10 Reasons Why Diets Don't Work

Are you thinking that some diet program you heard about or read about might help you with your weight loss problem? Do you wonder if that diet program is good for your health? You know that weight loss is generally believed to affect health positively, but does the diet program you're looking at accomplish weight loss in a healthy manner?


Let's take a look at some basic facts about diet programs, their health affects, and their effectiveness on weight loss.


1. DIETS ARE NOT FUN! Is this important? Well, as soon as you "go on a diet", you feel as if you are being punished. You begin to think about the pleasures you are going to have to forego, and the difficulties you will have to put up with. You think about the lack of support from others around you, and the possiblity of failure. Your future begins to look a little grim...not deadly, but not fun either. How long will you be able to sustain your commitment feeling this way? A healthy eating plan for weight loss should include some elements of fun, pleasure, and rewards. That would be a little more encouraging.


2. DIETS CAN BE BORING! Again, how long are you going to be able to remain on a boring diet program? Many diets, in addition to limiting portion sizes and amounts, also call for foods that may be bland or unappetizing. Eating in much the same pattern day after day can become boring.


3. DIETS CAN GO BEYOND JUST BORING! Some make it all the way to disgusting, either in the foods you are allowed to eat (want to eat cabbage soup all day long), or simply by the fact that you DO have to eat the same thing day after day. Ice cream can become loathsome if it is all you ever get to eat.


4. DIETS CAN BE COMPLICATED! Eat this for lunch, that for dinner. Count carbohydrates, don't count carbohydrates. Eat protein, don't eat protein. What are the calories and nutrients in this food and that one? Which one is the best one? You almost need a full time dietician working with you to accomplish your weight loss goals on some diet programs.


5. DIETS INTERFERE WITH THE JOY OF LIVING! Well, are we surprised? They're not fun, they're boring and complicated. What else can we say about them? Well, could you see yourself not going on a trip, or missing a family gathering because you're on a diet? If you go, you will possibly give in to the desire to savor the moment and enjoy the experience, but you will possibly feel guilty and weak before, during, and after the event. If you go, but stick doggedly to your diet while everyone else is sipping champagne or eating turkey and dressing, how much joy are you going to get out of it? Not only that, how are you going to treat everyone around you? Are you going to be snappish to your family because you are hungry all the time and miserable because you're "on a diet"?


6. DIETS ARE TEMPORARY FIXES TO A PERMANENT PROBLEM! You will need to learn a whole new style of eating and living for weight loss to become permanent. Simply cutting down on calories for a while is not the real answer. You must change the way you live your life. This may be scary, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Is it bad to look in the mirror and like the person you see? Is it bad to become healthier and more alive?


7. DIETS CAN BE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH! Isn't weight loss good for your health? Well, of course it is, but the diet itself may be bad for you. Your body requires a broad range of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and yes, even fat, in order to remain healthy. It can be difficult to get the entire range of nutrients needed even in a normal diet, not to mention getting them in the amounts and combinations which are most effective. If your diet restricts foods, types of foods, and amounts, you may seriously injure your health.


8. DIET FAILURE MECHANISM NUMBER ONE! Diets are self defeating, even if we ignore the problems we have already mentioned. Your metabolism is the rate at which calories are used. This varies from person to person and even within the person based on life style, age, environment, inherited characteristics, etc. As we get older, our metabolism tends to slow down, for example. That's why most people tend to put on weight as they age. There are ways to increase the metabolism, the most common being exercise. The body, whatever its normal state, called homeostasis, tries to maintain that state. If you decrease the flow of calories that the body is accustomed to receiving, it will, after a while, learn to establish a new homeostasis based on the lower amount of calories. In other words, although you may lose weight at first, you will probably eventually level out long before you reach your weight loss goal. Even worse, if you go off the diet after the body has learned to sustain itself on fewer calories, you may actually gain back the weight you have lost AND MORE!


9. DIET FAILURE MECHANISM NUMBER TWO! Remember that metabolism thing above? If you gain muscle mass, you will burn more calories, If you lose muscle mass, you will burn fewer calories. One common effect of exercise is an increase of muscle mass (no ladies, you are not likely to look like the new governor of California if you exercise...even if you lift weights. In fact you may look more like Miss America if you exercise...most Miss Americas do). Additionally, not only can you burn more calories during exercise, by exercising regularly, you can lift your body to a higher metabolic rate as it goes about its day to day activities...including sleeping. Unfortunately, on a diet, your body tends to rob your muscle mass since you are cheating it out of the nutrition it believes it needs. This will also tend to depress your metabolic rate as in diet failure mechanism number one, increasing the affects. Again, if you stop your diet, the loss of muscle mass may increase the weight gain.


10. DIETS DON'T LET YOU SNACK! Is that a biggie? Well, to me and a few other people it is. Those stretches from breakfast to lunch, lunch to supper, supper to bedtime. Do you really get thru them without a snack...even if you ate a big meal? Probably not. You want that little treat. You want to stop that little hint of hunger until it is time for a meal. You want to live normally, and for most of us, snacks are normal!
There you have it. Ten reasons why diets don't work and may even be unhealthy. So what can you do about it? There's a lot you can do.


You can substitute healthier items or remove unhealthy ones. Drink a diet drink instead of one with sugar. Put less on your plate the first time around, and eat more slowly. By the time you finish, your hunger may have begun to ease, you will have satisfied head, heart, and stomach...and everybody else will be getting up from the table.


Change your activities to help your body burn off a few more calories. You don't have to start by running a marathon, just get out and walk a little more. Spend less time in front of the TV. Instead of a piece of pie, go have sex. That burns a lot of calories.


Find an organization or weight loss program which can make the foods more appealing, that can plan the food choices for you, that can help you snack and still lose weight. In addition to these, many weight loss programs such as NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, TOPS International, or Weight Watchers can also provide a key element....SUPPORT!



The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the '70s after reading numerous books, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper's "Aerobics". This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years, and to pursue course work on health and fitness. He now has an online health supplement store at http://eherbsstore.com. Find more weight loss tips at http://nodiet4me.com.

Posted in: Diets