Do Diets Work?
Researchers at UCLA in 2007 concluded that "Diets Are Not the Answer", in a report about effective obesity treatments. They found that:
- "Studies show that one third to two thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost on their diets."
- "There is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits."
The UCLA researchers concluded:
It appears that dieters who manage to sustain a weight loss are the rare exception, rather than the rule. Dieters who gain back more weight than they lost may very well be the norm, rather than an unlucky minority.
Why Do Diets Fail?
Diets make us feel hungry and deprived
If you cut your calorie intake significantly, you're bound to be hungry. This can lead to cravings for the foods you're trying to avoid - high-fat, high-sugar products. And the human mind tends to react badly to any foods being forbidden. Telling yourself that you're not allowed chocolate may lead you into a binge.
Diets are short-term fixes to a long-term problem
People who are overweight rarely became that way in a short period of time. You may have struggled with your weight for your whole life: you're not going to be able to fix that in a month of dieting. When people diet, they often eat in a way which is not sustainable long-term - so as soon as the diet ends, they go straight back to their old ways. This is a particular problem with weird and faddy diets, often popularised by celebrities.
Diets don't address the emotional factors of overeating
Many people who are significantly overweight are emotional eaters - using food for comfort, to deal with stress or boredom. Turning to the cookie jar after a bad day at work, or diving into a tub of ice-cream during a relationship breakup, is not much better for your mind and body than seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle. In cases like these, diets are an attempt to fix the symptoms rather than the problem.
Ways To Successful Weight Loss
The best way to lose weight appears to be not to diet! As the UCLA researchers pointed out, diets often cause more harm than good, creating disordered eating habits and providing few or no long-term health benefits.
Individuals who do reach and maintain a healthy weight make sustainable lifestyle changes, rather than going on a quick-fix diet. Some of these changes are:
Exercising regularly
Although it's possible to lose weight without exercising, it's hugely important for health reasons to be active. You should be doing at least thirty minutes of moderate activity five times a week - that might mean cycling to work and back for fifteen minutes each way, or going for a thirty minute jog every weekday morning.
Addressing emotional factors
If you overeat due to stress, unhappiness, boredom or other emotional factors, you need to address these in order to make permanent changes. If you can't stand your job, you might need to consider switching to a different career path. If you're in a difficult relationship, it could be time to leave. If you eat because you're bored, take up a new hobby (or go out for a walk!)
Sometimes, you might need to talk to a medical professional or counsellor about the emotional issues that are holding you back. Please don't feel any shame in doing this - being willing to seek and accept help when you need it is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Making permanent changes to eating habits
Ultimately, you will only lose weight by making successful and permanent changes to your eating habits. That might mean breaking the habit of having a cookie with every mug of coffee, or it might mean getting into the habit of eating your five fruit and vegetable portions every day. Try to introduce new habits slowly, rather than changing everything all at once.
What's your experience of diets? Have you been on multiple diets that just didn't work? If you're now a healthy weight, what eventually worked for you? If you know you still have weight to lose, how are you making long-term, sustainable changes to your habits in order to become healthier?
42 Comments
Add Your Comment
ADVERTISING
New
- FROM DIET BLOG
- Kellogg's Nailed Over "Immunity Supporting" Cereal
- How Obesity is Changing the Healthcare Industry
- Plus-Sized Nightclubs: Rattle and Rolls?
- Obesity Liver Damage Worse Than Alcohol?
- Is The Human Body Meant For Distance?
- FORUM
- Does Phase 2 of South Beach Stop Sugar Addiction?
- Awesome Chipotle Chicken Recipe
- HCG Diet Has Stopped Working
- Christelle's Blog
- 6 Months and Still going...
Categories
| Body Image Celebrities Diet Pills Diets Exercise |
Fast Food Funny Stuff Success Stories Teens and Kids Tips and Tools |
RSS Feed
Follow @DietBlog on Twitter
I think too many people have unrealistic goals when they go on diets;whether that be loosing weight at a ridiculous rate or trying to obtain a body type that just isn't feasible. It seems to me that people put weight loss... no make that vanity before their health a course that I think should be reversed in are highly weight minded society.
ReplyI began an exercise program first. Once I saw a little progress, I wanted to speed up the weight loss and I began eating healthy foods. It wasn't a diet, per se. I didn't count calories or deny myself meals or snacks. I just ate healthy because losing weight was fun. It was like a game.
After a while, I met my ideal weight and the "game" ended. But I now crave the healthier foods even without the reward of weight loss. Most of the psychological associations got replaced.
ReplyAnon,
ReplyYours sounds like a very reasonable and sane approach to the whole endeavor. May I ask how much weight you lost? I apologize in advance if that is too personal a question.
Very good article. You hit the nail on the head. Too many people are looking for quick fixes and will go to just about any length to get that quick fix.
I see it everyday in my studio. People wanting me to give them some magical workout program that will have them lose 15 pounds in 2 days (I think I'm exaggerating).
I tell my clients to start with baby steps. Start changing a couple poor habits and don't move on until those habits are gone. Things like healthy snacking rather than poor snacking and getting rid of soda and doing the workouts I prescribe.
Just keep building on those baby steps until after a few weeks you notice you've made a big change and you don't feel deprived.
ReplyEd, does the number capture really work on your blog?
ReplyWell said Ed. It's not about dieting. It's about making small, habitual changes, moving more, and realizing that it's going to eventually pay off a little at a time. Once you're on that path, you can pretty much forget about it and move on to all your other life issues!
ReplyI don't know where I would fall in this. I lost wait in college and kept it off sort of successfully for more than two and a half years. Then, because I had lost more weight than I intended, I started trying to gain weight. However, that just leaded to a loss of control, so that here I sit now dealing with something that resembles bulimia.
So while I haven't gained all the weight back, I have gained some of it again. Now, I just need to find some way to get back to healthier life surrounded with vegetables.
ReplyGreat information. I hope more and more people begin to take notice and realize there are better, healthier ways to lose weight.
Reply"There are better, healthier ways to lose weight."
Yeah, and your link goes to a page selling something called "MetaboSpeed."
ReplyI think anyone considering a diet should read this... great points, Ali!
ReplyVery true article. I went through the diet cycle myself for about 15 years. Never worked for more than a few months at a time. My eventual solution was to get educated on my personal issues and make lifestyle changes that were realistic and did not prevent me from eating foods I liked. It's really hard to change what you do without help. My advice is to take some time like I did and invest in yourself. There are lots of places to go, but be sure that its a place dedicated to helping you change, not just another diet gimmick.
ReplyI do not recommend Atkins. In fact, I often recommend to avoid this "fat diet". But I like one sentence he uttered: "A diet is not a game that you play for a few weeks."
ReplyFact is: You are obliged to control your eating habit, because you are obliged to live healthy. The reason / motivation may vary: Some are convinced that they are morally obliged, others need a fit body for their profession, and an incredible number of people just doesn't care that they do have an obligation.
In fact, today it is very, very easy for many, many people to eat and live healthy: We know much about nutrition and we can buy healthy food.
Therefore motivation is of great importance. And the best part: You can decide what your motivation is.
Great information!
ReplyDiets seem to come with a hint of impermanence, meaning that people consider them to be temporary.
Having a "nutritional plan" rather than just a diet has worked well for my personal training clients experiencing lasting results.
ReplyI never did like the idea of being on a diet. I tried a couple of them and they always made me feel deprived and cranky. Plus, I really hate anyone (or any book) telling me what to eat. I prefer to eat whole foods that aren't processed and get plenty of exercise. I'm fairly certain that our ancestors stayed in shape by walking around a lot and eating whatever they wanted. The key is, the food you eat has to be non-processed because I'm fairly certain that our ancestors didn't find Oreos and Twinkies just lying around or hanging from trees.
ReplyI didn't realize the odds were so stacked against me! It should be obvious to me though, since my body weight has gone up and down a few times in my life.
I am so determined to lose weight and stay at a healthier weight this time, and, yes, a diet is my catalyst. However, I do realize that I must make permanent changes in my life.
When I get to my goal, I will still eat planned meals six days a week. I will be looking at that pyramid to make sure I am getting the right foods. The seventh day will be an opportunity for me to enjoy less healthy foods, so I will not feel deprived.
I have also come to the realization that exercise will be a permanent part of my life, and that is a great thing! I'll be able to hike, bike, and more without worry of getting out of breath, being in pain, or worse. I look forward to my new life!
If you follow the simple formula of eat less, burn more, a diet is almost certainly necessary to make a change in your body. In order to lose weight, there has to be a deficit in calories, and, to me, that is a diet. You just have to realize that the diet is just one part of the transformation.
65.5 pounds and going!
ReplyAAMEN!!1
ReplyIt is too bad that so many people go on diets compared to focusing on living an active lifestyle.
Rick Kaselj
Replywww.HealingThroughMovement.com
You offer great information. My backgound is in nutrition and I couldn't agree more with what you said.
ReplyRick - so true.
Derek - eat less and burn more is a disaster for some. Most people are simply not eating enough to begin with and over doing it with exercise.
Instead of looking at diets and dieters, we should be looking at healthy people and what they do and how they think. The success stories of those that have lost weight and kept it off for years is more important than any research on particular diet plans.
Eating is only one component of a healthy lifestyle. Anyone who wants to lose weight should also address mindset, sleep, water, exercise, relationships and fun.
Antonio
Replywww.healthyurbankitchen.com
Hi All
Here is a tip I used to lose a lot of weight: When you eat, take a bite of food and then put your knife & fork down. Then try to taste the food, enjoy the food. Then after you have finished that mouthful pick up your knife & fork again and start over! Yummy! This works.
Also try this diet program I used. I lost 14lbs in about 2 weeks with this!
http://marcel6096.stripfat.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=BLOG
Good luck all
ReplyMarcel
14 lb in 2 weeks? This screams "SCAM FAD DIET" to me, and hopefully anybody else with half a brain. I'm not even going to waste the effort going to the website.
ReplyYeah, my problem with saying "Diets don't work, lifestyle changes do!" is that there's no way to differentiate between lifestyle changes and diets because these days *everyone* says they are on a "lifestyle change" even if it's basically a diet. You can call it what you want, but the facts are the majority of people put the weight back on. I've seen this firsthand with weight loss blogs where people declare that they're going to change their lifestyles and then they just give it up and gain the weight back.
ReplyCall a spade a spade. Diets are different for everyone. Not everyone who goes on one eats nothing but Slimfast or Special K, because that is considered crash dieting. Regular, healthy dieting includes what you mentioned, getting your five fruits and vegetables a day, exercising, giving up unhealthy foods. And so far, it hasn't been proven to work long term.
It works for many people, and is likely the only thing that will. If you find a "lifestyle" that you can live with the rest of your life, and I read plenty of blogs from those who have, you probably won't gain it back, especially if you weigh yourself often enough to notice slipping.
ReplyI know that diets work, I have seen many people loose weight with a healthy diet and exercise. All it takes is motivation and the right set of mind.
ReplyDiets do work, the problem is that a lot of people expect amazing results in just a week. Weight loss is a slow and steady process. Each pound of fat equals 3,500 calories so you shouldn't expect to lose 5 pounds in 5 days.
ReplyGreat article. I think the biggest issue is people go on a diet that they could never maintain over the long haul.
Any diet program someone tries, should be something they strongly feel they could maintain down the road.
Diet adherance is #1 in my opinion. No matter how good a diet program is, if you aren't following it, it isn't doing you much good.
Reply"Only 5% of dieters successfully stay at their new slimmer weight."
Uh, didn't Jim debunk this a couple of years ago based on the New York Times debunking?
ReplyPsychologically diets can't work - it's like asking someone NOT to think of a gleaming red porsche, that's all they can think of. The moment you put someone on a restrictive diet, all they can think about is all the food they can't eat. Well, that's crazy, the very thing we're apparently mean to be eating less of, we start focussing more on. There's something wrong about this picture.
ReplyNo, restrictive diets don't work, as the article says. Non-restrictive diets work pretty well.
ReplyYip - I think the big thing is how we made diets 'psychologically' unrestrictive because we tend to have very black and white thinking about dieting in general. We're so used to thinking of any means to losing weight as 'restricting' and 'depriving' and that's the thinking that has to be overcome.
ReplyTo maintain an kind of weight loss long term no "diet" will work. You need to make a lifestyle change that wll work for you for years to come.
ReplyEating less and exercising more are key ingredients for successful weight loss, But it's not as easy as it sounds, which is why so many people keep chasing the holy grail of the latest miracle diet solution, and why so many continue to be disappointed when it fails.
ReplyDifferent things suit different people: diets will work for some but not everyone. Mindset is vital - if you don't believe you can do it, you stand little chance of succeeding because you'll talk yourself out of it. And lifestyle change might also mean pinning down the real cause for your weight gain.
I strongly believe in the importance of making your mind and body work together to achieve your goals, and I've explored this further in an article on weight loss on my website, which you might find interesting:
http://facedestiny.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=50
"Diets make us feel hungry and deprived"
Skipping meals will only slow down your metabolism in order to accommodate for the lesser amount of calories. This can make it even harder for your body to lose weight. Also, you can gain back weight faster when you start eating more. Therefore, diets that encourage skipping meals should be avoided at all cost.
ReplyDiets shouldn't be about temporary weight loss, if that's how you think of a diet, it will eventually fail. Slow changes and longer term solutions work better than temporary ones that you try and accomplish overnight.
Reply"Mindful eating" did it for me, serving a plateful of small portions of a variety of good things to eat, sweet and savory. More here from my Cold Turkey Cookbook blog series:
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2008/05/a-plateful-of-p.html
ReplyDiets can work , and sticking to a balanced diet is a great way to lose weight and maintain that you stay inshape. Many of us are on the move with hetic lives and often have no time to exercise so we choose to take diet pills as a way of losig weight. The best diet pill on the market cant work unless you have a regualar exercise and healthy eating routine. SO if you are one of the many people that are looking for the best diet pills out there to take as an easy way to shed the pounds then perhaps you should try a combinaton of the two.
ReplyOr skip the pills, just keep the healthy eating and exercise. The best pills out there only work a tiny little bit, and only while you're taking them.
ReplyGreat article Ali!
I agree that lifestyle changes are the key to long term weight loss success. Of the utmost importance is adopting a diet and lifestyle plan that has been proven to work and that promotes optimal health. I lost 100 pounds with the Zone 13 years ago and have kept it off, as well as eliminated my need for the high blood pressure meds I'd been on for many years. The Zone is a clinically proven anti-inflammatory lifestyle that encompasses all the major points mentioned in your article as being necessary for continued success. It is simple, well-balanced, and can help you lose excess weight and keep it off forever, fight the effects of aging, reduce the risk of chronic disorders and improve physical and mental performance.
ReplyTHANK YOU... finally something REAL.
Diets don't work and will never work. The word itself implies a short-term and instant gratification plan. If you want to be healthy for LIFE... incur an eating LIFESTYLE that revolves around an in-built habit.
And the only way to get a habit is to build one. There you go... the ultimate secret has been revealed =)
FlawlessFitnessBook.com
Replyyes diet will never work to reduce the weight.Have to take food small but more frequently and have to take exercises daily.
ReplyI think people need to apply some common sense when it comes to 'diets'. A diet should be a way to kick start a new life style - with a view to sustain long term change.
If you change your behaviour - your weight will change (for the better or worse). I don't understand why people think that having been on a temporary diet - they should be able to change their behaviour in the future with NO CONSEQUENCES!. Then they blame the past behaviour (the diet)- (a behaviour which worked - but they have now left behind because they are no longer on the diet). This makes no sense!
Reply