Cinch Diet

The Cinch Diet was first written by Cynthia Sass, RD, MPH, as a weight loss plan specifically for women. Technically, it doesn’t make this distinction.

But when a diet is marketed in Shape Magazine, focuses on daily chocolate intake, and covers all of the things that women specifically look for, chances are the Cinch Diet is not going to be overwhelmed with male buyers. So how does it work?

The Cinch Diet is supposed to be a 30 day diet plan that helps you to drop up to 8 pounds in just 5 days without giving up your favorite foods (if you love chocolate, guacamole, and peanut butter).

It’s a quick fix in other words, and most of the weight you lose (at least in the first 5 days), will be water weight, if the advertisements are true.

The Cinch Diet talks about giving you “time tested tools”, and yes, advertisers are half right. Eating 4 meals a day for example instead of 3, as long as you are eating smaller portions, is a good thing and a healthy way to lose weight.

But limiting you to a specific meal plan made up of recipes, not foods that you can mix and match is sketchy.

Obviously, every company provides users with some kind of recipe, hundreds of recipes even. Nutrisystem has a whole database of recipes. The difference is that Nutrisystem teaches dieters about healthy food choices first, and then makers put those foods into healthy recipes and encourage dieters to create and share their own recipes.

The Cinch Diet provides only 20 recipes, and it does not teach dieters anything about everyday life.

So if you go out to a restaurant, good luck knowing what you should get. Even salads aren’t as healthy as you might think these days. If you visit Aunt Martha, try telling her that you can’t eat her food, because the recipes aren’t included in your Cinch Diet book.

Yes, you can lose weight using the Cinch Diet. The question is, how long will it last, and how much inconvenience can you handle?

Pros

• Makes change easy
• Recipes are nutritious and satisfying
• Has 4 meals instead of 3
• Creator is a nutrition and diet expert
• Vegetarian and vegan friendly options
• Encourages healthy fitness

Cons

• Appeals maybe exclusively to a female audience
• Doesn’t teach dieters healthy eating habits for the future
• Only provides recipes, not dieting advice
• Not ideal for those with busy schedules
• Assumes that everybody secretly loves healthy foods

Conclusion

So you’ve used the Cinch Diet and you lost weight. How long did it last? How long did it take to gain the weight back once you stopped using the recipes and started living your life again? A few weeks, maybe a couple of months?

You didn’t learn anything new, and you didn’t actually make any long term lifestyle changes. As catchy and appealing as the Cinch Diet may seem, it’s essential to find something a little more substantial.