We are all aware of the instant weight loss success that many fad diets offer. Most of us have tried about all of them that have come into existence, and we are just as fat today as we were, to begin with. A lot of us blame ourselves for these diet failures because we blame our willpower or other personal problems for our lack of permanent success. But it is time to put aside the shame and guilt and start to understand that yo-yo dieting is in large part due to the nature of the fad diets we choose, and they come with long-term effects that work against our weight loss desires!
First, let’s start with the real reason most people fail at dieting. It is not just that we are weak minded and cannot resist the doughnuts. The diets we choose also share some of the blame because they are too restrictive to be successfully followed for long periods of time. We are set up right from day one for failure.
Any diet plan that requires you to give up all of your favourite foods and forbids you ever to touch a carbohydrate again is obviously not going to work. At the beginning we think we can be strong this time, we will just somehow make ourselves do it and not look back at what we are giving up. When temptation is always in front of your face, and you have spent your entire life finding comfort and enjoyment from these forbidden foods, the chances of you sticking with a restrictive diet for very long are slim to none.
The fact that we can sustain these diets for a few weeks or even months is a reason to applaud our willpower, not shame it! These diets are simply not meant to be followed forever, and they work against your body losing the weight in the future.
Fad diets set up the yo-yo weight cycling we are all familiar with. This rapid weight loss followed by the rapid weight gain, over and over again, takes a toll on our attitude toward weight loss and our bodies.
We are working against our weight loss efforts, and it gets worse the longer we continue the yo-yo dieting cycle.
Each time you lose weight and gain it back, your body will have an even harder time letting go of the fat the next time you go on a diet. Also, each time you go through this cycle your body will gain the weight back a little easier than the last time.
Instead of becoming a fat burning machine, your body clings to the fat!
Even with diets that work, individuals tend to weigh themselves too often. Frequent weigh-ins are often sources of discouragement. The body tends to lose fats erratically, and often individuals will GAIN weight. This phenomenon is often due to water retention. By weighing in only once a week, dieters get a more accurate idea of their progress.
The ultimate effects of fad diets are the exact opposite of what we want! They set us up for failure, for which we tend to blame ourselves.
