Diets Almost Always Fail
Research shows that dieting leads to increased body fat over time.
Wait… Dieting leads to increased body fat?
Diet Success Rates
Research shows restrictive “dieting” is extremely difficult to maintain.
21% of dieters quit within the first two months.
45% quit by the end of the year.
Dieting alone leads to short-term success: Any weight that is lost is almost always regained.
66% of dieters who lose body weight regain the weight after 1 year.
90-95% of people who lose weight with diet gain most of the weight back within 3 to 5 years.
After 5 years, almost 100% of dieters weigh the same or more than when they started.
Why Diet’s Fail
Most popular diets have adverse effects on the body and mind, making them difficult to maintain long-term. Even worse they make it harder to lose body fat in the future. These diets are created to have the highest initial impact for a wow factor, which leads to short-term, short-lived results.
Short Term Effects
Diets that promise to be the silver bullet to weight loss are generally overly restrictive and can create nutritional deficiencies. This is common because these diets tend to “demonize” certain macronutrients or food sources, making it difficult to get a healthy balance of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
Restrictive dieting is also shown to increase the body’s production of Cortisol, the Stress Hormone, which leads to increased feelings of Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, and Irritability, resulting in cravings for Fat & Sugar.
When you are not getting all of the nutrients your body needs to function properly, it can also lead to loss of lean muscle tissue, Gastrointestinal issues such as constipation, bloating, or diarrhea, Headaches with negative impacts on memory and concentration, Sleep difficulties, and Slow recovery from exercise.
Long Term Effects of Dieting
Results gained from dieting diminish quickly because they don’t address the underlying cause of the weight gain. Even worse, they can make it harder to maintain or lose body fat in the future.
Restrictive dieting is shown to lead to a decrease in metabolism over time; this can be the result of multiple forces at work, from a decrease in lean muscle tissue, a change in natural hormone production and regulation, and changes in gene expression.
Not only does dieting have a negative effect on the body, but it can also affect our emotional connection to food and perpetuate unhealthy eating habits.
If we know diets don't work, why do we do them?
We diet because we want to lose body fat, be healthier, to feel more comfortable in our skin. And we either didn’t know that it was unhealthy & self-defeating, or we believed there was simply no other choice.