From Atkins to Zone Why Diets Fail
Posted on January 24th, 2006 by garyPosted in Diet, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Winter Shape Up 2006
On any given day in the United States between 30 and 40% of women admit to being on a diet, the same is true for 20 to 25% of all men. In fact Americans are spending over $15 billion dollars a year on diet related foods, books and services. For many people these diets work, they do actually lose the weight. However the majority of them will put the weight back on within 6 to 12 months. So why do people who were so successful fail, and end up back where they started, to answer that question we’ll need to take a look at how and why people start diets in the first place.
The beginning of the year is particularly busy time for companies involved in the weight loss industry. Many people make New Years resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. Other people find that their clothes are getting a little too tight, and others are trying to lose weight for a specific event like a wedding, family or school reunion. They want to lose the weight and they want to do it now.
Not knowing where to start and looking for guidance, many of them choose the popular diet of the moment that they see in the bookstores or advertised on TV. Others follow plans that worked for coworkers, family or friends. In 2004 Dr. Michael Dansinger of Tufts University did a study comparing 4 popular diets to see which was most effective. His results were a little surprising, as long as you followed the plan, it didn’t matter which diet you followed, you were going to lose weight!
So why is it that all of these diet plans worked, and which diet you were on really wasn’t important? There are few different in the answer to that question. The first and most important is that people were paying attention and taking an active role in managing what foods they were eating. Not only were they eating meals at regular intervals but they were eating a wider variety of foods. These new foods usually included less junk food, saturated fats and processed carbohydrates. Instead people were now eating more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Additionally people following diets were eating good or recommended food from a list. They were also avoiding food bad from the not allowed food list. Most people continue following the plan, and losing weight until they reach the goal they set for themselves. Shortly thereafter the most dangerous moment in any diet occurs, you give in to temptation. Maybe you have a piece of cake at an office party, you break up with your boyfriend and look for comfort in pint of Haagen Dazs, or you eat a big Sunday dinner at mom’s house with lots of pasta. The next morning you wake up with a sense of guilt at having broken diet rules, you ate foods from the forbidden list and you enjoyed them!
This is where most people start on the road to diet failure. They feel defeated, and in slow incremental steps they start to slip back into their old eating habits. Eventually within a few months all of that hard work is erased, and they are back where they started. Many people refer to this as the yo-yo diet effect.
The reason people give up is because they approached dieting with the wrong priorities and goals. Most people who start out a diet say I want lose 10 pounds or I want to fit into a size 8 dress, which is the wrong type of goal to set. What you really should be doing is working towards is eating healthy, balanced and nutritious foods in reasonable portion sizes. That’s not to say you shouldn’t have weight loss targets you are working towards. However you need to think of those weight loss points as steps you are climbing to reach your nutrition goal, not the other way around.
So what happens when you do fall of the wagon and give in to that piece of devils food cake? One of the most effective strategies is not to deprive yourself of foods in the first place, especially if it’s a food you really love. Saying I’m never going to eat another piece of chocolate cake isn’t a realistic goal. A goal that is attainable is, I’m going to eat less chocolate cake and in smaller portions when I do.
Remember the key to long term success on any diet isn’t just about losing the weight, it’s about learning how to eat the right foods and losing weight as result better nutrition.
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