A desire to lose weight is a common motivation to change dietary habits, as is a desire to maintain an existing weight. Many weight loss diets are considered by some to entail varying degrees of health risk, and some are not widely considered to be effective. This is especially true of "crash" or "fad" diets. Many of the diets listed below could fall into more than one subcategory. Where this is the case, it is noted in that diet's entry.
Low-calorie diets •
5:2 diet: an intermittent fasting diet •
Intermittent fasting: Cycling between non-
fasting and fasting as a method of
calorie restriction. •
Body for Life: A calorie-control diet, promoted as part of the 12-week
Body for Life program. •
Cookie diet: A calorie control diet in which low-fat
cookies are eaten to quell hunger, often in place of a
meal. •
The Hacker's Diet: A calorie-control diet from ''The Hacker's Diet'' by
John Walker. The book suggests that the key to reaching and maintaining the desired weight is understanding and carefully monitoring calories consumed and used. •
Nutrisystem diet: The dietary element of the weight-loss plan from Nutrisystem, Inc. Nutrisystem distributes low-calorie meals, with specific ratios of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. •
Weight Watchers diet: Debuting in 1961, foods are assigned point values; dieters can eat any food with a point value provided they stay within their daily point limit.
Very low calorie diets A
very low calorie diet is consuming fewer than 800 calories per day. Such diets are normally followed under the supervision of a doctor. Zero-calorie diets are also included. •
Inedia (breatharian diet): A diet in which no food is consumed, based on the belief that
prana but not food is necessary for human subsistence. •
KE diet (feeding tube diet): A diet in which an individual feeds through a
feeding tube and does not eat anything. •
Pro-ana diet: Crash diets usually found on online eating disorder communities. They involve fasting and eating very low amounts of calories for a set amount of days, sometimes as low as 200. •
The Last Chance diet: General premise is that the
dieter will consume only one low-calorie high protein beverage daily. This equated to no more than 400 calories per day. •
Tongue Patch Diet: Stitching a
Marlex patch to the tongue to make eating painful. Daily calories are then limited to 800 per day maximum in liquid form.
Low-carbohydrate diets •
Atkins diet: A low-carbohydrate diet, popularized by nutritionist
Robert Atkins in the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Proponents argue that this approach is a more successful way of losing weight than low-calorie diets; critics argue that a low-carb approach poses increased health risks. The Atkins diet consists of four phases (Induction, Balancing, Fine-Tuning and Maintenance) with a gradual increase in consumption of carbohydrates as the person goes through the phases. •
Dukan Diet: A multi-step diet based on high protein and limited carbohydrate consumption. It starts with two steps intended to facilitate short term weight loss, followed by two steps intended to consolidate these losses and return to a more balanced long-term diet. •
Kimkins: A heavily promoted diet for weight loss, found to be fraudulent. •
South Beach Diet: Diet developed by the Miami-based cardiologist Arthur Agatston in 2003, •
Stillman diet: A carbohydrate-restricted diet that predates the Atkins diet, allowing consumption of specific food ingredients.
Low-fat diets • McDougall's starch diet is a high calorie, high fiber, low fat diet that is based on starches such as potatoes, rice, and beans that excludes all animal foods and added vegetable oils.
John A. McDougall draws on historical observation of how many civilizations around the world throughout time have thrived on starch foods. ==Crash diets==