Why Diets Don’t Work

It seems like everyone is on a diet these days – low carb, keto, intermittent fasting… the diet industry is excellent at convincing you that their diet is the best and will be the winning ticket to easy weight loss. But the question is, if a diet actually works, why are people constantly yo-yoing from one diet to the next? Is it a willpower problem, or is something else going on entirely? 

The Science Behind Lasting Results

There is actually a science to weight loss, and the secret to long-lasting results is not one that the dieting industry wants you to understand. What sells in this industry is “fast” results, but the reality is that fast is not sustainable. Stay with me for a moment while I introduce you to a bit of fascinating weight loss science.

How to have weight loss that lasts and get off the diet train for good.

The general rule is that the faster you lose the weight, the faster you will gain it back when you stop dieting. When it comes to weight loss, fast is not always best. There’s a reason for this, and it has to do with your Resting or Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). 

Understanding the Intricate Balance Between Intake and Expenditure

Weight loss occurs when there is a deficit between the amount of energy (calories) you consume and the amount that you burn. This is a gross generalization as there are so very many factors that can alter this rule (underlying health conditions, genetics, etc.), but for our explanation, we will assume this to be true. The total amount you burn every day includes not only the exercise and daily activities that you perform, but also the amount that your body needs just to keep you alive. Your brain, heart, muscles, liver, and every cell in your body requires energy to do its job every day. Breathing, rebuilding and repairing tissues, producing new red blood cells, heart pumping, production of and metabolization of hormones – all of these activities comprise approximately 70% of your day’s energy requirements! 

On top of all of that, we need an additional 10% of our energy intake to go towards digesting food, absorbing nutrients, and eliminating waste. Yes, we need calories in order to use those calories for fuel for the rest of the body! For example, someone who has energy needs of 2000 calories per day (based on height and weight) will use 70% or 1400 of those calories just to stay alive, another 200 to digest food, and 400 calories for activities of daily living (grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, exercise at the gym).

Extreme Dieting Triggers a Survival Response in Your Body

So what happens when the latest fad diet plan has you slash calories to 1400 or fewer per day? Your body is very smart and very good at trying to keep it itself alive, and will adapt to what it perceives as risk of starvation.

During times of plenty, when we eat more than we need, our body stores this excess as fat, but during times of scarcity, our body adapts by both tapping into those fat and muscle stores for energy and cell repair. At first, we do actually lose weight. But over time, our body will respond to such restricted intake by depressing its basal metabolic rate. What our bodies could do before with 1400 calories, it slows down and reduces its activity to be able to function and stay alive at maybe 1000 calories, for example. This is a genius trick that has helped humans survive long cold winters without food, droughts, and famine for millennia.  

So here we find ourselves fighting off hunger, drinking green juice for breakfast, eating a protein bar for lunch, and having only chicken and broccoli for dinner and taking in less than 1400 calories per day. The weight is coming off fast and we are excited and tell ourselves that once we start eating in a balanced, normal way again that we will be able to keep it off forever. “This time will be different”, we say. 

The Dieting Dilemma

After an extended period of time eating very little, once we start in the “maintenance” phase of our diet and begin to eat closer to 2000 calories again, we will start to gain weight. Why? The body’s metabolic rate is depressed (remember, you taught it that the winter is long and cold) and is ready to survive and meet its basic metabolic needs at 1000 calories. With those extra 400 calories per day, in 6 months we will have gained back those 20 pounds we lost, and we will continue to gain until our BMR is convinced that we have plenty of food, and are no longer in starvation mode.

The Yo-Yo Dieting Trap: Breaking the Cycle of Temporary Success and Permanent Frustration

This is what we call the yo-yo dieting cycle. Once the weight comes back on (and then some) we beat ourselves up for not having any discipline, and then we choose the next latest diet craze that we are sure will be the actual permanent solution to never having to diet again. The problem is not lack of discipline or willpower, the “problem” is that our bodies are very good at surviving, and are working hard to make sure you are still alive after three months of eating only chicken and broccoli.

Did you know that the single largest predictor of weight gain over the long term is dieting? Yes, you read that correctly. We have actual research that shows that the type of dramatic calorie restriction that comes with conventional diets does nothing more than provide temporary weight loss. What does work? Eating in a balanced way that provides enough calories and nutrition for optimal health, while creating a slight deficit that could easily come from increasing activity, eating more balanced meals, and addressing any mindless or emotional eating that might be occurring.  

Facing Essential Truths Before Embarking on the Journey

When it comes to weight loss, there are many things that we have to come to terms with, before we even start the process. 

1. The size my body wants to be is dependent upon genetic factors and health conditions. Your body size is determined by your family history, chronic health conditions (hypothyroid, PCOS, etc.), as well as age (peri-menopausal/menopausal). There is also newer research to support that even the types of microbes in our gut affect weight (hopefully more on this soon!). Some of these factors you are able to control, some you cannot. Accepting your body for what it wants to be instead of what society or you think it should be can be tough. We all have a weight “set point” which is where our body wants to sit when we are at energy balance – the amount that we are burning is roughly equal to the amount that we are taking in. This set point is different for everyone, and it is completely normal that your set point might be higher or lower than others in your family.
   
2. Sustainable, safe weight loss can only happen with a small to moderate calorie deficiency that preserves metabolic health. Reducing caloric intake by 250 calories per day (the amount in one nutrition bar) from your day’s needs will produce approximately ½ pound of weight loss per week, or 2 pounds per month. This seems like very little compared to what most people expect, but this slight calorie deficit will prevent the body from going into starvation mode and damaging the BMR. When it comes to weight loss, slow is best. 
   
3. Coming to terms with emotional eating. Energy balance happens when we eat as much as our body burns, and our bodies are quite good at telling us what it needs. Eating in a balanced way that includes adequate protein, carbs, and fats when we’re hungry, and stopping when we’re satiated, ensures that we are acting in harmony with the body’s natural wisdom. However, if we are consistently eating out of boredom, anger, anxiety, sadness, or any other emotion other than hunger, this throws off the body’s natural energy balance. It is normal to sometimes eat without hunger, when we are craving an occasional ice cream, celebrating at holidays, or treating ourselves to popcorn and a movie on a weekend, but consistently using food to soothe, numb, or cope with uncomfortable emotions can lead to the restrict and binge cycle. After a binge, we vow to do better, restrict food the next day, get overly hungry, and then binge and feel like a failure. Our dietitians are experts at identifying emotional eating issues and working with compassion to address these issues in a way that restores someone’s natural confidence in being able to feed themselves again. 

Embracing a sustainable approach to nutrition and wellness

Working with your body and not against it is the best way to approach nutrition and wellness. Dieting only acts as a short-term fix and, let’s face it, dieting is no fun! If you are looking for a sustainable, holistic and mindful approach to caring for the body that you have, we have experts who can support you with a realistic and sustainable approach to weight loss. Most insurance FULLY COVER nutrition counseling sessions. 

Book a free 20-minute discovery call with us to discover how working with a Registered Dietitian can transform your journey!

Written by our Registered Dietitian and board certified specialist, Christine Weiss.