Could Your Diet Cause You to Gain Weight?

You don’t cut your calories, counts your carbs, eliminate sugars and wheat, and totally modify your life to gain weight, right? No, you do these things because you want to not only look and feel great (weighing less in the process), but you also want to hopefully lead a long, healthy life.

But, what if the diet that you’re on isn’t actually helping you lose weight? Worse yet, what if it’s actually setting you up for a weight gain? Maybe even one that exceeds the weight you were when you started it? Think that’s impossible? Think again.

Statistics show that 80% of all dieters regain all or more of the weight they lose after being on a diet. That means that you only have a 20% chance of actually maintaining any sort of weight loss. With numbers like that, it’s easy to see why there are so many frustrated dieters out there.

You see it all the time with celebrities who are in the spotlight of the press. They get praised for dropping extra weight and looking gorgeous and then they’re ridiculed when they fall from grace by packing those pounds (and often more) right back on.

So why is it that most diets do the opposite of what they’re intended to do? To answer that question, you have to look at what diets truly are.

Diets offer short term fixes

One of the first, most basic premises of most of them is that they’re short term. That means that their benefits or results, even if they’re the best program on earth, are not going to last.

It’s like brushing your teeth. If you spend two minutes this morning cleaning all the plaque and tarter off of them, does that mean that you never have to brush them again? Of course not. You have to brush them every morning (and preferably every night too) in order to help them last well into your golden years.

The same holds true with dieting. You can’t expect to make changes for just a short period of time and have the benefits for as long as you’re here on earth. That’s just not how it works.

They deal only with the mechanics of weight loss

When you embark on a diet, you do so at the prompting of someone else. They tell you what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. Some programs even throw exercise guidelines in there as well. While you certainly need to know things like this to enjoy true health and weight loss, eating is more than just the physical act of putting food into your body – it’s emotional too.

That’s why extreme weight loss shows that are aired during prime time resonate with so many of us. Once the participant breaks down emotionally and reveals the reason behind the excess weight, that is when the true change begins to occur. That’s when the weight starts to really come off.

Weight loss starts on the inside. It begins with dealing with the issues that drive you to food to begin with. If you don’t resolve those things in your life, you’re simply going through the motions of the program. And, the weight will most likely come back at some point.

Some of them are downright harmful

If you Google “research unsafe diets”, you get over 2.5 million responses. Sure, not all of them are valid, but if even half of them have some truth to them, it’s no wonder people are frustrated with losing weight. They essentially wind up making themselves even unhealthier than they were to begin with, now dealing with extra pounds and some potential health issues.

For example, there are diets out there that limit your calories to 500 a day, which is approximately 1/3^rd of what you actually need just for your body to survive. It takes energy to keep your heart beating, lungs functioning and everything else in your body working as intended, so giving it less than what it needs is really inhibiting its ability to sustain a complete and total health.

There are also fads that involve fasting or cleansing. While they may offer some short term benefits (which may even be questionable according to research), the real question is whether they do more harm than good. Never underestimate the ability of your body to eliminate toxins all on its own. It’s actually very efficient most of the time.

They focus too heavily on restriction

“Diet” is just another word for restriction. That’s what you think of when you hear it, right? It’s about giving up the things you want. At the risk of sounding like a psychiatrist, how does that make you feel?

First and foremost, you probably dread the idea. You may be sad that you have to say good-bye to the foods that you’ve enjoyed during the course of your life. You may even be angry that you’re expected to totally change your life just because you have a few pounds to lose. Whichever emotions enter your world when you diet, chances are high that they probably aren’t going to be very positive.

When you’re focused on deprivation as the key to success, you can’t expect to be happy. Now, does that mean that you should be able to do whatever you want? Not at all. But if all you’re looking at is what you’re losing when you diet, you’re not going to stick with any positive changes anyway. You won’t see the benefit.

What’s the solution?

So, how do you solve the diet problem if they really don’t work anyway? The reality is that you’ll never solve it completely because there will always be people out there who will try to convince you that their diet is the way to go. Something worked for them, so it will work for you too. Just do exactly what they did and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of happiness. Sound familiar?

Look, it’s easy to get sucked into the thought that ultimate happiness lies in being thin. But, if that were the case, why is it that skinny people can be unhappy too? After all, if the theory that weight holds the key to a life that is fulfilling, then everyone at a normal weight should never be sad, right? Wrong.

You will still be you when the weight comes off. You’ll still have the same fears, issues and concerns that you have today. It may change you slightly, but not as much as you originally think it will.

If you want to lose weight, then it starts with being completely honest with yourself. You have to admit what benefits the weight serves for you (there are some if you look hard enough) and do some self-discovery as to what emotions lead you to the kitchen every time you feel them.

You need to start dealing with issues in life in a way that actually resolves them, not just patches them. When you use food as an emotional bandage, you still have the original wound. Only now, it risks becoming infected because it never truly heals.

Also, focus on making true lifestyle changes. If you can’t stomach the idea of sustaining an eating pattern or exercise program for the rest of your life, it probably isn’t the program for you. You need to do things that are reasonable to expect from you every single day.

Does that mean that you’re going to enjoy all of them? Not at all. Change is change and it’s often difficult to modify behaviors. But if it means greater health and wellness in the long run, then it’s worth it.

Remember that you’re doing what you’re doing to get fit, trim and healthy for a lifetime. You don’t have to get there overnight. In fact, it’s easier to take many small steps than it is to force huge bounds that may possibly result in injury, frustration and, ultimately, failure.

Let go of diets and hang on to life. You’ll be glad that you did.