What is the TikTok ‘egg diet’ challenge?

The latest TikTok egg diet challenge trend is quickly gaining traction, with users embarking on an extremely restrictive diet that consists of eating only eggs for every single meal, for 10 days in a row - but how sustainable is the diet, and how will it change your body? While the challenge’s goal is usually to lose weight or improve overall health and fitness, the specific rules of the egg diet challenge vary depending on who created it but experts have warned diet focused on one food excludes many healthy food groups that are otherwise beneficial for you. Participants are typically required to eat between three and six eggs per day, along with a limited selection of other foods such as vegetables, fruits, and lean protein sources. High-carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, and sugary snacks are frequently prohibited by the challenge. One TikTok user using the diet said: “I think the last nine days of eating the bare minimum has caught up with me today. The whole day I just felt nauseous.” In the video, she admits she broke the diet. Vidur Saini, a nutrition expert from Fitness Volt said most people fail to stick with their diet long enough for it to work sustainably. He said: “They are strong out of the gate but soon fall off the wagon and return to their previously sub-optimal eating plan. “That’s why so many of us lose weight only to regain it shortly afterwards, and it seems long-term, sustainable weight loss is rare nowadays. Fortunately, healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated or unpleasant, and weight management doesn’t have to take over your life. “You don’t even have to give up your favourite foods. However, you will need to quit looking for short-term fixes and adopt healthier long-term habits.” According to Vidur, there are six reasons why the egg diet is not sustainable for the long term. Most diets ban certain food or food groups. For example, the paleo diet excludes all processed foods, while keto severely limits your carb intake. Other diets will cut out sugar or alcohol. The problem is whilst cutting out certain foods can help contribute to your daily calorie deficit, this technique is also guaranteed to trigger cravings. Essentially, any diet that bans a particular food or food group will invariably result in cravings, driving you to cheat on your diet. A diet of healthy, fresh ingredients is always good, but with food being one of life’s unavoidable expenses, it will be harder for you to sustain this diet plan long-term if you aren’t always financially stable. For example, some diets specify that you must eat expensive foods and that somehow these products are better for weight loss than those that are more reasonably priced. Organic vegetables and grass-fed beef from free-roaming cattle cost a lot more than the basics you get at Costco but nutritionally are not all that different. They certainly won’t help you lose weight faster. For a diet to be sustainable, you need to be comfortable with how much your food costs. For example, if your grocery bill doubles overnight, you have got a readymade excuse for quitting your new eating plan. To make diets unique, they are often unnecessarily complicated. This complexity can often cause people to make mistakes or just give up after a while. Food combing diets are a perfect example of this. Some may say things like “you can’t eat fat and carbs in the same meal,” which looks okay on paper but makes meal prep far more complicated than it needs to be. Diets can often be very prescriptive and allow no variation. However, in everyday life, any diet can be difficult to stick to. Perhaps you have a friend’s birthday or an off day and you decide to indulge in something sweet. Putting a timeframe on any diet sets you up for failure. Some of the most common ways diets are advertised are through their quick fix time stamp, like “lose 30 pounds in 90 days” or “30-day get ripped plan.” Some diets are based on very flawed science or may not be based on any science at all. One example of this is calorie-burning or negative-calorie foods, such as celery. No food burns more calories than it contains, and these claims are very misleading. Effective diets work by manipulating your calorie balance. Consume fewer calories, and your body will make up the shortfall by using stored body fat for energy. No deficit means no fat burning. There are no shortcuts around this law of thermodynamics. It it sounds too good to be true, don’t fall for it.

TikTok ‘egg diet’ challenge: Expert says trend ‘isn’t sustainable’, what is it, weight loss effect