Why Diets Don't Work
Studies with adults show that up to 95% of diets fail, with most dieters regaining the weight they lost plus some additional weight.
Why Does This Happen?
- Repeated dieting slows the metabolism, making it increasingly hard to lose weight while on the diet and easy to regain the weight once the diet ends.
- Dieters lose muscle in addition to body fat. This causes their metabolism to drop even further, and contributes to weakness and loss of energy.
- Dieters lose touch with their inner cues for hunger and satisfaction that are nature's way of helping us stay at a healthy weight.
- Restricted food intake can lead to binge eating. This is a physical response to hunger, as well as a response to feeling deprived. This pattern of eating can become a vicious cycle.
- Long term dieters end up heavier than they were before starting to diet, with a more sluggish metabolism and changed body composition (less muscle, more body fat).
- The ongoing process of losing and regaining weight (yo-yo dieting) can increase the risk for health problems such as heart disease and osteoporosis.
- Diets increase stress, lower self-esteem with each dieting failure, decrease concentration, increase the risk for depression and affect relationships. Long term dieters often feel burned out, both physically and emotionally.
Diets and Weight Problems