More people are dieting than ever before. It has been estimated that approximately 17.4% of adults aged 20 and over in the United States dieted between 2017 and 2018. This is an increment of 3% when we compare it to the number of people who dieted between 2007 and 2008. And this trend is on the rise [1].
Dieting has become a fad that thrives from providing dieters a sense of belonging and identity attached to a certain way of feeling and consuming. People who diet come in different shapes and sizes. Obese, overweight, normal weight, underweight, you name it. But the majority of them have the same goal: losing weight by consuming less calories.
In many cases, the purpose of consuming less calories to accomplish weight loss comes from the desire to look good and attractive from aesthetic Western standards. In this process, many people tend to overlook the fact that some dieting habits might be harmful and lead to dangerous health consequences like malnutrition, the development of kidney stones, or other gastrointestinal problems.
In what comes next, we will show you which are 7 of the most popular diets among American dieters, and which are their benefits and possible health consequences.
The Weight Management Industry
Weight management services and products are a huge part of the global and American economy. It has been estimated that the global weight management industry gathered 262.9 billion dollars in the year 2020, which represented a decrease of 20% since the year 2019 [2]. But the trend is expected to go on the rise. The industry is expected to reach 423.2 billion by 2027! This industry accounts for dietary meals, beverages and supplements; fitness and surgical equipment; fitness and slimming centers, consultation and weight loss services [3].
In the United States alone, the weight management industry reached an approximate of 71.1 billion dollars on 2020 [2]. Among its top competitors are Atkins Nutritionals, Herbalife, Jenny Craig, SlimFast, Weight Watchers International, and many more.
However, some caution should be advised when consuming dietary supplements or practicing any popular diet. Most popular diets focus on gaining more followers and consumers for their products and more profit, but not necessarily in guaranteeing good nor proper health for their dieters.
Most popular diets are meant to deliver results in a short term, but they are unsafe to follow in the long term. This is so specially on those diets that cut out a major food group, like either carbohydrates, lipids or proteins. In many cases, dieters experience weight-regain as soon as they end their diet or change any part of their eating habits. In what follows, we describe some of the most popular diets, their characteristics, their advantages and disadvantages.
But first…
How are diets supposed to accomplish weight loss?
In order to burn fat and lose weight, the body must receive less energy than the one needed throughout the day. Like the law of thermodynamics, you need to put less energy in than out of the body. This requires a low energy intake and a high energy expenditure throughout the day, for many days, at a steady pace. Once you reach your desired weight, a balance must be reached to maintain that new weight in the long-term.
Types of diets
There are different types of dietary regimens, depending on the strategy that they adopt for losing weight. Based on a classification proposed by Rachel Freire, there are three different types of diet:
- A diet based on the manipulation or restriction of a macronutrient; for instance, low-fat, high-protein, and low-carbohydrate diets.
Just for future reference about the characteristics of this type of diets, the dietary reference intake suggests that adults consume between 45% and 65% of their calories from carbohydrates, 20% to 35% from fats, and 10 to 35% from protein. This, of course, depends on your age and gender, but this is the most common standard. It might also change if you are either pregnant or lactating [4].
- A diet based on the restriction of specific foods or food groups; like gluten-free, Paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and Mediterranean diets.
- A diet based on the manipulation of timing, like fasting [5].
Most popular diets
Atkins
Atkins is a famous low-carbs diet designed by the cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins in the early 1970. By reducing carbohydrates intake, the very popular Atkins diet promises to “flip the body’s metabolic switch” from burning carbs to burning fat [6]. It also promises to help with blood sugar levels and insulin tolerance.
However, there is no scientific evidence that a low-carb diet is more effective than a low-fat diet. Clinical trials that have compared low-carb diets with low-fat diets reported similar weight loss, and even higher body fat loss when reducing fat but not carbs.
A number of studies have compared weight loss on an Atkins diet with a more typical low fat diet (1200-1800 Cal/day, with 25-30% of energy from fat). Short-term (3-6 months), the low carbohydrate diets may produce a slightly greater weight loss, explainable by a greater deficit in energy, but by 12 months, there is no difference in loss [7]
On the other hand, a study of women using different diets found that at eight weeks many on the Atkins diet subjects were short on thiamine, folate, vitamin C, iron and magnesium [8].
It is true that people with insulin resistance or insulin intolerance may benefit from adopting a low-carbs diet, though [5].
Ketogenic
The popular ketogenic diet (also known as simply “keto”) is a very low carbohydrates diet that resembles they Atkins diet in many ways, except that it prescribes a minimum of 70% of energy from fat and a severe restriction of carbs to mimic a fasting state and induce ketosis [5]. Ketosis is a metabolic process by which the body stops burning calories from carbohydrates and starts burning fat instead.
The keto diet was introduced in 1920 to treat epilepsy in children and adults [5]. Now it is one of the most popular diets in the market for weight loss.
Adverse effects that could arise from following this diet are constipation, halitosis, headaches, muscle cramps, and weakness [5]. The added risk of consuming too much fats and proteins alone is that, if most come from animal sources, this increases the risk of mortality and cardiovascular diseases.
Observational data have demonstrated an increase in mortality associated with the long-term intake of both low cabs diet and high carbs diet with minimal risk at 50% to 55% (energy derived from carbohydrates). They also reported that animal-derived protein and fat were associated with higher mortality, whereas plant-derived protein and fat were associated with lower mortality [5].
While the Keto diet recommends a carbohydrates intake between 5 and 10%, the general dietary reference intakes suggest that adults consume between 45% and 65% of their daily calories from carbs. The Atkins diet, on the other hand, recommends a carbohydrates intake of 20%.
As the Atkins diet, the keto diet does deliver some weight loss results; but there is weight regain as soon as the diet is over.
Zone
The Zone diet claims to be a lifelong dietary regime that reduces inflammation and produces weight loss. It was designed by Dr. Barry Sears in 1995. The strategy of this diet is to maintain the same proportion of macronutrients through 3 meals a day, every day: 30% protein, 30% fats, and 40% carbs. This diet is still low on carbs, but not as low as the other two mentioned above, and it motivates you to consume a slightly higher amount of protein and fats than what is normally recommended.
An important part of the three diets that we have mentioned is that they convince dieters to buy their dietary supplements, pills and protein shakes, which are not usually FDA approved nor regulated. Many of these products are, in fact, detrimental for one’s health.
Ornish
The Ornish diet is a very low fat and very high carb and vegetarian diet.
Adopting a plant-based diet can protect against chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancers [5]. A vegetarian diet can be prescribed for therapeutic use. However, these diets should be closely monitored by expert nutritionists and complemented with adequate nutritional supplementation.
Exclusion of animal products can reduce the intake of certain nutrients, which might lead to nutritional deficiencies of protein, iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamins D and B12 [5].
Research has found that people that have been on the Ornish diet for at least 8 weeks might lack from vitamins E, B12 and zinc [8].
Paleo
The Paleolithic diet, also known as Paleo, for short, is a very unconventional dietary regime that tries to mimic the food groups that were available to our Paleolithic ancestors, way back when there was no agriculture and we had to hunt and gather our sustenance. In this diet, only meat, nuts, eggs, healthy oils, fruits, and vegetables are allowed. The claim is that our ancestors were lean and fall ill as much as we do.
Low adherence, poor palatability, and high costs are the common issues reported by Paleo dieters. There is also the risk of having a deficiency in vitamin D, calcium, and iodine [5].
Some studies have showed that this diet might bring benefits as the amelioration in metabolic syndrome, an increase in insulin sensitivity, reduction of cardiovascular risk factors, increase satiety, and beneficial modulation of intestinal microbiota [5].
Gluten-free
Gluten is a protein complex that can be found in wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Gluten can cause an inflammatory reaction in some people that are allergic or sensitive to gluten. There still no direct relationship established between gluten and obesity, but it is believed that gluten might have an obesogenic effect. So, the gluten-free diet calls for the elimination of whole and refined grains in one’s diet. It also recommends to moderate the consumption of carbs.
There is no concluding data to suggest that a gluten-free diet achieves weight loss or any other health benefits other than treating wheat allergy or gluten intolerance.
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean diet is maybe the most balanced diets of the ones we have discussed so far. It involves the consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole-grain cereals, sea food, olive oil, and nuts. Red meats, dairy and alcohol are recommended in moderation [5]. Sugar is off the table.
This diet is recommended by the American Diabetes Association because it improves glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. This diet has also proven to be beneficial in reducing inflammation, cardiovascular risk factors, and mortality…even in the absence of weight loss [5].
Although this dietary regime produces some important health benefits, it doesn’t achieve more weight loss than other diets. So, it might be convenient for improving general health, but not necessarily for effective weight loss, specially among obese and overweight individuals. It definitely helps, though, but it could just not be enough to reach ambitious weight loss goals.
There is no popular diet that is better than another.
The fact of the matter is that most diets don’t work. They do produce initial weight loss that is immediately lost as soon as you finish or change them. Of course, there are some cases that report success, hence the awesome testimonials that the weight management industry presumes in their adds. But the odds of being one of these cases are very low:
The National Weight Control Registry in the United States notes that only 20% of those who intentionally lose at least 10% of their weight maintain the loss for at least a year [7].
There is, however, one single thing that can help raise these odds: persistence and adherence. Achieving weight loss is dependent more on the dieter’s adherence to his or her diet, than on the type of diet itself. The dangerous aspect of this is that some diets are not meant for a long-term adherence. Following a low-carbs diet for a long time could lead to higher risk of mortality, malnutrition and many gastrointestinal disturbances.
Of course, successful and long-lasting weight loss also depends on many other factors that are often not considered in these one-solution-fits-all diets. Aspects like genetics, clinical and family history, cultural, economic, and even political environment. All these have an effect for either inhibiting or stimulating weight loss.
Obesity is a multifactorial problem and, as such, it needs a solution that considers all possible factors.
Bariatric surgery
Bariatric surgery is a safe and effective strategy to accomplish weight loss in obese and morbidly obese patients. If you are suffering from an obesity related and life-threatening condition, such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea or dyslipidemia, you might be a candidate for bariatric surgery. Patients can lose as much as 80% of their excess body weight, or as much of a 30% of their total body weight, within their first year after receiving their bariatric surgery. Weight loss after bariatric surgery can be maintained in the long term by keeping a balanced diet and practicing constant exercise.
Bariatric surgery has also proven to lead to the amelioration or resolution of type 2 diabetes, and overall higher health.
Examples of bariatric surgeries are the gastric sleeve, the gastric bypass, the duodenal switch, the intragastric balloon and the gastric clip.
If you are interested in knowing about these procedures, our team of experts at LIMARP can help. LIMARP is a certified Center of Excellence for bariatric and metabolic surgery located in Tijuana, Mexico, just a few minutes away from the International Border of San Ysidro. Its leading surgeon and CEO, Dra. Liza María Pompa Gonzalez is recognized as Master Surgeon by the Surgical Review Corporation. She is the first female surgeon to be granted with this distinction.
Contact us
At LIMARP International Center of Excellence for obesity, located in Tijuana, Mexico, we offer integral bariatric programs that treat obesity from a multidisciplinary approach involving medicine, psychology, nutrition, and fitness. Call or message us today to schedule a consultation. We can guide you through all your options to achieve significant and lifelong weight loss. Our team of certified experts will be glad to help answer your questions.
References
[1] B. Stierman and S. Mishra, “Special Diets Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018,” NCHS Data Brief, no. 389, p. 8, 2020.
[2] “Global Weight Management Industry,” ReportLinker. https://www.reportlinker.com/p05960488/Global-Weight-Management-Industry.html?utm_source=GNW
[3] “Weight Management Market Size | Global Industry Analysis Report, 2025,” Grand View Research. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/weight-management-market
[4] M. Ryan-Harshman and W. Aldoori, “New dietary reference intakes for macronutrients and fibre,” Can. Fam. Physician, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 177–179, Feb. 2006.
[5] R. Freire, “Scientific evidence of diets for weight loss: Different macronutrient composition, intermittent fasting, and popular diets,” Nutrition, vol. 69, p. 110549, Jan. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2019.07.001.
[6] “AtkinsTM-Approved Low Carb Diet Resource Hub,” Atkins. https://www.atkins.com/low-carb-diet
[7] R. Stanton, “Popular diets and over-the-counter dietary aids and their effectiveness in managing obesity,” in Managing and Preventing Obesity, Elsevier, 2015, pp. 257–274. doi: 10.1533/9781782420996.4.257.
[8] R. Toomath, Fat Science: Why Diets and Exercise Don’t Work – and What Does. Auckland University Press, 2016.