Why Diets Fail

 

The stats are discouraging. Two out of five dieters quit within the first seven days. Only one in five make it three months. Those who do manage to stick to their diets and lose weight, have a low success rate. 80 to 90 percent regain all their weight plus some within a few short months.


Muscle Loss.
Restrictive fad diets put the body in a catabolic state, which causes tissue breakdown that affects both fat and muscle. Typically, a dieter loses 75 percent of their weight as fat and 25 percent as muscle.


Slow Metabolism.
Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, meaning it takes more energy (calories) to be maintained. On very low calorie diets, our body becomes more efficient at storing fat, to be later used as energy. Blame mother nature. It’s a survival mechanism safeguarding our bodies in case of famine. Many dieters bare down and eat even fewer calories, which compounds the problem, destroying the metabolism. When the dieter finally gets disgusted and returns to eating the way they’ve always eaten, they gain the weight back plus a few more pounds.


Nutritionally Lacking.
Fad diets are often lacking essential vitamins and minerals, which leads to irritability, headaches, mood swings, fatigue, and digestive problems.  Low-fat diets lack adequate amounts of essential fatty acids needed for your organs to function.


Poor Satiety.
Satiety (feeling full) is regulated by the appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is produced by fat cells and sends signals to the brain when a person is full. Ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone” and is produced primarily by the stomach and intestinal tract signaling hunger. Eating enough protein and nutrient rich foods help you feel full and lessens your chance of binging.

Unrealistic.
Most diets cannot be incorporated into the dieter’s busy schedule. Time and preparation is needed. On some plans, the food combinations are so strange or a food group is completely ignored, making it virtually impossible for the dieter to find food suitable for the plan in a pinch. When the dieter is maintaining, they’ll be less motivated to go the second mile in order to stick with the plan.

No Lifestyle Change.
In order to take the weight off and keep it off, there has to be a lifestyle change! We cannot subsist on very low calorie intake for long. If you go back to eating the way you’ve always eaten, you will gain back the weight and it will all be fat. This sets the yo-yo dieting in motion.