Diets are Bogus

You’ve heard of them: Atkins Diet, Nutrisystem, WeightWatchers, Medifast, Jenny Craig.  Diet Empires that convince men and women everywhere that their product is exactly what you need to lose weight and feel great about yourself.  The part they forget to include is that their program rarely ever works.  Sure, you might lose the weight in the two months that they promised you, but you won’t have fun doing it AND it won’t be long-lasting.  Science News reported that, “Several studies indicate that dieting is actually a consistent predictor of future weight gain,” and 95% of dieters failed to keep the weight off for 5 years and most gained back more weight than they lost. 

Diet programs teach you how to take it off if you use their products but only for a certain amount of time, between 1 – 3 months.  After that, the dieter is on their own to keep the weight off and since they didn’t learn how to eat and live healthy, they revert back to their old habits and gain all the weight back.  Diet programs don’t EMPOWER the dieter to live a healthy lifestyle or to look into the future and understand that being healthy and fit is a long-term, life-changing decision.  Instead, they urge them to keep their eye on the short-term prize – being beautiful and thin NOW, even if it won’t benefit you in the long-run. 

The problem, however, does not just lie with the Diet business - it is also the dieter’s fault.  They want radically different results NOW without wanting to change anything about themselves except for drinking a “low-carb” milkshake for two weeks.  They tell themselves that they can live without their potato chips for a little while so they can lose the weight but the ENTIRE TIME they are on the diet, they are looking forward to the day they reach their desired goal so they can binge again on their favorite foods.  And if they don’t reach their desired goal, they become depressed and revert back to junk food.  The problem is that they want to look like how they don’t live; they want different results but still live the same way.  According to Albert Einstein, this is the definition of insanity: “Doint the same thing over and over and over again – but expecting different results.” 

This comes back to a previous post that I wrote: You have to take responsibility for your own life.  When people go on diets, they expect the diet to do the work for them… give them bars and provide meals that are already portioned out for them.  This can work for someone in the beginning, but they have to make the effort and discipline themselves to learn how to live well.

I’m sorry to admit this, but it’s a slow process.  The best way to start living healthy is to slowly yet steadily incorporate new and healthier foods into your diet so that you can adjust to it’s presence.  Also, begin exercising at your own pace and challenge yourself a bit more each week until you reach a level of fitness that you are happy with (if you’re like me, you will never be happy with whatever level of fitness is achieved.  I am always wanting to go further).  If you jump right into a new way of living, you won’t enjoy it and it won’t last.  To be successful, it needs to be gradual.  Look at the long-term results and break it into short-term goals – you will appreciate it more because you WORKED for it – and enjoy a healthier way of living and a new and beautiful you!