I've tried every diet under the sun and not a single one has worked for me. How many times have we all heard that before? Whether it'sa weekly juice cleanse, completely restricting carbs, or not allowing themselves to eat the delicious cookie they've dreamt of nightly, people are continuously looking for shortcuts to take with their nutrition.
Look, I completely understand. I too have struggled with my diet and have sought out some rather extreme solutions to meet my goals, whether those goals were to get as big as The Hulk or as shredded as an action figure. I used to have a closet full of supplements which read “Mass Gainer:Build Lean Mass Fast” or something as simple as “Fat Burner”. This was all while my diet consisted of a boatload of processed and fast food. I didn't have the slightest clue what I was doing with my nutrition, nor did I realize the importance of it. Ignorance and trying to cut corners made me an easy victim for supplement companies to prey on.
However, what I not so quickly found out was that I never achieved the results I sought after, I never got to Hulk status and I never became as chiseled as an action figure (although I thought I was at the time). You see, in order to have long term success you need to make little adjustments that add up to big results over time. It's the decision to slowly start adding the smarter choices of food into your diet and slowly cutting back on the bad choices that over time will lead to success. What people don't realize is that every time you choose to starve yourself to lose those extra pounds before vacation, or go on a liquid diet, you may actually be starving away your muscle. If in fact the pounds you lost were muscle, then your metabolism is now a little worse and trying to lose pounds just became that much harder.
Not a single one of us human beings are made exactly the same, so there isn't a one size fits all “diet”. What works for you might not work for your buddy. Instead, we should all do some research and strive to tweak our nutrition so we don't have to go to these drastic measures to try and get to where we want to be when beach season rolls around. If you can't figure it out on your own or need some help or guidance, then you might want to seek out a precision nutrition coach or nutritionist. Wouldn't it be better to be flex ready year around? I, for one, think so!