I’m going to share a little secret with you… Diets don’t work.
Sure, you may lose a few pounds at first… but your chances of keeping that weight off for more than 5 years is less than 5%.
In fact, 97% of dieters will gain the weight back.
There are many reasons why diets don’t work, but here are a few to consider:
1. Diets actually make you fat
Diets can have damaging effects on your metabolism.
The longer you restrict calories, the more stressed your body becomes.
It thinks you’re in a famine state, so cortisol rises and you go into fat storage mode. Stay here for too long and thyroid function can also be affected. A hypothyroid state makes it much more difficult to lose weight and burn fat until it’s corrected.
2. Diets aren’t sustainable
Diets are like running a race…the entire time you’re looking to the end. And what do you do when you reach the end? You quit. And then lose any results you did achieve.
3. Diets don’t change your behavior
The typical diet tells you “eat this – don’t eat that.” But what happens when you face a craving outside of the diet and your willpower just isn’t quite strong enough to resist?
Diets don’t focus on the real issues such as behaviors, habits, and even your beliefs.
4. Diets promote an unhealthy relationship with food
Diets cause you to view food as a necessary evil. Your relationship with food should be a healthy one. Extremes are unhealthy. Food should not be too large of a focus in life, but neither should it be an enemy.
5. Diets focus on weight rather than health
The basic idea behind starting a diet is to become healthy, right? However, the main objective of most diet plans is to lower the number on the scale. But the scale is only one part of the solution. And more often than not it’s not about our health.
Our society has placed too much value on the number on a scale.
Rather than using the scale as your only measure of success, consider the way you feel, the way you look in the mirror, and the way your clothes fit.
Ditching diets has led to more freedom than I ever knew possible. And I want that for you too! It is possible to feel really GOOD, lose weight, have more energy without going on a dreaded diet!
