By Lisa Maloney on February 7, 2012 in
While researching our report on the best weight-loss programs, we learned that the key to keeping weight off is making sustainable, long-term changes. If you don't address -- and adjust -- the habits that put the weight on in the first place, it'll just come right back. Still, it's hard to resist the lure of celebrity diets, plans that promise to help you quickly, easily shed the pounds and look just as glamorous as the stars. But these fad diets usually don't live up to their promises; here are just a few reasons why.
First off, the stars have a small army of stylists and graphic artists to help them cinch, pose, and airbrush any imperfections away--just check out Jamie Lee Curtis's before and after shots in More magazine to see how much of a difference that makes. So what you see isn't really reality.
Second, the celebrity diets you read about are usually anything but easy. Take the Dukan diet, which has rumored links to both stars (Penelope Cruz and Gisele Bundchen, among others) and royalty (the Middletons). During the first phase, which lasts two to five days, you eat nothing but lean meat and oat bran. The second and third stages of the diet (which can stretch for months, depending on how much weight you have to lose) aren't much more permissive. You get to add in some vegetables (no starches, no avocados), and later, one serving of fruit and two slices of whole wheat bread each day. Even the diet's creator, Dr. Pierre Dukan, warns of markedly unglamorous side effects, such as constipation, bad breath and low energy.
Starvation is another popular Hollywood diet tactic, either on its own or paired with supplements, like injections of HCG (which, incidentally, isn't FDA approved for use as a weight-loss drug). We found expert warnings that starvation diets can lead to side effects such as gallstones, bone and muscle loss, heart arrhythmias, and even death.
Finally, if you had any doubt that celebrity diets are actually a lot of work, consider the regimen that supermodel and Victoria's Secret "angel" Adriana Lima uses to get ready for the big lingerie show. Three months before the show, she starts working out every day; three weeks before the show, she switches to twice-daily workouts; and for more than a week before the show she subsists only on protein shakes and water--no solid foods at all.
Anybody who's ridden the diet roller coaster knows firsthand how much of a physical and emotional toll it takes. Most celebrities (and celebrity publications) only show the glamorous "up" side of the ride, but there's no hiding from a fad diet's side effects, health problems and weight regain when you do it to yourself. Next time you're thinking of dieting like a celebrity, ask yourself: Won't it be less effort, in the end, to choose a diet that takes the weight off gradually and never welcomes it back?