A diagnostic apparatus and a diagnostic method are provided for a belt squeezing force adjusting mechanism of a continuously variable transmission in which a belt is wound around a primary sheave that receives driving force and a secondary sheave that outputs force to a drive line, and which continuously changes the output rotation speed by adjusting the width of the groove the primary sheave and the secondary sheave by shift control. This diagnostic determines, as a precondition, whether a target control value calculated in shift control is in a low region, and performs a diagnostic on the belt squeezing force adjusting mechanism based on the relationship between an actual control value and the target control value during control to reduce a control value when it is determined that the precondition is satisfied. According to this diagnostic apparatus and diagnostic method, an erroneous diagnosis can be prevented so the diagnostic can be performed accurately.