Considering the number of overweight and obese people in the world, it’s not surprising that many, many people have been on a diet at some time or other in their lives. But most diets are short-term solutions only, at best. There are some good reasons why diets do not work, and if people understand them, maybe they can start to make positive changes.
The overarching problem with dieting is that people don’t stick to their diets. Either they lose the weight and then stop, or they don’t even get that far. Both are discouraging, and can lead to even more weight gain.
A major issue with diets is that people who are on them would never choose to eat that way. And forcing yourself into a situation where what you want and what you intend to do are at odds is a good way to wind up failing. Most people just don’t have sufficient willpower to fight their biology when it wants a slice of cake.
Often, it’s not just hard to fight oneself when it comes to eating. People who restrict their food to an extreme extent often find it hard to enjoy social events, which can be hugely food centered. Many people also get very depressed when they don’t manage to maintain their diet, and then they give up on it entirely.
Less calories must go in than are expended when trying to lose weight, but what most people don’t know is that if you restrict calories too much, the body’s metabolism will slow to make up for it. These people wind up eating less but still not losing weight, which is incredibly frustrating, of course.
Anyone who diets without exercising is actually only losing about a third of a pound of fat for every pound lost. That is because dieting produces losses that are approximately one-third muscle, one-third water, and one-third fat. When the diet ends, the water and fat come back very quickly, but the muscle does not. This leaves the dieter the same weight as before the diet, but their body now burns fewer calories, so they usually gain additionally, as well.
Good reasons why diets do not work are more numerous than just these. But these make good illustrations of the fact that, to lose weight, something other than a conventional diet must be used. The bad news is that these ways to lose weight can be slow and frustrating. The good news is, they might actually work for the long haul.
A lot of people who haven’t, and most people who have been on a diet, know about the caloric balance. People must take in less calories than they burn in order to lose weight. But people making extreme changes in their diets rarely stick with them. So, these changes must be made very slowly, if they are intended to be made permanent.
Making changes slowly enough that they can become the new normal is the only way that most people can stick with them. The best way to permanently change your life and your weight is to choose a single small change, such as walking three times a week for half an hour, or adding vegetables to every other night’s dinner, and making that the only change for two weeks or a month. Then make another, small change for the next month. It’s hard to be this patient, but remember, you are making changes for life, not just for the moment.
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