You know fad diets don't work when it comes to reaching long-term weight loss goals. But did you also know they can actually make you fatter?

Doctors now warn that celebrity diets are contributing to the obesity epidemic. Think Lemonade, Grapefruit, Tiger, Mayo Clinic, Apple and Cabbage Soup. All of these so-called diets may help you lose weight in the beginning, but can you really stick with them? Only if you don't like food.

Most of these diets have the same thing in common -- they place heavy restrictions on what you can eat. Take the Lemonade Diet (also known as the Master Cleanse) for instance. You mix up a batch of "lemonade" with lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water. With six to 12 glasses allowed each day (no other food), this diet is likely to leave you a little sour. The Cabbage Soup Diet allows you to eat as much of its soup that you want each day along with fruits and vegetables, but it neglects other important food groups which can lead to nutritional deficiencies.

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a fad diet purported to help people lose 50 to 55 pounds during a 10-week span. It has no connection to the respected Mayo Clinic, a top research hospital, in Minnesota.

The basic premise of the diet is that dieters should ban all complex carbohydrates, but can eat as much protein and fat as they want. One of the "rules" of the diet even states, "At any meal you may eat until you are full -- until you can't eat any more."

Experts agree that a diet based on unbalanced nutrition and limited food choices, like the one recommended in the Mayo Clinic Diet, can be unhealthy. Plus, the boredom associated with eating the same foods over and over can prompt a return to old eating habits once someone goes off the diet.

The quick weight loss associated with the plan is also unhealthy. A better option than the Mayo Clinic Diet is the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, a lifestyle plan that includes a variety of healthy foods and daily exercise -- and is actually associated with the Mayo Clinic. It offers personalized menus, shopping lists, meal plans, results charts and dining-out tips.

Learn more about diet hoaxes that can sabotage your weight loss plans and check out That's Fit's Fitness page for tips to get in shape.

There are lots of do's and don'ts when it comes to dieting, and relying on fad diets is one of the biggest no-nos out there. But just what constitutes a fad diet? Here are a couple of rules of thumb:

• Any diet that makes you cut out one or more food group -- or solid food altogether -- is probably a fad diet (like that Lemonade diet -- ugh).
• Speaking of that, any diet that limits your meals to the same rancid thing over and over again is a fad diet.
• Any diet that that makes you fork out money for pills or special formulas for is a fad diet.
• Any diet that limits you to less than 1,000 calories a day is a fad diet -- and a really dangerous one at that!
• And sorry folks, any diet that promises you'll lose more than a couple of pounds a week is a fad diet.

If you've fallen for these in the past, don't beat yourself up -- celebs like Liz Hurley and Sarah Michelle Gellar have tried the Cabbage Soup Diet just like you. Bottom line? They just don't work. Well, they might, but not in the long run.

Instead, take some healthy advice from Drew Barrymore -- she recently told reporters, "My top beauty and fitness tip is to eat whatever you want in smaller increments but don't starve yourself to societal pressures. And I love to exercise because it makes me feel good about myself." Amen, sister.

In the always interesting world of fad diets, turns of phrase like "Lose 10 Pounds in 2 Days!" are tossed about like the salad-only diet you would probably have to follow to really lose that much weight in that short amount of time (only that too wouldn't exactly be healthy weight loss).

Thankfully, most people now know that fad diets are about as good for your health as only eating cabbage soup for weeks on end (oh wait ... that actually was a fad diet!!). And, having replaced most of these fads with sound advice on diet and fitness, we can now look back and have a good laugh at many of these ridiculous approaches to weight loss. In fact, I just came across a website that lists just about every fad diet that has swept across the nation in the past ten years or so.

From the Hollywood Diet to the Lemonade Diet (oh yeah, how could I also forget to mention the Amputation Diet!!), FadDiet.com mentions them all. It's nothing overly profound or exciting, but it's at least worth checking out.

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It's said time and time again: Fad dieting is a no-no. And yet someone must be buying into the fads because their still around and their makers are raking in the cash. So in case you're still not convinced, Fitsugar has put together a list of the 5 most dangerous things about fad diets:

• Lack of a balanced diet, or cutting out food groups all together, will lead to nutritional deficiencies
• The lack of variety causes boredom, and based on my experiences with friends on fad diets, extreme moodiness -- yikes!
• The emphasis is on the diet -- it doesn't account for how important exercise is'
• Severely restricting food intake can make it harder to maintain healthy eating habits afterwards.
  
• Many are based on unsubstantiated claims that can prove to be useless or even harmful.
  

What's more, long-term weight-loss requires a full lifestyle change, and that's not likely to come from following the cabbage soup diet for a few weeks. It's better to make small, healthy changes in your everyday life -- changes that you can live with in the long-run.

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My fellow That's Fit bloggers and I have made our views on fad diets and the like pretty clear in past posts. A former fitness industry exec has just written a book giving his views and exposing some fad diets, fitness gimmicks, supplements, and exercise equipment as out -and-out lies. Craig Pepin-Donat, the author of The Big, Fat Health and Fitness Lie (Waterside Publishers, $24.95, 258 pages), seems to take a reasonable and moderate stance when it comes to health and fitness; he promotes healthy eating, regular exercise, and monitoring portion sizes. He also stands behind fitness clubs, as long as it's a reputable organization, with good equipment and qualified nutrition and exercise professionals.

I haven't read the book yet, but it sounds like a good read to me. I've often wondered about some of the equipment touted on late-night infomercials. I'd never consider buying most of it myself (I'm a try-before-you-buy type of gal when it comes to fitness purchases), but I think it would be interesting to read a review of what those pieces of equipment do... or don't do.

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The Zone is one of the hottest diets out there ... that is, if you think having a long list of celebrity endorsements makes something 'hot'. So it's not surprising that another celebrity has jumped on the bandwagon that helped maintain the petite figures of Renee Zellweger and Jennifer Aniston by signing up for the plan. Natasha Bedingfield, the artist behind the song 'Unwritten' has made a typical 'popstar' move by going on the Zone and in a world where a few pounds can mean the difference between success and failure, I can't say I blame her for submitting to the 'fad'. In addition, she claims to have bags of pre-made, pre-measured food delivered to her, making it awfully easy for her to follow the diet.

What do you think of the Zone? Fad or fab?

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A while ago, a friend told me that she intended to lose weight by following the 'Special K Challenge'. Promoted by Kellogg's and Special K, this challenge is a quick weight-loss scheme that involves eating Special K for breakfast and lunch, and rounding out the day with a healthy dinner. I tried it with her, but only for a week because eating the same thing twice a day every day is boring, no matter how tasty it is.

In theory, the challenge should work because it limits your daily calorie intake significantly. But there are several downsides to this. For one, a serving of cereal is not that much (between 1/2 a cup and a full cup) so it may leave you feeling unsatisfied or even still hungry. Secondly, the special K is low in protein and high in sugar and carbs -- which I think sets you on a collision course with an energy crash. Third, how can you get in your 5 to 10 servings a day of fruits and veggies if you're eating cereal for 2 of 3 meals? And fourth, as I mentioned, it's boring.

I think you're better off having a salad for lunch and a healthy, protein-rich breakfast. What do you think?

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Brent Buckman, a former contestant on the Apprentice, didn't manage to woo the Donald with his business expertise, but he has put his 'skills' to another use: promoting his Bagel Diet. He swears he lost 110 lbs on the diet, which has you eating 4 bagels a day, each toasted with low fat margarine, and as an added bonus, you can have lean deli-sliced meat on your dinnertime bagel. Plus, you can have a cheat day, either once a month, once every two weeks or once every week, depending on how fast you want to lose weight. On this cheat day, you can have whatever you want. Pizza, chips, deep-fired chicken fingers -- you name it. Exercise is optional, depending on how fast you want to lose weight. How does it work? Bagels generally have between 200 to 450 calories each so each day you're getting between 1200 and 1800 calories, which is about what you should be eating to lose weight, depending on your size. But is it healthy? That's an entirely different story.

All I can say about this 'diet' is Gross! Where are the all-important nutrient-providing fruits and veggies? All you're getting is carbs, processed fat, a small amount of processed protein and the occasional binge day where you're free to consume all the trans and saturated fat you want. And even if it wasn't awful for you, who wants to eat bagel after bagel after bagel? Borrrrrrring.

What do you think?

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