Oatzempic, chia seed water, and every TikTok weight loss trend ranked by an expert

Spend a while scrolling through social media, especially TikTok, and odds are you’ll encounter someone enthusiastically sharing their experience with a new fitness program or weight loss regimen. These days, it can feel like health and wellness challenges are proliferating so quickly it’s hard to keep up. By the time you’re ready to jump onto one, there’s a new one taking the internet by storm.

But how effective are these hashtag-friendly hacks, and what makes them so alluring anyway? Well, like most things, the answers depend on a lot of complicated factors. But there are some important throughlines.

In general, people tend to be drawn to challenges like the “30-30-30 approach,” which went viral on TikTok last year, when they speak to a need we’ve already identified for themselves. If you know that you’ve been wanting to lose weight, the simple structure of 30-30-30 (eating 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up followed by 30 minutes of exercise) just might help you harness some motivation to get started on that journey. Wondering if you should eat before or after your workout? Hers answers that here.

And if you experience some initial success within the framework of a specific, focused challenge—as opposed to a more nebulous resolution to lose weight—you may also notice an uptick in inspiration to keep going. 

Another important factor helps explain why joining these programs can sometimes lead to a boost in willpower: Many popular challenges are social undertakings, explains Jessica Yu, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and senior director of patient experience at Hers. “There’s that sense of being part of a bigger movement,” she says. “Human beings, by nature, are social creatures, so we love the idea of being part of something that’s bigger than ourselves.”

So does that mean anyone interested in weight loss should rush to pick from the expanding menu of social media-friendly weight loss trends? Not quite. 

Craig Primack, MD, a physician specializing in obesity medicine and senior vice president of weight loss at Hers, ranked some of the most viral weight loss challenges and trends circulating online from best to worst according to what’s most effective and sustainable.

1. Dry January: Cutting out alcohol for an entire month

“This one’s a bit of a no-brainer for anyone who’s normally a social drinker. Its positive effects extend to many different parts of the body, and it’s hard to argue with as a boost to weight loss: At the most basic level, cutting back on alcohol means cutting out unnecessary calories. That may be especially effective among young people, who are most likely to see their drinking habits contribute to obesity risk. Ditching the booze also means you’re likely to sleep better and have more energy overall, which makes it a lot easier to get consistent exercise. And, best of all, cutting alcohol for a full month might make it easier to realize that you don’t always need it in social situations. Some people who go back to consuming alcohol after an initial Dry January challenge say that they find themselves drinking less or reconsidering their relationship to alcohol.”

2. Intermittent fasting: Concentrating your eating in specific hours of the day

“Intermittent fasting has been obviously huge for about five to eight years now. It’s been shown to work just as well as standard, caloric-restriction dieting. It may even be a little bit better in people with insulin resistance or diabetes. It’s sustainable for some people, but not everyone. Time-restricted eating, the most common kind, is best when it makes sense for people’s lifestyles. For example, you probably aren’t going to succeed if you try to stop eating for the entire day at 2 p.m. But it’s often possible—and effective—to structure your day so that you’re not doing much eating after, say, 7 p.m.“

3. Drinking green tea—but not expecting it to be “nature’s Ozempic®,” as some TikTokers have been calling it

“Green tea extract actually has been shown to help a little bit. It has a chemical in it called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and there are some studies showing that EGCG may be beneficial to fat reduction. Additionally, green tea has caffeine in it, which at times can function as an appetite suppressant. So for most people, green tea is not a bad choice for overall health. Again, it will never be semaglutide or “nature’s Ozempic®,” but it’s often positive towards weight loss, so that’s great.” 

4. Oatzempic, a blended oat drink

“Oatmeal is not an unhealthy food. It’s high in fiber. If you do it right—and doing it right means you’re using whole oats, not the fast-cook kind, and that you’re actually making it on the stove, which typically takes 20 minutes—it can be a part of a very healthy diet. For me, sometimes it’s a little higher in carbohydrates than I prefer for breakfast, but many people eat it then, and they do perfectly fine. If it fills you up and the fiber is easy on your body, then that is certainly a positive effect. Oatzempic is never going to hit Ozempic®-level effects though, and it’s important for people to not expect that kind of radical change so they don’t become discouraged about incorporating whole oats and other complex carbohydrates as part of a balanced diet.”

5. Eating a block of parmesan cheese as a snack

“I had never heard of this being a trend! Now, we know Parmesan cheese by itself does not have other nutrients in it that would make it a well-rounded diet. But it could work if you did it as an in-between-meals snack, when you’re looking for a high-protein, high-fat, low-carb option that’s going to fill you up for a little while. That can be a solid choice if the calories overall are not too high to fit into your normal day. The problem with cheese in general is that the fat typically does make it a high-calorie snack as opposed to a lower-calorie snack. So it really depends on the size of your block of cheese—I’m picturing a five-inch by five-inch block, and I’m sure that’s not what they’re talking about. But that said, some people do have a hard time stopping when they eat cheese. That’s because cheese contains a high concentration of the protein casein, which our digestive systems break down into a chemical that can be somewhat addictive.”

6. Running a mile every day for 30 days 

“There are lots of reasons to love this one—not even for weight loss, per se. Running, or even just walking, one mile a day is good exercise without being overpowering. Most people can do it, and it’s not timed. Exercise is a keystone habit, so when you’re exercising regularly, you’re also likely to sleep better. When you sleep better, you can diet better—and have energy to exercise. So on and so forth.”

7. 12-3-30: Setting your treadmill to an incline of 12 and speed of three miles per hour, walking for 30 minutes

“I would say this one’s firmly in the middle, neither good nor bad, in part because there’s no medical science behind it. It was done by an influencer, who saw a noticeable change after she tried it. I don’t doubt that she found it helpful, but the average person who has a medium amount of weight to lose may find it very hard to start out at 12% incline for 30 minutes. If it had a ramp-up in the first two weeks—maybe starting at less of an incline or for fewer than 30 minutes—I would think it’s more sustainable. That said, if you are able to do it, I think it’s a solid one, especially if you’re aiming for four to five days a week rather than every single day.” 

8. Drinking chia seed water

“Chia seeds have antioxidants in them, and they also have a little bit of fiber, which is probably the most positive thing. There’s a little bit of protein, too, which is also positive. But drinking plain water is probably going to do more for you than consuming the seeds—as a general principle, if you add anything non-toxic to plain water, you’re better off than you would’ve not drinking the water. A pinch of the chia seeds may add some antioxidants, so we’ll call this pretty middle-of-the-road. It’s just important to make sure you’re not consuming the seeds dry, which can present a potential choking hazard, or immediately after adding them to water. You’ll want to give them about 15 to 20 minutes to gelatinize first.” 

9. Drinking lemon juice before eating

“People have been talking about this one for a long time. So first, studies have shown that drinking 16 ounces of water, roughly 30 minutes before a meal, does help people lose weight. Now, lemon juice on its own has never been something that I have seen help people lose weight. Hydration is important to our overall health, including weight loss, but there is nothing in lemon juice itself that has been clinically proven to be positive for weight loss.”

10. 75 Hard/30 Hard: A “mental toughness” program in which you must adhere to a set diet, cut alcohol, drink a gallon of water, work out twice, read 10 pages of a non-fiction book and take a progress photo—every single day for 75 days (or, in the modified version, 30 days)

“Did you get tired just reading that? I did. And I really don’t like this one. First of all, because the diet portion isn’t set by the program, we actually don’t have any proof that someone sticking to whatever diet they pick for 75 or 30 days will have the desired effects. The exercise portion is outlandish for anyone who’s not already in a consistent fitness routine. Going from zero to 100 here would be close to impossible for most people—how many working people have an hour and a half in our days to start exercising twice and reading non-fiction books? The answer drops even lower if you consider people with kids. And if you fail any one day, you have to start all over again. I know two people who’ve done it and were really excited about the accomplishment, but I can tell you for sure that when their 75 days are over, they’re not sticking to the same regimen. It really doesn’t encourage good long-term habits.” 

11. Consuming black seed oil, also sometimes referred to as “nature’s Ozempic®”

“Black seed oil is an omega-3 and omega-6 oil, and in general, that’s healthy. But we’ve never shown omega-3 and omega-6 to truly cause weight loss—most studies have been conducted on animals, not humans, and only over periods of six to 12 weeks. As clinicians, none of the studies that we trust take place over only six to 12 weeks, because obesity is a chronic illness. In general, you need to do studies for much longer than that. That said, it may be positive toward weight loss. But you should definitely avoid it if you’re on blood thinners, if you have low blood sugar, if you have low blood pressure, and if you have either kidney or liver disease. So there are definitely some potential health dangers with this one.” 

12. Rubbing castor oil in your belly button

“This is easily ranked lowest. Castor oil does not get absorbed appreciably when applied topically, and at best it works to moisturize the skin. If rubbing it on your belly button is relaxing for you, by all means, keep it up! But don’t expect weight loss.”

Where does that leave people who are serious about weight loss and looking for the lifestyle-change support that challenges can provide? Well, a number of the challenges above are intriguing, as Dr. Primack notes. But if you want to help set realistic goals or evaluate new reports about diet trends, try measuring any proposed regimen against the SMART criteria: Is it specific, measurable, achievable, realistic (or relevant) and timely? That can be an incredibly helpful tool.

And of course, don’t be afraid to seek out additional help from physicians and dietitians if you’ve been going it alone for a long time already. Losing weight can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.

This story was produced by Hers and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.