The Fad Diet Trap: Why Quick Fixes Never Last

I was embarrassed when I saw my weight. I couldn’t figure out where it went wrong.

I never dreamed that that moment would be the beginning of a long diet and yo-yo journey.

I obviously lost weight by eating less dinner and exercising, but why did I gain it again? I’m not really that greedy. I just ate what I normally eat and had a small dinner, and I didn’t exercise. Okay, so let’s do the same thing again.

It started the same way, but my weight remained stagnant, hovering around 2 kilograms. While living in college, not having dinner plans or going to the gym at night was impossible for Power E. I hated staying at home more than anyone else, so I had to go out and play. Even if I didn’t have an appointment, I went out and played alone. I felt like my time at the gym was a waste, so I started looking for ways to lose weight more easily.

That’s when I learned about the Danish diet. If you follow it for a week, you’ll lose 8 kilos.

I ran straight to the supermarket, bought the ingredients needed for the Danish diet, and fell asleep happily imagining the thought of losing weight again the next day.

I lost 5 kilos using the Danish diet, but my pants were still tight. At the time, I didn’t know that weight number wasn’t everything. Still, I was happy to be back in the low 50kg range. But when I returned to my regular diet, I felt like my body was gaining weight again. Alas, the weight came back.

From then on, I started going crazy. I really hated gaining weight. I ended up going on diets again and again, as if I had been poisoned by something. I developed a fear of food, so I didn’t eat anything when I had an appointment, and even when I met up with friends, I didn’t even eat a few spoonfuls. My eating habits gradually broke down, and I started avoiding appointments for fear of gaining weight.

In the end, I stayed home and tried every possible fad diet: witch soup, lemon detox, tofu, cherry tomato, chicken breast salad… and bought celebrity products. If I felt like I had gained weight again after one diet, I looked for a new diet. The only consolation I had at the time was imagining what kind of food I would eat when the diet ended. However, this comfort soon returned to yo-yoing and brought only despair.

At some point, I was becoming a person who struggles with eating, rather than someone who simply tries to lose weight. The guilt I felt every time I gained weight and the disgust I felt every time I looked in the mirror encroached on my daily life. If I felt like I had gained weight after finishing one diet, I would start a new diet, and then do it again. It was like a person who only lives for dieting.

Fad diets provide noticeable results in the short term, but most are difficult to maintain in the long term due to nutritional imbalances or excessive restrictions. Because these diets try to force the body to control, they eventually return to their original habits and gain weight again.

The weight soon returned to its original position as if to show off.

Now, my body seemed to have settled into a comfortable weight of 56kg.

One day, I discovered diet herbal medicine. When I took herbal medicine, I lost my appetite and naturally ended up starving. It was fun to get on the scale and lose 1 kilo a day. However, my heart started pounding, I couldn’t sleep, and I became more sensitive. After losing 5 kilos, I stopped taking herbal medicine, and after that, I developed a huge appetite. I started eating like a binge.

I ate and ate until my throat was full. I ate an entire pot of rice, a chicken, and three bowls of ramen all at once. It was out of control. While I was eating, time seemed to stop, and I felt like someone had a screw missing from my head. Regrets and self-blame that came late encroached on my daily life and eventually caused me to suffer from depression.

Just like that, my whole body and mind began to be dominated by food, and my weight exceeded 60kg. As the diet continued, my body became heavier and heavier.

Then, eventually, I reached 70kg. I had reached the ‘obesity’ that I was so afraid of.

It was only then that I realized it. The reason so many diets didn’t work for me was because I tried to force myself to control my body. Those diets were literally just a one-time ‘fad’ and could not last long, but instead pushed me into deeper oppression and frustration.

In the end, what I really needed was not to lose weight, but a process of accepting and respecting myself as I am. Rather than compulsively squeezing and shaking my body through dieting, I look at my own desires and what I really want. The person I had been fighting against for so long was probably a person called ‘me’.