Jane Thorne, junior in education, said she tried the South Beach diet just to see if it would work. But four weeks after she ended the diet, Thorne said she wouldn't recommend it.

"I lost five pounds in a week, but I was a walking zombie," she said.

The South Beach Diet, a new weight-loss system that guarantees dieters can lose up to 13 pounds in two weeks, is one of the newest diets gaining popularity with college students. But some dieticians say this diet could be only temporarily effective and potentially harmful.

The diet's founder, Dr. Arthur Agatston, developed the diet to eliminate "bad" carbohydrates and fats that cause weight gain, according to the South Beach Diet's Web site.

John Barnes, a customer service representative for Angora Media Company, which runs the South Beach Diet's Web site, said the effectiveness of the diet depends on the dieter's metabolism.

However, registered dietitian Rebecca Roach, who works at McKinley Health Center, said the South Beach Diet is a "glitzy newcomer" to the pack of fad diets.

"Fad diets are just what they say they are — fads," she said. "It's not just about losing weight, it's about keeping it off. No fad diets do that."

Still, Barnes said the diet has health benefits similar to the Atkins diet, but is designed to help its subscribers lose weight and plan their meals to keep the weight off.

"You limit carbs, then you lose the fat, and therefore you lose the weight," he said.

Lynn Stengel, a registered dietitian at Provena Covenant Hospital, said restrictive dieting can be harmful because it causes people to store fat instead of burning it.

"Any time you drastically cut calories, your metabolism slows and your body stores fat for energy," she said.

Stengel said successful weight loss only comes from gradually reducing calories and exercising, and that the South Beach Diet and other diets like it, such as the Hollywood Diet, are not good.

"Any time you diet you lose weight (too quickly), you lose muscle mass instead of fat," she said. "It's not about numbers on a scale, it's what your body looks like."

Barnes said the Web site offers the subscribers a lot of interaction with others who use the site; they can get their questions answered. However, he said that as with any diet, there may be health risks.