Why Diets Don’t Work – And What to do Instead

Why Diets Don’t Work

The long term success rates of diets are terrible. Just woeful. If diets were the CEO of a company they would have been sacked years ago. If diets were your surgeon, you would ask for another. They are one of the worst ways you could go about losing weight.

I know this all too well – as a personal trainer and owner of a weight loss club in Stockport, I help many people who have tried every diet under the sun without success, then they try Personal Training or the Handy Plan, which have been designed to overcome each of the common obstacles that prevent weight loss!

We all know an eternal dieter – someone who has been on a diet for years, more often than not without success. It seems the more obsessed with eating a person is, the more likely they are to be overweight – this is a strange irony, but it seems to hold true.

The reason ‘diets’ fail is generally twofold….

1. Psychology.
2. Structure

Psychology is a massive part of the weight loss battle. Diets are short term – they are something you do in order to lose weight. Once you lose the weight you wanted to (or somewhere close to it), you come off the diet and before long you are back where you started – overweight and unhappy.

Our psychology deems us to fail is because diets are so restrictive in their nature – they tell us what we can’t eat, but do nothing to help us enjoy the foods we can eat. This restriction kills stone dead the pleasure we gain from our food – we have nothing to look forward to and promote positive feelings if the messages coming towards us are negatives such as don’t, can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t.

Structure is linked to psychology in many ways. Oftentimes diets are complicated – they involve points, syns, weighing, measuring, combining etc. It all becomes too much. Human beings (and I absolutely include myself in this) are lazy by nature – we want things to be easy, and all to often diets aren’t – they are complicated and full of things to do.

If something is too hard, we quit. Diets included.

Now there are exceptions to every rule, and not everyone who has ever followed a ‘diet’ has failed – some people do have staying power and manage to see their diet through and keep the weight off by embracing the principles for the long term. BUT, for every slimming world/weight watchers/cabbage soup/Atkins dieter that has succeeded, I will show you 1000 more who have failed.

So if diets don’t work, what do we do? How do we lose weight in the long term?

As unsexy as it sounds, you change your lifestyle for good. You become a healthier person and don’t allow yourself to be a slave to your weight. You control your food choices, not the other way round. You adopt a few simple principles in your life and you stick to them.

A massive upheaval in lifestyle will almost always lead to failure, so ease your way into a way of eating that is both tasty and manageable. We are hard-wired to take pleasure from the food we eat, so avoiding a source of pleasure regularly will leave us feeling deprived.

The best chance you have of success will be when you base your approach around these points…

1. Focus on an approach that works for you.
2. Join a supportive group to help you.
3. Incorporate exercise into your week.
4. Allow flexibility.

Approach

Diets are 10 a penny. There are thousands, so spend a bit of time doing your research and pick one that sounds like it will work for you. If you want further information, seek advice on the web or speak to a group leader for more info.

Join a Group

There is a strength in numbers when it comes to creating change in any form. Alcoholics Anonymous, The Suffragettes, Diet Groups – they are change creators. A supportive community with a common goal will help you to stay accountable – by being part of a group you have support and a reason to show up. Often people when left accountable to nobody will give up easily as they are only letting themselves down, nobody else.

Exercise

The reason for exercise isn’t just about weight loss – there are fantastic mental boosts you get from going to the gym or performing regular exercise. A structured, well executed exercise regime will help you lose weight as well as look and feel much better. If your group includes exercise, it makes you both fit and accountable, taking away the need to motivate yourself!

Allow Flexibility

Unless you are a physique model, choose an approach that allows a degree of flexibility. My weight loss group The Handy Plan has a cheat day built in, where members are allowed to reward themselves with a cheat day each week where they can go off-plan. Without the flexibility the lifestyle change can be too much negative and not enough positive – you shouldn’t be punished for allowing yourself a treat now and then!

These steps have been proven successful many times over – not just in dieting, in giving up smoking, giving up alcohol etc. Don’t go unaided when it comes to your weight loss – approach it properly and make this time the last time you try to go on a diet – follow the lifestyle changes you need to make and the rest will be easy!

The Handy Plan Weight Loss and Wellbeing Club

The Handy Plan encourages members to make sensible food choices within a framework. We encourage members to make choices based on scientific research and explain in each class why these work. There are lots of Handy Plan friendly recipes listed on the website, so take a look.

Our approach is to make our members healthier, fitter and leaner – not thinner. Losing weight can be incredible unhealthy when not done properly, so let us show you how.

For more information on The Handy Plan, the best and most successful weight loss group in Stockport, click here or contact me on Steve@hoylesfitness.com or 07866361964.