HERE’S THE SKINNY ON CRASH DIETING AND WEIGHT LOSS

Spotted a snap of Sandra from accounts on Instagram apparently having shed 5kg in four days by just eating one thing?

Well before you launch both feet into the air to land firmly on that bandwagon and go for your own crash diet, here’s what you need to know.

Do crash diets work?

The answer to this really depends on your goals. If they are short-term, then yes potentially a crash diet may help you to lose a few kilos for an event or a holiday.

But often people who drop weight dramatically struggle to keep it off as they transition back from “crash diet mode” to real life.

By far the best thing for real, sustainable weight loss is moderation and consistency. If you are seriously out of shape or haven’t exercised for a long time go and have a chat with your GP.

Otherwise the dieter’s best kept secret is this: eat a little less and exercise a little more.

Are crash diets safe?

This depends on the one that you go for, but yes, they can be dangerous.

As specified before, consulting a doctor is important. As with clothes, this isn’t a one size fits all situation.

Your body is designed to eat a range of different foods in healthy portions. Not to completely cut out one group or just relentlessly eat one thing.

That said you may be in a healthy enough position to try out a fad diet, again a doctor will be able to advise.

What are the most popular diets? Cabbage soup

For a week, people adhering to the cabbage soup diet eat as much homemade cabbage soup as they like. In addition, they are allowed a small selection of other foods that change every day – like fruit or a baked potato.

Grapefruit

This crash diet lasts 10–12 days and claims that it can help you shift 4–5kg. Over the course of those days, people eat grapefruit with every meal.

Juice fast

A juice fast is basically consuming only liquid for a set amount of time. That means: water, herbal tea, juice and broth. Most people do a juice fast from one to five days.