Why Diets Don’t Work — (Examples + What to Do Instead)
Tell me if this cycle feels familiar.
You’re worried about your health or feeling deeply unhappy in your body. You choose a diet and vow to make a change—this time, one that will last. Initially, you’re filled with hope and a sense of control. You’re strictly following the plan, you’re proud of your efforts, and everything is going great.
But soon, you start feeling deprived and confined by your diet. Your cravings are building, and likely, you’re hungry. The act of dieting itself is becoming stressful and harder to manage.
Eventually, you give in and decide to “cheat” just a little bit. Almost before you even fully realize it, you’ve completely caved, overeaten, and finally, given up on the diet altogether. Again. Now you’re frustrated and angry, shaming and blaming your lack of control.
But what if I told you the problem isn’t you, it’s the diets themselves? Everything I just described is part of the well-trodden dieting cycle experienced by untold numbers of dieters everywhere.
There’s a mountain of research to show that diets do not result in long-term, maintainable weight loss. Here’s why, and what to do instead.
The dieting numbers don’t lie
If you take away just one thing from this article let it be this. Yes, you may lose weight with diets initially. But the data show that you’re highly unlikely to lose weight and keep it off over the long-term.
Here’s just a small glimpse at some of the research findings on dieting:
• 1/3-2/3 of dieters gain all the weight back within 1 year
• Nearly all dieters regain the weight they lost within 5 years
• 2/3 of dieters will ultimately regain more weight than they lost
• Dieting is one of the strongest predictors of weight gain regardless of actual weight
Of course, there are tremendous profits to be made in the weight loss industry. Diet culture is a $72 billion diet industry that’s expert at gaslighting. When diets fail, as most inevitably do, toxic diet culture convinces you it’s your fault; that you just didn’t have enough willpower or self-control.
That’s simply not true. Diets don’t work. And it’s not your fault.
The biology behind why diets don’t work…
Our bodies cannot tell the difference between intentional caloric restriction and semi-starvation. To them, it’s all the same—a threat to our very survival. It may be frustrating to us that our bodies have evolved so expertly to defend against underfeeding and weight loss, and yet, because we need food to survive, they (thankfully, really!) have.
When our bodies perceive too little fuel coming in—as is the case with most diets which often recommend a caloric intake that’s more in line with the needs of a 4–9-year-old child than a fully-functioning adult—a host of physiological mechanisms kick in to keep our organs functioning properly. As expertly outlined in the book,Body Respect, these changes include:
Metabolism slows down (to conserve energy for essential functions)
More hunger hormone (ghrelin) and less satiety hormone (leptin) are released
Enzymes are produced to trigger fat storage in the body
Chemicals in our bodies change the taste of food, so we’ll be drawn towards higher calorie options
Other chemicals are produced to decrease our desire to move (again, to conserve energy)
Essentially, our bodies do their best to conserve energy and encourage us to eat more when they perceive too little fuel coming in.
Importantly, these are all things that happen at the unconscious level—we may be able to willpower our way past them for a time, but eventually physiology takes over!
There’s psychology at play, too
Our brains are wired to respond to scarcity, so when we restrict and deprive ourselves of certain foods—as is the very nature of dieting—we set ourselves up to seek out more of the same foods we’re trying to avoid.
The best way to understand this is to think of a pendulum. When we restrict overall calories or certain foods, we’re essentially pulling our eating pendulum far back to one side. But when you let a pendulum go, it doesn’t just stop nicely in the middle—it swings far out to the opposite end of the spectrum.
In eating terms, that typically means you’ll end up overeating or bingeing in response to restriction and deprivation.
This restrict-binge pendulum swing is well documented, and what’s particularly fascinating about it is that research shows even just thinking about restricting can trigger the pendulum swing!
If you’ve ever committed to start a diet in a few days’ time and then found yourself loading up on all the foods you plan to cut out before the diet begins—you have your own lived experience of the power of even mental restriction.
Calories in do not equal calories out
Perhaps you’re wondering about the dieting adage that calories in equal calories out? The truth is that nutrition science has moved well beyond this over-simplified formula for weight management. Quite simply, the human body is not a linear math equation.
We now know that a wide array of factors impacts metabolic function, including:
Genetics
Hormonal influences
Environmental factors
Stress levels
Sleep quality and quantity
Illness and medications
Maybe even your microbiome!
Plus, believe it or not, we don’t necessarily all absorb the same number of calories from the same food.
All of which is to say that this oversimplified theory of weight “management” doesn’t quite deliver on its promises, either.
It’s not just that diets don’t work, they cause harm
As bad as all that is, the problem isn’t just that diets don’t work. They also cause harm. Dieting often turns into disordered eating and it’s also a risk factor for the development of eating disorders.
It contributes to weight cycling (that yo-yoing up and down in weight that happens with dieting), which has itself been linked with twice the normal risk of heart disease and higher overall mortality.
Dieting can also disconnect you from your hunger and fullness cues… cause you to mistrust yourself around certain foods… and contribute to or exacerbate body image distress. It’s also been linked with lower self-esteem, muscle loss, impaired bone health, and more.
We’re sold diets as a means of promoting our health. But the truth is, dieting often has the exact opposite effect on wellbeing.
If diets don’t work, what should you do instead?
So, how can you feel more confident in your body and promote your health and wellbeing without dieting?
From my perspective as a weight-neutral dietitian and certified Intuitive Eating counselor, I suggest turning your focus away from intentional weight loss and towards health-promoting behaviors. I’m forever reminding my clients that health-promoting behaviors may or may not lead to weight loss—but they still enhance health and wellbeing.
Healthful activities include eating more fiber-rich foods, switching to leaner proteins, or practicing other gentle nutrition strategies, staying physically active, managing your stress, and so many other impactful acts of self-care.
It's easier to do this when you also commit to breaking up with dieting and diet culture and learn how to get started with Intuitive Eating so you can find food and body peace.
Would you like support to move away from dieting and eat intuitively?
I offer both private and small group coaching to help you reclaim your life from dieting and heal your relationship with food and body. From there, I’ll show you how to build sustainable, health-promoting behaviors that you not only can but actually want to stick with!
Sign up for a free Whole Health Strategy call here to chat about your goals and learn more!