Americans spend around 30-50 billion dollars each year on fad diets, quick fixes, and gimmicks. While spending only a small amount each on proper dieting methods like eating healthier foods and exercising regularly. Why is it that we spend so much more each year on the quick fixes as opposed to practising better eating habits? That is because healthy eating provides you with a weight loss of anywhere from less than 1/2 a lb. to 2lbs. a week with anymore than that being unhealthy and not long term. While fad diets promise a large weight loss with little or no effort and no exercise. Fad diets are made to get your attention when your thinking "Well my reunion is exactly a month away and I would like to lose 30lbs.", or "I really need to lose that extra 14 lbs. to fit into my bikini and I've only got two weeks to do it" Today I am going to review and talk about a few different diets in the two categories. I have been on every diet from Atkins to The Zone and countless fad diets, while also trying to keep in mind a few words of wisdom my mother has always shared with me especially when it comes to dieting, "If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is."

A few ridiculous fad diets I have tried in the past. Most recently: The One Day Diet - The very sound of this diet should have been a turn off, but because I am just like everyone else in America I think "Hey a diet I only have to be on for 24 hours!" This diet promises a weight loss of 2 lbs. a day if you don't eat anything except a few tiny diet "wafers" and water for 24 hours and then the next day you can eat what you like. After reading this I went out and spent the fifty dollars for the 2 weeks supply of "wafers" thinking that it was a magical wonderful thing. Well the truth is, it's NOT! I started out each day ready to do the diet but only after a few hours gave in to hunger because I was weak and so irritable and extremely miserable. I don't know what made me think eating every other day was going to be the answer.

The 48 hour "Miracle" Diet- This diet I can say is probably the most common fad diet I have seen, with beautiful thin people claiming they got their bodies from drinking this "miracle" juice two days out of the week. Well after viewing the commercials all the time on tv, and reading countless NEGATIVE reviews I decided to spend the twenty bucks on the juice and try it out. It promised a weight loss of eight to ten pounds in two days. I started out the first day with my first serving of juice and went on about the day, or at least I tried to. Drinking this juice caused a horrible diuretic effect which left me stopping at every gas station on the way to my destination. While also leaving me so pail from lack of nutrition it wasn't even funny. It was the worst 20.00 dollars I have ever spent.

The Cabbage Soup Diet- I went on this diet believing the promise of a weight loss of ten pounds a week. I was wrong! This diet lets you have as much of this special cabbage soup which you make yourself and let's you eat only certain foods on certain days such as all fruits one day, all veggies the next, and that sort of thing. This diet leaves you miserably hungry and unsatisfied, while also being another horrible diuretic, with losing very little or no weight and gaining it quickly back. It is hardly worth your time.

Conclusion on fad diets- Fad diets like I said are just gimmicks to get your attention don't waste your money. Any weight loss you get will be water weight or even worse muscle mass and these diets will have extremely negative effects on your metabolism.

With that being said here are a few diets that WORK. *My top three favorites.

Slim fast- When I was a young teen I lost around 70lbs on this diet. It worked really good, but the downside is that it is so expensive. If you can afford this diet then I recommend it to you. If you cannot afford it then don't do it, because when you don't have the money for the shakes or bars then it will just cause weight gain. I lost around three pounds a week. Learn more at www.slimfast.com

Definitely a good one: Atkins (or low carb)- This diet is an EXTREMELY wonderful diet. With the right foods in your fridge and eliminating the bad ones totally from your diet, you will lose a good amount of weight pretty quickly from my experience. After researching the diet a little make sure it's something you can stick with because you won't maintain the weight loss well if you can't stick with it. I lost around five pounds a week. Visit www.atkins.com for more information.

My number one personal favorite: Weight watchers- This diet is a GREAT one, everything is done in a system of "points" with EVERY food including fast foods having a point value. You get a target points number depending on how much you weigh. It is reasonably inexpensive because you have to spend no money on special foods and nothing is cut out of your diet. It is a great way of learning proper eating habits for the rest of your life. The only cost is about forty dollars when you first start, so you can get the start up kit with everything you need in it! You can continue to go to the meetings although not required help immensely, and are on average around eleven dollars a week. I lost around seventeen pounds each month and kept it off fairly easily. The costs vary. Visit www.weightwatchers.com for more information.

In conclusion I hope that this article was helpful to you in someway, and I wish you the best of luck on your weight loss journey. While you look for a plan that's right for you please keep in mind the quote from my mother I mentioned earlier, "If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is."