The Truth About Dieting

Diets are unsustainable. About 95% of all dieters fail – meaning they start a diet and either don’t accomplish the goal, or if they do, they end up gaining all the weight back.

Diets fail because they tell people what to do, but don’t teach people what to do. Diets are often restrictive in food type and eliminate entire groups of food. For example, a low carb or no carb diet eliminates carbohydrates. Is it realistic or sustainable to think you’re never going to eat carbs again? Probably not.

Sometimes diets are extremely restrictive in calories. This leaves the dieter feeling pretty awful – if you’re not eating enough, you’ll lack energy, become moody or irritable. Ultimately, this can promote unhealthy relationships to food, such as binge-eating behaviors.

Dieting can cause issues socially and culturally, as well. If you can’t eat with your family during the holiday season, this can cause strife and stress. Your Thanksgiving meal is likely not on the “diet” you’re following, which means that you have to come off the diet in order to enjoy it with your family.

Diets are either “on” or “off” and that’s not how life works.

Finally, diets are temporary and we’re trying to encourage long-term, sustainable results. Take a process-driven approach. Work on developing skills and strategies so when you do stumble, you know how to get back up again. You can make healthy food choices while enjoying time with family.

The nutrition plan you’re following needs to be sustainable, personal, enjoyable and understandable in order to make long-term progress. Learn more about our approach to nutrition coaching.