Why do diets fail?
Diet is a great way to lose weight, as it seems to most of us. Indeed, recently the number of people in Europe and North America who adhere to one or another diet has increased among women by 70%, among men by 30%. However, not everything is so simple, many diets do not give results at all, others work, but after the first rapid improvement, the former weight returns or, worse, weight gain. So why diets fail?
The body is difficult to adapt to diets. Most diets involve a significant change in the usual diet for a significant period. But habits are difficult to fight because they were formed under the influence of our lifestyle, the slightest changes which result in stress.
The diet is still complex in that it is a real test for your willpower. At the initial stage, everything seems simple, since the period of enthusiasm has not yet passed, but then it becomes more difficult. It is especially difficult to fight your willpower during the holidays when a large table is being prepared, all friends and relatives eat freely, but you should not.
Keeping yourself within the framework is extremely difficult if a person adheres to a particularly strict diet. When he sees the result, he becomes more relaxed and less resistant to temptations.
Diets make you feel eternally hungry and deprived of life. Researchers report that regardless of whether you are full or thin, diets cause a constant feeling of hunger and create a constant desire to eat what you can’t eat, for example, fatty and sweet foods. In addition to constant hunger and temptations, you have to fight with sad thoughts like: “Everyone can eat, but I can’t.” These kinds of thoughts can cause overeating from a feeling of protest.
Diet works as long as you stick to it. Many people get tired of constant restrictions and allow themselves small retreats from time to time. The problem is that these small digressions are gradually turning into a system, and a person begins to come up with excuses: today I will “tear myself away”, and tomorrow I will certainly pull myself together. A diet such as “today is full, as the last time in my life, and tomorrow I’m hungry all day”, does not lead to anything good. Metabolism is broken, and you gain even more weight than before.
Diets have nothing to do with the emotional aspect of overeating. People eat more when they are under the influence of stress, this is normal because during this period they spend more calories than usual. But when overeating begins because they are thus trying to achieve emotional comfort, to cope with feelings of irritation, anger, and loss, diets not only do not improve the situation but, on the contrary, worsen it, since diet is new emotional pressure on the body.
Diet only defeats extra pounds when you are able to change your own deep-rooted habits and nutrition system of your entire family, as well as physical activity. People often believe that, once having reached the perfection of forms, they will never want to eat much more, so they can pamper themselves sweet and fat. It’s a delusion. If you want to lose weight, you need to change the style of food once and for all, and not only yours, but also those close to you, at least those people who live with you under one roof.
Starvation
Complete fasting was a very popular method in the West 30–40 years ago. Although the results in weight loss are quite impressive, complete starvation gives significantly more complications than benefits. These are metabolic disorders associated with a lack in food of a number of absolutely necessary components, primarily protein, as well as vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.
When fasting, the body primarily consumes not so much fat as proteins, which is accompanied by skin defects, sagging, wrinkle formation, general and muscle weakness. The usual thing for fasting is the development of immunodeficiency. Immunity also rests on the constant reproduction of special cells and the production of special protein molecules – antibodies by these cells. It is clear that with a deficiency of protein in food, these functions suffer. As a result, the likelihood of various infections and colds increases. It is impossible to limit the intake of vitamins in the body – food components that the body itself cannot synthesize, but in the presence of which it is in great need. Moreover, some vitamins, in particular B1 and B6, are actively involved in the oxidation of fats. Their deficit will certainly affect the pace of weight loss.
Having sat on a diet, many people try to significantly reduce the amount of food that they eat and often give the body so few calories that it is not enough even to provide the necessary metabolism.
This leads the body into a state of stress and the need to rebuild the metabolism adapted to starvation. Depending on the strength of the will, a person is on a diet for several weeks and is really losing weight. Then, satisfied with the result, he returns to normal life and ceases to limit himself to food. The body, “happy” with the abolition of the hunger strike, is in a hurry to create reserves in case of a new hunger and the person is gaining even more weight than he has lost.
A critical look at the available studies of various diets showed that in most cases a short-term diet does not lead to weight loss, but, ultimately, to its increase. In addition, weight fluctuations have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system.
Today, scientists call the phenomenon of diet mania a syndrome of false hope . They describe it as a kind of roller coaster: first, the desire to change for the better, initial success (lost kilograms), then failure, and finally, the next decision to start losing weight. In this case, the positive fixing factor is not the end result, but our own attitude to lose weight and initial success. Any diet is effective for some time, and people experience euphoria during this period from the fact that excess weight goes away easily and quickly. However, psychologists have found that positive emotions appear even earlier: at the moment when it was decided to go on a diet. Just planning this, women already feel slimmer. They seem to be strong, able to change their lives.
According to psychologists, the greatest danger is the initial weight loss, which is a powerful fixing factor. It plays a huge role in maintaining the false hope that the diet will work in the end. And since some really manage to lose weight for a long time, greatly reducing calories consumed, this is even more confusing. That’s why even with an unsuccessful attempt to lose weight as much as possible, diet veterans persuade themselves that they will be lucky next time.
For the initial success, as happens after strict diets, disappointment comes: a woman stops losing weight and starts to gain weight again. The behavior of the losers is curious: the majority blame themselves, the weak-willed, or the diet – two factors that can be changed the next time you try. But no one wants to admit that quick easy weight loss is just a myth. Therefore, women begin to look for a new miracle diet or execute themselves for lack of willpower. And then they start another self-restraint in food, and everything repeats …
Is hope always false? Is every attempt to lose weight with a diet doomed to failure? According to observations, in 97% of cases, people again gained weight. But a more accurate answer to this question depends on two factors: how do you determine what success is and what diet is.
If success is understood as moderate weight loss associated with a healthy diet and regular exercise, then it is quite achievable. If a diet does not mean a short period of strict restriction on the amount of food, but a reasonable change in lifestyle, you really will become healthier, more energetic and able to lose weight.
Thus, with the help of ” diets,” we not only deprive our body of nutritious and ” building ” materials but also exacerbate the existing deficiencies of trace elements and add new ones. Currently, scientists have found a lack of all diets. Firstly, with the first kilograms dumped, mainly water leaves. Secondly, our body is designed in such a way that our brain perceives the limitation of the amount of food eaten as the onset of hunger and seeks to preserve and increase the number of fat cells. At the same time, the proteins of our muscles are consumed, which is unlikely to lead to beauty and well-being. In addition, any diet reduces not only calories but also vital building materials for cells. If you were on a diet, you probably remembered the unpleasant sensations associated with this: weakness, internal trembling, etc.
If diets do not give the desired result, then what do overweight people do? Many nutritionists, specialists, including myself, believe that a full, moderate and regular diet and physical activity play the most important role.
Therefore, contact the trainers who will tell you about the right balanced diet, as well as draw up an individual diet for you to correct weight and improve well-being, and if you wish, a training program.