Top 5 Reasons Diets Fail

Diets Fail!

Diet Contains The Word "Die"

Is this how the word diet affects you? Do you feel like you're stepping onto a path of DEATH? Do you think your social life will DIE??

To many people, these feelings are real, and can set you up for failure.

I'm a great believer in encouraging people to make life choice changes, not to step into the world of dieting.  If you're like me, dieting conjures up so many bad memories!!  Do you remember cabbage soup?  What about no carbs?  The detox diets?  Or even those 1 hour workouts every day for a month?  Remember BootCamp??  OUCH!!!

All of these are things that you cannot sustain.  This leads me to give you the Top 5 Reasons Diets Fail

1. Deprivation - yes, depriving yourself of something will definitely make you crave it more.  Can you imagine a lifestyle change where you're never, ever allowed to eat your favourite, high calorie food, e.g., chocolate!!  I certainly can't. Yet this is what people do when they begin a diet, "I will never have another glass of wine" - after a week or two of 'being good', the will power begins to wobble, and the diet is deemed to be over for another year!
    
2. Calorie Counting - calorie counting has been driven in the media and various weight loss programs as the saviour when it comes to dieting.  But, personally, from the clients I come into contact with, this is no easy task.  Think about foods that you have been told (by labelling) are low fat, are they actually lower in calories?  Quite often they aren't - check out the labels, you may be surprised! This is because flavour is compromised when fat is removed (fat does actually taste good in foods!), so it's often substituted with sugar!  
   
   Not only that, but, when you're eating out, you have to estimate the calories, and often this is underestimated by people. Why? Because they don't count on the calories in the dressing on the salad!!  Simple, but it does happen.  Other problems encountered by my clients include not knowing how to calorie count.  There are plenty of apps available today that can help with this, but you need to be prepared to weigh out your ingredients.
   
   Lastly, how many calories are you to have in a day?  This is a loaded question as 'it depends'!  If you are considered to be obese, you will require more calories a day than someone who is slightly overweight.  Also, you need to consider your exercise program.  Essentially calorie counting is about counting what goes in and what is used up!  If the numbers don't add up, the weight doesn't come off and the diet fails again.
   
3. Lack Nutrients - when  you are limiting your food intake, you are also limiting your nutrients.  The nutrients make you a happier person!  The result of limited nutrients is an irritable person. Those around you soon encourage you to eat properly and get your moods back to normal, and again the diet fails.
   
4. Poor Nutrition - many of the fad diets that are rallied to by the media and superstars are things such as the cabbage soup diet or the Aitkens Diet, do you remember the Lemon Diet?  All of these fad diets limit your food intake to a very small number or type of foods.  This results in a poor variety of foods.  Looking at the concepts behind the Paleo diet, there is a need for your body to be exposed to approximately 30 different foods a day to ensure adequate nutrition.  You can see that this is not possible when you are limiting your foods so strictly!  This limited nutrition results in extreme tiredness and the ability to become a couch potato.  Yet again, the diet has failed.
   
5. Stress - this is a big factor in many diets failing.  Stress is often compensated for with either food or alcohol (or smoking) and it also results in a loss of sleep.  Having a good nights sleep is vital to any diet working - your body does a lot of work while you sleep and if you're not sleeping, it can't do it!  Again, the diet fails.

Lastly, another reason that diets fail, is the constant feeling of hunger!  When the content of fat and fibre in your diet is low, the feeling full sensation, or satiety, does not sustain you through your day.  This results in sneaky snacking, and a failed diet!

Remember, at the end of the day, to lose fat, and keep toned, you need to speed up your metabolism.  Speeding up the metabolism occurs when you have muscles that need to be feuled!  Increase your protein (within set guidelines) and fat, including fibre in your diet, as well as carbohydrates.  Nothing is 'bad' for you when it's balanced in your lifestyle!

Contact me now for a free consultation to discuss your goals and receive a free bonus gift!