Almost no diet can sustainably make you eat less than you burn, though. We don't know of a single one that does it reliably in everyone. Sometimes, some people

Almost no diet can sustainably make you eat less than you burn, though. We don't know of a single one that does it reliably in everyone. Sometimes, some people find a way to do it, temporarily. That is why no known diet or exercise program "works." edit: feel like I should clarify, mostly to help formulate my own opinion further. I strongly disagree with "every diet works." Practically no diet works for most people most of the time, which is why "CICO!" is such a frustrating distraction from actually looking for a solution. For example, I've done 3 months on carnivore (lots of steaks!) and I lost no weight at all. On the other hand, I've recently lost over 30lbs on a custom diet. Will that diet continue working? Would it work for others? Who knows. To judge if your steak/diet coke diet "works" we'd need to a) have other people try it, b) see it continue to work for you (i.e. unless you're already at a lean goal weight, would you lose more weight?) so it's not just a plateau effect because you're cutting out fiber and carbs.