We’re officially half way through the year, which means if you fall into the average you’ll have tried at least 1 fad diet this year, and #2 is coming sooner or maybe its already been and gone…
Each year Irish adults will embrace 2 diets as a minimum, and over their life span, 126 diets in total. Yet , we are ranked #2 in the obesity charts in the EU right now , with Malta topping the group at #1.
So why aren’t those diets working ?
Right now theres 48% of you trying to diet, and on the average, each attempt lasting somewhere between 4-6 weeks (6 for the guys 4 for the gal’s)
The approaches usually look like this ,
1. Restricting specific foods
2. Limiting quantity of foods consumed
3. Counting calories
All of which can and will work for sure, but theres a key element missing for success. ill cover that a little further down,
From various studies across the globe, the finding stats on the following years post diet were :
– After one year, 35% of people regain at least 5 lbs.
– 59% maintain their weight.
– 6% continue to lose weight.
– Maintaining weight loss for 2 consecutive years decreases weight gain odds by 50%.
– People with no medical event triggering weight loss regain weight 50% more than those with a medical event.
– In less than two years, 23% of people gain more weight than they lost. Two years after dieting, 83% gain more than they lost.
Reading these you’d think, that dieting is a guaranteed pitfall, doomed for failure,
Its not so,
The main reason they fail as you saw above, the average diet lasts 4-6 weeks, the majority of attempts will be crash diets, heavy restriction and purely unsustainable. Theres minimal appreciation given to the long term approach and implementing habit change, Its just crash bang wallop. All in, then rapidly all out, only to return to the start and then further behind.
A sustainable approach, doesn’t involve a kick start, removing food groups or that all or nothing commitment.
A note worthy addition to this , is that a diet should not be designed to be used for an extremely long time, its not a life sentence, , diets by their nature aren’t supposed to be sustained, as we would simply continue to lose weight and inevitably die from starvation … death , its not really ideal, yanno…
Make it that you can sustain it for 12-16 weeks, get in and out and get on with life, It should be inclusive of the foods you love, allowing social life and events to be a part of it, the real world.
BTW , those who severely restrict or remove the foods they love, They will end up overeating that exact food by up to 133%
You aren’t supposed to know exactly how to go about it , its a detailed and nuanced thing setting up a diet that suits your life, theres a lot to be taken into consideration, many moving parts.
Getting support is a major aspect to the long term success of habit change and dieting also, ensuring that you are on the right side of the stats,
If you need some help, just reach out, I’ve helped 1000’s just like you, each and every one of them reached out and asked for help at one point.
