleo, juice cleanses and intermittent fasting. According to the Boston Medical Center, around 45 million Americans go on diets each year, and Americans spend $33 billion on weight loss products annually. While they are marketed and packaged well, the actual benefits of fad diets are lacking.

Many UO community members are pushing back against diet fads and trying to encourage a different approach. Fitness and nutrition specialists and other experts on campus said diet fads are, for the most part, harmful myths, and there are other ways to promote positive changes to your health.

The myth of fad diets

The concept of dieting has been around for ages. However, the rise of quick and easy diet programs is relatively new. With the increased popularity of fitness gurus on social media, such as Kayla Itsines and Sommer Ray, dieting trends are circulating like wildfire. But according to Dr. Robert Shmerling from Harvard Medical School, most of these intense diets do not have long lasting effects.

Jen Blackburn, a fitness and nutrition specialist at the University of Oregon’s PE and Rec, explains that “yo-yo diets,” which is a pattern of losing weight and then gaining it back again, tend to have quick results that are not long lasting.

“People are under the misconception that they can do these fast and easy programs, and this weight stays off,” Blackburn said. “A fad diet is a trendy weight loss plan that promises dramatic results. But people can follow these programs for a short period of time, but then what? What happens at the end of the plan? When you get to that goal, well people slowly go back to their old habits.”

Similarly, Jessica Campbell, assistant director of fitness at University of Oregon’s Department of Physical Education and Recreation, says that most people’s intentions with fad dieting stem from an “ideal body goal.”

Alternatively, there is this notion that going on a diet means someone is intending to lose weight. However, according to Campbell, “The word diet is just what you eat. It’s what you fuel your body with every day; it doesn’t have to be the paleo or keto. Paying attention to which foods digest well or give me energy is more important. And that is so different for all of us because of our chemical makeup.”

Outside of the fact that fad diets tend to lead to ineffective short-term results, having a healthy body is about more than just cutting back on food.

“I think a lot of people think that they are going to lose weight by just being active or eating a certain way, but what is even more important is how we are fueling our body,” Ashley Paget, a group fitness instructor at the Rec Center, said. “Focusing on the way we look does have an unhealthy effect, but people are realizing that what we eat is very important.”

The reality of fad diets is that most people gain the weight back and people feel worse afterwards, but these diets continue. One of the driving forces behind them is the weight stigma.

Weight stigma

There seems to be an underlying fear of gaining weight. Between 2013-2016 49.1% of people in the U.S. tried to lose weight, and there was an even higher percentage among women. Research published in ScienceDirect found that there is a strong correlation between social media and body image; specifically people internalizing various body ideals and wanting to emulate those. Social media influencers and celebrities seem to have “perfect” skinny bodies that people want to emulate.

Campbell explains she hasn’t seen one fad diet take over but rather people trying to reach a certain body type. In her experience, many people will try various diets to reach their ideal body goal. Someone’s reason for working out and eating a balanced diet is what drives behavior, she said. For many people, the root of the thought comes from wanting to lose weight rather than feel good.

Weight stigma is pervasive in the United States, and it drives not only cultural standards, but also medical professionals. According to a New York Times piece, many doctors and clinicians focus on the “weight” aspect of health and push various diet regimens on patients. Additionally, UO professors Elizabeth Budd, Nicole Giuliani and Nichole Kelly explained that weight stigma is pervasive and at the core of most health approaches.

Kelly said there is an effort in the medical field to do something about larger bodies to limit chronic disease, like type 2 diabetes. “But then people start oversimplifying the problem and attribute it solely to individuals,” she said. “There is this theory called attribution theory which underlies a lot of prejudices.”

Giuliani said there is a different culture in the medical profession when it comes to working with patients with larger bodies. “There are no other physical conditions that I am aware of where a doctor thinks ‘I just need to be meaner to get them to change’ in the same way that folks take that approach with people with bigger bodies.”

Dr. Giuliani, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Budd expressed that there are unhealthy approaches to weight loss in the medical field and society in general. Budd said that these biases are very ingrained in our system, similar to discrmination around race, ethnicity, sexuality, disabilities, etc.

“We do see other biases playing out in the medical settings that are built into our systems and our environment,” Budd said. “Like the size of chairs and airplane seats, bathroom stalls, which lead to discrimination.”

When it comes to wanting to be healthy, all of these professionals stated that there needs to be a decoupling of weight and health.

Healthy behavior changes

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be healthy; it’s the definition of what is healthy that can be limiting and harmful, Budd, Giuliani and Kelly said. There are various ways to approach real behavior changes that are sustainable, healthy and will result in feeling better.

One important aspect when focusing on healthy change is caloric intake and foods. Both Blackburn and Campbell urge people not to count calories and restrict various food groups.

“No food is bad food,” Campbell said. “There are ways to manage things healthily that may surprise people. It’s more about the behavior behind the food, the purpose.”

Similarly, Blackburn urges people who are trying to change to look at external lifestyle factors first. When looking at behavior changes, it’s crucial to see through all lenses. While diet and exercise are important for a healthy body, there are external and internal factors that play a large part in the process.

“Before I dive into the nutrition part, I would also ask, ‘How are you sleeping? What is your hydration like? What is your stress level like?’” Blackburn said. “These are some of the lifestyle factors that we look into that impact people’s bodies. This is because these all impact our health, wellness and how we feel.”

In the same vein, Paget urges people to find a community when it comes to fitness. Creating to-do lists, plans and making health a social thing may make it easier to integrate it into an everyday lifestyle change.

“Having a plan is very useful. Trying to take Sundays for meal prepping is helpful,” Paget said. “Additionally, find a buddy to do this with. And it’s so important to drink water, and it will make you feel so much better.”

Trying to take the focus away from the weight is crucial, Dr. Kelly and her colleagues said. This is because long lasting positive health effects are more likely if your intentions for exercising or changing your diet are about how you feel.

Dr. Kelly said that decoupling weight from health is crucial and encourages people to reflect on their motives for dieting and exercising.

Resources on campus

Approaching health, wellness, nutrition and fitness can be overwhelming, but resources and information are available.

The university offers a range of resources when it comes to nutrition, body acceptance, positivity and neutrality. There are two PE and Rec classes that focus on eating well and feeling balanced: PEF 344: Eat, Move, and Be Well and PEF 347: Nutrition Daily, which are offered next term. The former is a course that focuses on holistic wellness approaches as a way to elicit healthy behavior changes. The latter is more specific and teaches students about the fundamentals of nutrition, meal planning, understanding nutrition labels and much more.

Outside of PE classes, there are some great initiatives that already exist. The Body Love Society runs each term and is a program that female identifying students can sign up for. It’s a four session program where participants learn about the appearance ideal, push back against toxic language and find community. Similarly, the University of Oregon Counseling Services runs an All Sizes Fit campaign which encourages students to embrace health at every size and decrease the pressure that comes with attempting to achieve a certain body ideal.

While the UO has some solid resources, Campbell points out that the university still does not have a dietitian, who could really help students. She said whoever fills the role could encourage peer education around body image and healthy habits and focus on group collaboration.

This role could help counter unhealthy messages about weight. Despite the prevalence of fad and restrictive diets, the health experts on campus make it clear that what works is trying to find balance and positive motivations for behavior change.