Quick diets sound appealing on the surface, but beware, they are not for everyone. Those who need to lose a massive amount of weight may find generally that quick dieting may cause frustration and some very harmful concurrent effects. It is best to consult with your doctor or nutritionist before embarking on a less swift but more viable weight loss diet program. For those who need to lose only a small amount of weight, usually just those ten or twenty pounds they weigh above the highest end of their most ideal range, quick dieting can be effective if undertaken sensibly and safely.

The so called Three Day Diet, a low-fat plan designed to help you lose ten pounds in three days, is considered one of the better short-term weight loss plans, even if the side effects may include a small amount of weakness or hunger. It involves mostly black coffee or tea with every meal; different cup-or-less servings of tuna fish, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables; one serving of three ounces lean meat or chicken; one serving of two beef frankfurters; and, half to a whole cup of vanilla ice cream, among others. The general idea has been around since 1985, according to WebMd, and is good mostly for anyone who can live on a three day meal plan without deviating from it even to a single degree. Diet experts tend to point toward the Three Day Diet’s fluid more than fat loss as drawbacks, and those who put themselves on the three day diet are usually advised to eat the designated portions precisely as specified, without over or under eating.

The Eleven Day Diet, however is often more acceptable by many short term weight loss seekers even if not all of them enjoy the exercise quotient, normally, light walking, that the Three Day Diet lacks. The 11 Day Diet aims at calorie shifting, generally based on the idea that you eat different amounts of calories every day to confuse your metabolism, forcing your body to burn your fat much faster. This diet is usually available by purchase at a number of Websites that include the so called 11 day diet generator, in which the dieter chooses up to thirty foods from a 46-food option list and the generator creates an eleven day plan with the chosen thirty that the dieter can eat in any four meal a day order.

The problems include extremely restrictive food choices; at least as restrictive as shorter term diets such as the Three Day Diet; and, that the meals composed by the diet generators are frequently bizarre. Toronto dietician Stephanie de Maio has written that while many of the foods on the plan or low calorie and low carbohydrate and high protein, they are also high in sodium content and low enough in nutrient density to cause significant nutrient deficiencies even if the dieter loses the hoped for weight. Moreover, de Maio advises, the Eleven Day Diet has something else in common with the Three Day Diet, water weight loss far more than fat weight loss, if any fat weight is lost at all. In addition, de Maio continues, the weight loss is temporary at best, and the calorie shifting concept has yet to be proven scientifically as an effective weight loss method.

So what if any are fast diets that work? Most dietary studies and reviews seem to point most toward the once popular Scarsdale Diet (basically, 43 percent protein, 22.5 percent fat, and 34.5 percent carbs); and, the organic vegetable diet; not quite as fast as the more faddish diets but considered to be safer, more reliable, and better balanced for nutrients (you get the basic vitamins, minerals, and nutrients every day) while being far less restrictive than many fad diets. The principle is that you get your protein intake from beans and the kicker is that you must consume natural fruits and vegetables unaffected by growth from chemical fertilizers or growth hormones. Foods you can eat include whole grains, nuts, seeds, a small volume of pasta, and fat-free yogurt. Those who study this diet urge dieters to be sure they make a plan that has plenty of variety, for the variety of nutrients and to keep from going crazy from its sameness.