I think I have been on a diet at one point or another in my life for most of my adult life. Never happy with my body type which is very muscular and prone to weight gain, I have to stay active constantly to not gain weight.
As an adult it’s difficult to do. Hence the constant diet. However, we all know diets fail. Why? That is the question today. Let’s look at a few reasons.
Why Do Most People Fail on Diets
Negative Connotation to the Word Diet
Being “on a diet” and the word “dieting” are both negative images in our mind’s eye. It associates starving ourselves, being hungry, missing out on the foods we love, missing social events or restricting them due to not being able to enjoy the food or alcohol. Just saying the word “diet” makes you cringe. That’s why we try to use the word lifestyle change or food plan.
It’s Not Sustainable
Being on a diet is not sustainable in the long term because a diet is restrictive in itself. Many diets are unrealistic, such as a cabbage soup diet or drop 20 pounds in a week diet. We can however make realistic goals such as reducing portions, cutting simple carbs, cutting out the sugary drinks, etc.
Food Boredom
If you eating the same thing over and over and over we can quickly get bored of what we eat. I was on a diet once and I did great on it. However, I hated many of the foods that was required and therefore I only ate the same type of foods day in and day out. After I lost 50+ pounds, I could not eat one more egg ever. It took me many years to enjoy them again. That’s why food restrictive diet‘s are tough and hard on our bodies too.
Lack of Results
After the first week of being on your “diet“, you probably will start to see the lack of results. While your body is adjusting to the weight loss, we tend to get frustrated and end up eating things we shouldn’t or just tossing in the towel altogether.
Weight Gain After It Ends
Not only do we give up, but look at how many people gain all of the weight back and even more… I am not even going there.
Why do diets fail? There are many physical and metabolic reasons, but it is the psychological and emotional reasons too. How many of these reasons diets fail sound familiar to you? I can relate all of them.
I’m still struggling and I have to admit I’m tired of it. But I will persevere on my meal plan! Now to add more cardio. Sigh.
Hi! I’m Chris! Just a Midlife Wife sharing about life’s journey; screaming and kicking through it while supposedly aging gracefully…
Focusing on healthy living, low carb & keto, things I am loving right now, and life in general.