Why do diets fail?

The problem with dieting is that it is usually unrealistic to maintain diet restrictions long term. Many people are successful temporarily, but then realize that they do not want to follow this "diet" for the rest of their lives. It is much more effective, even though the results are not seen as quickly, to make small, lifestyle changes that you can stick with for life. Remember, the weight did not come on over night and will not leave that quickly either. Make realistic weight loss goals and follow a manageable diet.

Anyone who has dieted knows the ins and outs of weight loss - it's a matter of counting calories and burning off more calories than you eat. And unless you are green and photosynthesize, it's really that simple. However, I believe that the reason most diets ultimately fail is because of the deprivation they cause. No one likes to be denied anything they like. And the longer you deny yourself that pepperoni pizza, the more internally discontent you become. And we all know that leads to binging. Oh, how good that forbidden food tastes. But that binge often begins a slide towards even more weight gain.  And that's the yo-yo syndrome so commonly seen when dieting.

Diets fail when they are not based on sustainable changes. I can cut out any food for one week but ask me not to eat that food for the rest of my like and I am bound to fail. You should approach any diet by asking yourself, "is this something I can do for the rest of my life?" if not then you are putting yourself in the position to fail. And this can become a vicious cycle because we often tell our selfs, "next time I will try harder" or "next time I am going to do better" But ultimately it is not us, it's the diet. There is no one size fits all diet, we need to adopt lifestyle changes we can do today and 20 years from today. 

Here's an example:

A diet might say you can only drink skim milk and you like whole milk. That is a pretty drastic change, that might only last a week and then we return to our old habits.

A lifestyle style change might be a smaller step like trying 2% milk that you might be more likely to stick to longer and once that change becomes a habit, you might even be willing to try 1% The idea is that even though it is not skim milk some change is better than no change.

Diets fail for the very same psychological reasons that cause us to overeat. They are dependent on an unhealthy relationship with eating. In one case we over eat to excess not to meet the physical needs of hunger but to meet the emotional demands of life. We choose to fix this then by entering into an extreme relationship with food in the opposite direction again not to meet the physical needs of our body and in this case usually extremely depriving our bodies of needed nutrition but to meet the psychological demands of a quick-fix. This fix albeit effective in many people for a period of time usually fails over time because it is dependent on the emotional sustenance of excess.

In my experience with many clients over many years you can only lose weight and keep it off by going through a retraining process when it comes to food. We must learn how much food we need on a daily basis and if we are overweight learn how to eat a margin under what our body needs over a period of time sufficient enough to lose the desired weight. We then need to learn with real food by the way how to eat what we need on a daily basis to maintain. The good news is this isn't as hard as it sounds. Retraining just takes a little time, patience, and discipline.

Crash diets often fail because they feed into the need for instant gratification, cause constant hunger, and give symptoms of chronic fatigue. Weight loss is something that takes place gradually and requires patience. Often, crash diets promise fast results, but these results are short-lived because they teach poor eating habits that cannot be sustained. When combined with exercise, a diet that is calorie restrictive will give symptoms of chronic fatigue, in that the dieter is always tired, and has a hard time completing workouts.

• Most diets restrict caloric intake so much that metabolism slows down, thus hindering the weight loss process.
• Dieting may result in depression, which is counterproductive to losing weight.
• Most diets do not encourage lifestyle changes. To have permanent weight loss, you must make permanent changes in food choices, eating habits, and physical activity.
• With very low calorie diets, weight loss is usually lean body weight as opposed to fat weight.
• Exercise is not part of the program.

Diets fail because they are based on deprivation and often take the joy out of eating and sometimes make it difficult to live a normal life.

Diets are temporary. People go on a diet knowing that they will eventually abandon it. It’s not if, but when.  

Unfortunately, once the “diet” is abandoned, you are left in the ocean with no solid ground to stand upon. Instead of going on a diet, consider taking this healthy eating thing one day, one bite at a time. Incorporate new healthy foods and behaviors each day or each week. Master them and add others. This way you build an arsenal of healthy eating practices that will last a lifetime.