Sometimes I get so lost in my own little nutrition and fitness bubble that I forget bad diet information runs rampant in social media.

I was recently scrolling through Instagram and saw the claim that you can drop 10 pounds in one week by consuming this drink each night before bed:

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP raw honey

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup hot water

Let’s cover the basics: There is nothing, I mean NOTHING magical about this drink or combination of ingredients that can make you lose 10 pounds in one week.

However, here are few things that “could” (keyword) happen.

-Apple cider vinegar “may” have some appetite suppressing effect. It won’t have this effect on everyone but it may for some. If you find that your appetite has been curbed, there is a chance that you’ll eat less than normal and that can contribute to a downtick in weight.

-You could also decide to swap out a meal for this drink. Let’s say you decide to opt out of dinner each evening and have this drink instead. That choice alone could save you hundreds of calories in one sitting and also contribute to a downtick in weight.

-Sometimes, when people embark on a new “diet hack”, they start changing other behaviors as well. Maybe they start walking more, maybe they snack less, or maybe they alter some other habit to either a) increase expenditure b) decrease intake. Either way, this “magic drink” becomes the catalyst for changing other behaviors and *voila*…fat loss.

The best part about seeing this B.S. post is what was in the caption. The creator of the infographic was actually leading you to their 21-day smoothie plan where they claimed you could lose an additional 15-20 pounds.

Let’s take this apart too.

Further inspection shows that each of these smoothies (you can enjoy 3 a day), average around 200-300 calories each. That means, you’re consuming a whopping 600-900 calories a day in smoothies.

OF COURSE YOU’RE GOING TO DROP WEIGHT.

Any grown adult will lose weight on this plan, they will also lose muscle which is NEVER a good idea if you can help it.

I hate to be “that guy” but I will in this case: if it sounds too good to be true…

Listen, it’s ultimately your body and your choice of what to do when it comes to fat loss. My first issue is the far-reaching claim that your body weight will plummet when you follow these plans. Much of that has to do with what your starting weight is and the rest comes down to what else you’ll change to get the scale to move.

Oh yeah, and then there’s that other issue of: what happens when I go back to the way I normally eat?

You guessed it, those pounds will come happily back.

If you’re feeling stuck, drop me a line. There’s a more sane way to approach fat loss.

(Photo courtesy of Francesca Hotchin)