As a race, we’re getting bigger, fatter, and heavier, generally speaking of course, and as a result, the state of our health is gradually declining. Life expectancies are slowly getting shorter and shorter, which is not what should be happening. As we have evolved over the years, our life expectancies have been increasing. This however is the first time in history that that trend has actually reversed, which is extremely worrying. The reason for this is very simple: We’re fatter and we’re unhealthier. A lack of exercise, increasingly sedentary lifestyles, too much junk food, and not enough healthy produce can all be blamed, and a great way of improving our health is to simply get our weight stable and under control. People often embark on faddy diets to help them lose weight, and more often than not, those people fail for various reasons. Statistically, the average 40 year old in more developed countries will have tried and failed at 46 separate diets! Dieting isn’t the key, the key is a healthy lifestyle. Here we’ll be looking at three reasons why dieting generally doesn’t work.
It promotes binge eating
If you’re like most people, there’s a good chance that you will have embarked upon at least one diet at some point in your life. Now, think back to not only what you did, but how you felt. Most people will consume extremely healthy but decidedly bland tasting foods low in calories whilst they diet. During this time they’re constantly hungry, and all they can think about is eating unhealthy food. Once they finish their diets, whether they quit due to hunger, or even if they meet their goals, they will immediately go out and binge eat, consuming vast quantities of unhealthy foods that they deprived themselves of for so long. Binge eating is not healthy and before long they gain back all of the weight they lost, plus maybe even a little more.
It deprives your body of energy
We need energy to function, and we get our energy from calories we consume. Most diets are based upon extremely low calorie consumption, which naturally starves the body of energy. A lack of energy means your motivational levels drop, as do your physical activity levels. This means that exercise becomes harder and less effective. Not only that, but if you reduce calorie consumption too much, the body will actually enter a ‘catabolic’ state in which it eats away at its own muscle for energy. On the scales you will have lost weight, but the weight will be from muscle, not fat, and nobody wants that.
It’s difficult
The main reason why dieting generally doesn’t work is because it is extremely difficult. A person will go from consuming 3000 or more calories per day, to around 1200 – 1800 per day (during the average diet) this comes as a big shock to the system and you suffer from lack of energy, headaches, mild nausea, stress, depression, and anxiety. Tracking calories, fat content, and macronutrients is also very difficult, and if you make any mistakes, and consume more than you thought, you won’t lose weight and you may even gain weight.
Rather than dieting, the most effective way of losing fat is to simply adopt a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Reduce calories gradually, eat fresh and healthy produce, drink more water, cut out junk food, and get more exercise. The results won’t happen overnight, but they will happen and it is well worth it.
