3 Reasons Why 98% of Diets Fail

By Lara

1. Diets create confusion.

Make no mistake: there are some excellent programs with sound nutritional strategies and muscle-sculpting workout routines that are helping people get great results. Over the years, you’ve probably tried many of these—and as long as you were diligent, followed the program to a T, and whipped your body into submission, you probably got results, right? What about after you stopped following the program and tried to go back to a “normal” way of eating, moving, and living? According to Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, while diets may work short term, 96-98% of Americans’ diets fail at producing long-term weight loss. Sadly, many people have dieted for so long they have no clue as to their body’s “natural” way of eating.

How to create clarity: Slow down! Eating quickly creates internal stress, which in turn affects your body’s natural ability to assimilate, digest, and metabolize food. We’re hard wired to fight or flight, so in the face of stress, blood moves away from our bellies to our arms and legs to get us out of harm’s way. Before each meal, take a few deep breaths, put both feet on the floor, and eliminate external distractions (like the TV, steering wheel, and newspaper). Take breaths between each bite, and play a game to be the last one to finish.  By slowing down, you enhance your body’s natural ability to metabolize and assimilate the nutrients from your food. Plus, in this relaxation state, slowing down signals to the brain that you really are eating, so chances are, you’ll eat less.

2. Diets create illusion.

So often, we go on diets and begin hard-core workout programs falsely believing that once we shed that 10 pounds and wear those skinny jeans again all of our problems are solved. It’s the type of thinking that tells us that we have to wait until we lose weight to be OK—to be pretty enough, attractive enough, or sexy enough. In essence, we come to believe that we can’t authentically express and live our lives until we are “fixed.” Therefore, we put an enormous amount of pressure on ourselves to be “perfect” to execute this “perfect” diet and “perfect” workout plan to yield us the “perfect” body—creating the illusion that once we are “fixed” through our diet, we are then whole and free to live.

How to create clarity: When you feel the urge to go on a diet (or maybe you’re on one now), stop and ask yourself what you really most want from this diet. Is there some area in your life you feel out of control? How will going on a diet or starting a new workout plan help you feel in control? Beyond the skinny jeans or swimsuit, what is it that you are really trying to “fix”? The feeling of not being enough? The freedom to express your sexuality? The voice to speak with authority and truly be heard? When you let go of trying to “fix” yourself and focus instead on healing whatever is stopping you from truly living, your body will release any unhealthy FAT (feelings, actions, or thoughts) naturally.

3. Diets are not pleasurable.

Whether you’re eating meat and cheese to avoid carbs or eating fruits, vegetables, and lean protein all day to avoid fat, most quick-fix diets lack a balanced approach. While there is a pearl of wisdom and value in every diet and exercise plan out there, most have us denying ourselves some food group or behavior. Instead of taking great pleasure in a rich array of foods, and moving our bodies because they desire to move, when we’re on a diet, it’s often about a means to an end. We endure the pain of boring, fun-free food and gut-busting workouts that pummel our bodies so that one-day in the future when we step on the scale we can enjoy pleasure. That is unless we “cheat” by binging on handfuls of those Girl Scout cookies. And if you’ve ever done this—and you take away nothing else from this post—then please take this: you don’t have a willpower problem. Here’s why…

How to create clarity: We are physiologically wired to be pleasure seekers and pain avoiders. And when we are denied food or pleasure for too long, our brains produce a chemical—neuropeptide Y—that increases our appetite and demands pleasure. So when we continuously deny ourselves the pleasure of high-quality, natural food (versus that fake, fat-free stuff) or we restrict our caloric or fat intake over time, our bodies revolt by producing higher levels of neuropeptide Y. The key is to allow yourself a healthy, moderate level of fat and sweets in the diet—just make them as high of quality as you can and eat them in a relaxed, slow state. In other words, enjoy!

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