Why Diets Don’t Work (and what to do instead)

Diets Can Help You To Lose Weight – But Most of Us Put the Weight Straight Back On. Yes. Sad Fact – Diets Don’t Work.

Look at any magazine stand or book store, and – no matter when you’re there – you’ll always find books and articles on dieting and losing weight. We want a quick solution, so there’s always a market for diets, diet plans and diet comparisons. But the trouble is, diets don’t work.

Food stores have foods, shakes, and other products to add to your plan, and social media is crawling with ads for them. Of course you want to try a diet to get to your goal weight, because they claim to do it quickly.

And yes, a diet (Paleo, Mediterranean, DASH, Weight-Watchers or whatever) can help you to lose weight in time for a special event. But in the long run, diets don’t work.

If you haven’t done it yourself, I’m sure you know someone who has lost a lot of weight – and then put it back on again later. And probably gained even more weight than they originally needed to lose.

The truth is that very, very few people who go on a diet, maintain their weight loss in the long term.  (Sigh).

But why? Here are some of the reasons. (Can you identify with any of them?).

(I think the last one is the most important, but do read them all, because they’re all true).

Diets Don’t Work Because They are Too Restrictive

Dieting generally means stopping eating foods that you enjoy. To reduce calories you eat salads and that’s great.  But at some point you’re going to have a bad day in some way – and you reach for cake or pizza or ice cream. And then you just continue.

Depriving yourself of your favorite foods is not ideal. Restricting yourself to only certain foods is never the answer to long-term success, which is why restrictive diets don’t work.

Diets Don’t Work Because Your Biology Changes

Starting a diet is amazing, the weight melts off at the beginning.  But there are other changes happening to your body too.

If you’re on a restrictive diet, it’s highly likely that your metabolism will slow down as you lose weight.

And that’s a problem, because that makes it more difficult to lose weight. And so you “plateau”.

And so you get discouraged – after all your hard work, the scale isn’t moving any more. And after a while, you give up.

It took many years to gain the weight. You need to accept that you need to lose the weight slowly too, to give your body a chance to get used to what is happening.

Diets Don’t Work Because You Need to be Mentally Ready

We focus so much on the physical side of a diet – what to eat and not eat – that you might not consider if you’re mentally prepared to lose weight.

To lose weight (and keep it off), you also need to consider the stress in your life. Perhaps you are depressed or anxious.

Until you deal with your brain and your emotions, it’s very, very difficult to make positive changes to your life.

A diet might work for a short period of time, but any form of stress or trigger can lead you back to your old habits and weight gain. Only when your mind and emotions are healthy, can you get your body healthy.

Diets Don’t Work Unless You Get Enough Sleep

Scientists have only recently discovered just how vital sleep is to EVERY aspect of our lives.

From a weight-loss point of view, if you don’t get enough sleep, your body stores fat instead of converting food into energy.

So it’s really really important to get enough sleep so that your body can help you to lose weight and keep it off.

Diets Don’t Work Because They’re Temporary

A diet is not meant to be a permanent solution to weight loss.  Diet companies make money by consumers coming back repeatedly in the yo-yo process.

In order to keep weight off permanently, you need to change your lifestyle, your habits and your nutrition.

You need to discover what works best for your specific body, and create something lasting that you truly enjoy.

Diets are restrictive, they don’t let you live and while the beginning stages can be impressive, if you don’t have the skills and knowledge to keep it off (such as a healthy balanced diet that CAN include a sweet treat or pizza or whatever), then your diet will fail because new habits haven’t been formed.

So, How CAN You Lose Weight?

The secret is to accept that you must lose the weight slowly. Avoid restrictive diets and instead focus on eating healthy food that you genuinely enjoy. When you do that, it means you can still enjoy that blissful pizza or cake – just not every day.

That’s why I talk so much about smoothies. They’re a yummy way to get good nutrients inside you, that will keep you feeling full. (If you get hungry, you’re likely to snack on the wrong things!).

A smoothie habit is also quite an easy habit to form. It’s fun experimenting to find combinations you like. You don’t feel as though you’re restricting yourself and only eating lettuce leaves.

So replacing one meal a day with a healthy homemade smoothie (NOT a store-bought one) is a great way to start forming good, healthy habits

But you need to do it correctly. Why not start by downloading my 6 best weight-loss smoothies?

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Warm regards,

P.S.  Don’t forget to download your FREE recipes for yummy smoothies that will keep you feeling full!  Click here.