What do you do when you see someone promoting a fad diet?

Ok, so here is the deal. I have run a message board/forum for women for over 10 years. Same group of women pretty much from the start, and in the past few weeks one of the girls has started this "fad" diet (Bskinny coffee and tea) and she is getting results (of course she is, its freaking speed in a bottle) so more of the women on my board are wanting to try it and get involved and I just want to scream at them about how bad this is going to screw up their metabolism and how it's not going to work, but their hopes are up now, and many of the women who are excited to try it are no lightweights.

I don't know how to tell them its a bad idea without sounding like a total jerk. I think I am just going to keep quite about it, but it breaks my heart because many of these women are like family to me and I just know how it's going to end.

My vote: Be kind, be nice (loving), but tell them the way it is. You may want to point out that it'll only wor****il they adjust to the speed level. Once they do, they'll have to up the dose. Been there, done that. Not pretty. Thank God I was in my teens and it was short lived and no long term damage occured.

I've been on every diet known to man.  Lose a little, lose a lot,  gain a lot.  No matter how many times i repeated the cycle, never got tired of the hope in the bottle.  what i know is that i stopped telling people about the diets I was going on because of the folks who told me not to do it, it's not healthy etc.  I knew that,  I still wanted to get into that dress by the weekend. When it didn't work, it never devastated me.  I knew it was going to.  Most women know it's an in the moment thing i think but starting a new possibility is a high in itself. I would not have listened and worse i would have really been annoyed at someone who had WLS telling me what was a healthy way to lose weight.  I think if you care about the friendship of these women you have to hold your council. JMO. 

I agree with Kairk-- be kind and nice... and patient for when they start telling you it's not working. I know that can be frustrating and may even hurt your feelings if you feel a special closeness to them.

You may want to reference a NY Times or scholarly journal article as a reference to how weight loss works and doesn't work.

Giving soft advice and suggestions are maybe the best option.

Other than that, I'd say leave it alone. People are going to do what they want to do and they're all adults who will make those decisions regardless of what you might tell them or share with them.

Good luck!

 maybe point out that 95% of diets fail -- meaning that there may be weight loss, but it is followed by regain with interest....  if there was a prescription drug that had a 95% failure rate, would they take it?

it may not be the popular position, but to point out that diets do. not. work. could be the kindest thing you could do.  especially if it's a 'fad" (HCG, sensa, Bskinny, )

you don't necessarily have to bring up wls, but cautioning someone on some "quick fix" would  be doing them a favor...

jeris

As with most things, a lot of people just don't want to hear the truth; even on this board so many swear they are 'carb sensitive' and that the only way to weight loss is an Atkins type diet...which does work, BUT it's because 100 cal of meat is a lot bigger than 100 cal of sugar, so you just can't eat as much. I'm probably going to get attacked for THIS post even, but 'tis a fact--if you could stand to eat 4 candy bars a day, and that's all, you would lose weight. Plain and simple, there is no scientific evidence supporting that an equal amount of calories from a particular source is any more fattening than any other, in truth it's been proven over and over that calorie reduction or increased calorie burning is the only way to lose weight, be it by Atkins, one of the really weird diets, or...a balanced meal plan and portion control. Even after surgery, some people here swear by using baby utensils and other tricks to help.
Anyway, long story short, I've found that those who 'can't' lose on any plan besides something really restrictive, or eliminating entire food groups are just not going to listen. In truth, if a balanced plan fails, it's because your 'serving' of whatever was way too big and had 6x the calories you counted, ot that you didn't count the cookies you ate in the car on the way home from the store. I still preach occasionally on this board, where everyone is anonymous, but in real life I just let it go. Don't be heartbrokem, because deep inside most of these people already know the truth and don't want to hear it out loud. They will lose some on the weird diet, it comes back. I always lost when I coulsd actually stick to my balanced plan, but couldn't stop cheating with 2 or 3 servings of whatever, snacks in the car, eating between meals. etc. Which is why I got my surgery. Now I'm losing weight eating 'whatever', but mostly sticking to my veggies, meats, and good carbs with a small sweetie a couple of times a week.
Gotta dodge the rocks now.

No  rocks here, but an observation.  I totally agree with you that you can lose weight eating anything, even Twinkies as long as you keep the calories low.  However, that is the exact problem, keeping the calories low is much harder when you eat carbs.  In addition, I am certain that I am significantly more hungry when I eat carbs.  There is no doubt in my mind that eating carbs makes me crave more carbs.  It is the out of control hungry feeling that eventually does me in every time. 

On the other hand, I am a big believer in doing what works for you and staying open to making changes if necessary.  This works for you, awesome, good luck and much success to you. 

Walmartian,

Double-Triple-Quadruple-LIKE!

Well stated and true for me as well.  The biggest piece of ridding myself from "head hunger" and compulsive eating is trusting myself to eat food for fuel, listening to my body, and treating my body with kindness.  I trust myself with any kind of food now.  No food is my enemy.  Food is not stronger than I am and does not have the power to do me in.

I'll correct my statement of agreement to say that "I" am not carb sensitive, nor do I think that "everyone" who has surgery or is obese is carb sensitive.  I do believe that some people can be carb sensitive, though.  Learning to listen to your own body is the key to success.

You are wrong, but that's cool. I actually HAVE the science behind being carb sensitive that was given to me by both my doctor and nutritionist, but you have obviously already made up your mind so I am not going to bother. 

I have a metabolic disorder that makes my body process all carbs differently, if I eat more then a certain amount of carbs when I am not working out I do not lose body fat, and can actually gain. Will I eventually lose weight on a super calorie restricted diet, but high carbs, yeah I will but my body will literally eat its own muscle tissue before it will burn off fat that way. 

Have I seen people on here who use "carb sensitivity" as a crutch for not losing, yeah I have, but you can't say that a whole community of people who have a MEDICAL issue are making things up when they say they have an actual carb sensitivity. 

I am more liberal with my diet then some but I keep pretty tightly to the plan that I know works for me, but I have been at it a long time and I know that I can be, but if a restrictive diet is what gets and keeps people at goal, then I say more power too them.