Why Do Diets Fail?

The word “diet” does not generally invoke positive thoughts or emotions in most people, especially those who are trying to have a healthy lifestyle change. And rightfully so! Hunger and deprivation aren’t exactly positive feelings.  Ironically, though, the exact thing that is supposed to help you have a healthy lifestyle (a diet, that is) is most likely the reason you are having such a difficult time losing weight in the first place. Sounds pretty crazy, right? With so many “diet” products and supplements on the market today and with the diet industry being as big as it is, this would make no sense. This article is about why you should not go on a diet if you really want to lose weight and be healthier and the different keys to a healthy lifestyle.

If diets are a part of a healthy lifestyle, then why do they always seem to fail?

I personally believe that nobody should ever go on a “diet” for weight loss reasons. Listed a below are a list of reasons to answer the question “why do diets fail?:

1) Why do diets fail? When you “go on a diet”, you are implying that you will eventually go off the diet. So, even if you do lose weight you are not living a permanent healthy lifestyle, and you will eventually gain it back when your diet ends.

2) Diets are highly restrictive. People don’t enjoy being restricted, and most people end up not following the restrictive guidelines of whatever diet they are on, resulting in “failure” (in the eyes of the dieter, that is). This “failure” very often causes the dieter to eat more than ever because, after all, you’ve already failed at living a healthy lifestyle so you might as well “enjoy” yourself, right??

3) Diets are not healthy. Yes, this is a generalization, but it’s still one of my reasons :). Diets often cause people to deprive themselves of vital nutrients such as the case in “no carb” diets, for “fat-free” diets, or extremely restrictive diets such as HCG where in essence, the dieter starves themselves. There are some healthy diets out there, but for the most part, diets are often very unhealthy.

4) Multiple “failed” diets eventually lead people to believe they will never be able to lose weight and obtain a healthy lifestyle. After people go on diet after diet, and “fail” to lose weight time and time again, eventually, the individual will wear down and start to believe that he or she will never be able to lose weight.

So, if dieting doesn’t work, what does? What can you do when it seems like all of your diets have failed? What are the keys to a healthy lifestyle? In my opinion, the best way you to obtain a healthy lifestyle is to a) honestly evaluate your eating habits and activity, and b) work from there to adopt a healthy lifestyle. In order to do this you need to educate yourself about the basics of a healthy lifestyle–including nutrition, exercise, adequate sleep, and proper techniques for stress-relief.  This is definitely easier said than done, but I think it may be easier than you think…