The reason why most diets fail is that people are looking for a quick way to lose weight rather than a diet they can stick to long term. That’s why the average person ends up gaining about 10 pounds for every diet they go on rather than losing any weight. What’s even more discouraging is that the muscle and fat that’s lost in the diet is replaced entirely by fat when the weight is regained.
In addition, dieting only makes things worse for many people because their metabolism ends up slower than it was before they went on the diet.
Dieters end up needing fewer calories just to maintain their weight than they did before the diet.
Our Changing Food Supply
We evolved on a diet of meats, vegetables, seafood, nuts and fruit. Our ancestor were not surrounded by processed foods or fast foods as we are today.
Supplies were harder to come by and it was often a case of feast or famine. As part of our survival mechanism, we developed an ability to store fat for a rainy day and this is hard-wired in us to this day. Since we have a constant availability of food in our modern societies, that rainy day never comes and we keep packing away more emergency supplies in the form of body fat.
Modern Consumption Patterns
Today, we are faced with a constant accessibility to high-energy, calorie-packed foods and our diet provides us with far more energy than we need.
In addition, we have a wide variety of fast food restaurants and prepared meals that are available, all of which tends to remove us from being aware of the content of the foods we eat.
Those of us who eat a more traditional diet of home cooked meals usually consume far fewer calories than people who feast on convenience foods and fast foods from the numerous restaurants that cater to them.
Increased Calorie Intake
Our calorie consumption has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Americans now consume an average of 3,900 calories a day, up from 3,000 calories a day in the 1970s and early 1980s. We are consuming nearly double the amount of energy we need and what’s worse, many of these are empty calories provided by sugars and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
American Sugar Consumption Per Year
American sugar consumption per year is estimated at 152 pounds of added sugars. The fructose that we obtain from fruits and vegetables is not a concern. The large quantities of fructose being consumed as sugar and HFCS in the modern diet however, is a problem. When your liver is bombarded on a daily basis with large amounts of fructose it generates fats in the blood that can lead to diabetes and other chronic problems. Fructose also suppresses leptin. Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain when you’ve had enough to eat. A reduction in leptin signaling makes your brain think you’re still hungry no matter how much you’ve had to eat. Sugar has proven to be extremely addictive for many people. Some studies show refined sugar to be as addictive as cocaine and as the food industry keeps putting more sugar in our processed foods, Americans consume more and more. Glucose is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and taken up by the cells. Fructose however, is delivered directly to the liver where it is converted to fat. Too much fructose can lead to a condition called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.[2] Studies show that as little as a 25 percent increase in fructose consumption can lead to a 4-fold increase in abdominal fat as compared to glucose! [3] Abdominal fat is a predictor of metabolic diseases such as insulin sensitivity, impaired glucose tolerance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides. The famine survival mechanism is probably the main cause for dieters gaining more weight after each diet. People stick to a calorie reduced diet for about 6 months and then go back to eating what they were eating before going on the diet. Because their metabolism has slowed down, they now need fewer calories to maintain their weight. By going back to their pre-diet calorie intake, they quickly regain whatever weight they lost and pick up a few additional pounds because they now require fewer calories to function. Dieting Causes Rebound Weight Gain The way to lose weight and keep it off is to change what it is you are eating. By simply eliminating the empty calories from your diet, you will significantly reduce your calorie intake without reducing your food intake. It’s important that you keep eating a good amount of food so the famine survival mechanism won’t kick in and cause the changes that guarantee rebound weight gain. One of the main reasons why most diets fail is that people look for some quick way to lose weight quickly and it’s not something they can stick with for the rest of their lives. We’re all familiar with the saying that the definition of insanity is someone doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That’s exactly what most dieters are doing! Good healthy foods won’t trigger the addictive eating behavior that is responsible for much of the obesity problem. Start eating sensibly and don’t worry about losing weight quickly. Worry about keeping the weight off – that’s the real problem. [1] http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17690317?dopt=AbstractPlus&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctnAddictive Properties of Sugar
Fructose Creates More Fat Than Glucose
Why Most Diets Fail
How To Keep Weight Off Long-Term
I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts.
I watch what I eat all week but I tend to order stuff out on weekends. Could two or three bad meals a week make that much difference?
People want to lose weight but they don’t want to change their eating habits. Good luck with that!
That is the big problem for many people Damian. And no, it doesn’t work!
I’ve been reading a lot of posts saying dieting doesn’t work for most people. Is it the diets or the people?
There are a number of good diets Jim and any one of them will work if you follow them (I’m not talking about weightwatchers – that’s a business NOT a diet).
The success ratio would improve tremendously if more people would take the time to choose a diet they can stick with for the long term. Having done that, stick to it as best you can and the weight will come off over time.
Too many people are looking for a quick fix and it doens’t exist.
I’m trying to decelerate in relation to eating junk food, I’m not going to just stop eating it completely.
Le me know how you make out with that Rochelle. From what I’ve seen, it’s the people who don’t give up takeout and junk food that can’t keep the weight off, even after they lose it.
I cannot thank you enough for the blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for why
most diets fail
Too many people plan to make a change in their diet tomorrow..
I would add binging. If you watch what you eat all week but then go on an eating binge every weekend, you’re not going to lose weight!
I agree Lavern. I would add that the binging usually involves junk food or processed foods. You’re not likely to see someone binge on broccolli. I wrote a bit about food addiction on this post http://easyleanandhealthy.com/convenience-kills/
The other thing to shed unwanted weight is always to sleep adequately,
every night.
It’s true that lack of sleep affects your weight. It’s not so much that sleeping helps you lose weight, but lack of sleep affects your metabolism and that can make you reach for the wrong foods to get a boost of energy to keep going.
There is certainly a lot to know about this subject. I love all the points you made.
The only way to control what goes in the food you eat is to cook it yourself.
Agree, people need to make certain it’s something they can stay with for the extended time.
Agreed. Too many people just want to loose a few pounds after the New Year or for the beach season and don’t realize they have already made up their minds that they’re going to gain it back.
Good point Flo. If you’re only thinking in terms of losing a few lbs for some special occasion or time of year, you have subconsciously decided that you will gain it back at some point down the road.
My weakness is takeout foods. I’m too tired to cook after working all week so I end up ordering junk like pizza.
My problem is I love take out food. I try to control how much I eat but as soon as I lose a few pounds it seems to creep right back.
That’s the big problem with eating out Otilia – you have no control over what goes into the meals. The restaurants want repeat business so they use lots of salt, sugar and fat – it’s a very addictive combination that happens to be very fattening as well.
Anyone who lives on processed foods that are full of salt and sugar is likely to have a weight problem.
Too many people are looking for a quick fix to a long term problem. Great articles, keep up the good work!
People need to start thinking long term when it comes to loosing weight.
Hard to understand why more people don’t get this.
I Agree, people need to start taking a long-term outlook.
I’ve been reading posts lately that say it’s a complete waste of time to diet.
A lot of people find small apps to help them along with their diet and exercise routines.
Outstanding tips!
A short term outlook is rarely the best choice in the long run.
With all this information out there, why are there still so many overweight people?
That’s a good question Rufus. I’m writing an article that deals with that question as we speak.
The reason we still have so many overweight people despite all the information that’s available, is that knowledge by itself doesn’t bring about any change.
People need to find a plan and they need to follow that plan until they lose weight. The plan in this case is called a diet or a diet plan. That’s why I wrote the ELH DIET; it’s an easy to follow plan that will get results for anyone who follows it.
I’ve tried many diets and none have worked for very long. How would it be different with the ELH DIET?
You said that the diets you’ve tried didn’t work for very long in your case Daniele, and that’s exactly what happens to most people.
But, they did work for a little while didn’t they? The problem lies in finding a diet you can stick with, or follow, for many years.
Most diets are too restrictive either in how much you can eat, or in what it is you can and can’t eat.
In the ELH DIET we only cut out unhealthy foods and highly processed foods. I tell everyone to tailor it to what it is you like to eat so you can stick with it for years.
So, if you like chicken, you can eat as much chicken as you like. Same goes with beef, pork and lamb etc..
You also can eat as much as you want to on the ELH DIET. There is no portion control or limit on how often you can eat.
You will have to give up junk foods and fast foods etc., but you will find that’s not hard to do. Once you break the habit, most people don’t miss the stuff.