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Do They Work? The Real Deal On Diets

By Shondelle Solomon-Miles

Many individuals, who endeavor to lose weight, immediately rely on a fad diet or even worse, starvation, to help them achieve their goals.

Here’s a question to ponder, if dieting were an effective means of permanent weight loss, why are Americans spending 32 billion dollars a year on diets and diet related programs? Why are 2/3 of Americans either overweight or obese? Why are you reading this article?

My friend, if diets were an effective means of weight loss, then America would not be the fattest nation on earth, and I would have no reason to write this article. Let me share a little secret with you - DIETS DO NOT WORK!

Ninety five percent of dieters fail. Why? Because diets encourage deprivation, (which is a surefire path to failure), deprive the body of essential nutrients, create and nurture an obsession with food, and decrease the amount of calories your body uses for energy, or in simpler terms, slows your metabolism.

Diets that rely on deprivation leave you feeling HUNGRY, and hunger is one of the most basic and powerful human drives, and thank goodness for this, because our innate NEED for food-and adequate amounts, keep us alive!

Despite these truths, many continue to depend on “the diet” as your primary weight loss vehicle.

Think about this. If you go ON a diet, the implication is that you’ll eventually come OFF the diet. When you come off a diet, you eventually resume eating as you did before the diet because “the diet” is not designed for long-term adherence.

The result is, you regain the weight you lost, and sometimes more, because dieting slows your metabolism and heightens your cravings for all the “wrong” foods.

Please understand this. Diets are not designed for your long-term success. They are designed for the "quick fix," or to satisfy your “have-it-now” syndrome. Of course, by eating cabbage soup for a week, or removing all carbohydrates from your diet, you will lose weight. You just won’t keep it off because you cannot maintain this way of eating for too long.

The opposition I hear to the anti-diet argument is “Well, once I lose the weight on a diet, then I’ll begin eating healthier and exercising to maintain the weight loss.” BS. If you didn’t have the habits of eating well and exercising before you began your diet, you won’t have these habits after your diet.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle that supports your weight loss is a habit; it has to become part of your programming. It’s not something that you can leave up to willpower, discipline, or motivation, because, just like the latest fad diet, those qualities come and go.

Besides the negative physiological impact dieting has on the human body, it also takes a psychological toll. When the inevitable happens, and your diet begins to “stop working” (though it never really “worked” in the first place), it breeds feelings of failure, incompetence, inadequacy, guilt, frustration and even depression. These are all negative emotions that perpetuate negative belief systems and a negative self-image, which potentially lead to unsupportive lifestyle habits, and consequently, more weight gain.

Am I saying that all diets are useless? No, there’s a time and place for everything, even a “diet.” What I am saying is that if you develop a pattern of eating that is unrealistic for your lifestyle, and one which you cannot maintain for the rest of your life, then managing your weight will always be a struggle. Repeat the following declaration whenever you’re feeling inclined to go on another fad diet:

IF I WANT TO LOSE FAT AND KEEP IT OFF, I MUST LEARN HOW TO EAT IN A MANNER THAT I CAN MAINTAIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

About the Author:

Shondelle Solomon-Miles is the owner of Synergize Training Studios in Hollywood, FL. She is also the author of The Ultimate Fat Loss Guide. Her website is www.Synergizeweightloss.com