With over 70% of adults in America overweight and about 1 in 3 adults considered obese, it is no wonder diets are everywhere. As science and medicine work to understand our bodies and this prolific threat to wellbeing, we have come to understand that a lot of the well-meaning advice we receive is actually working against our goals.
I’m going to outline the top reasons why diets fail and then go into them in more detail.
“Fewer Calories In” Mentality
We now know that eating less and exercising more is not a solution for everyone. In fact, for many it creates even worse health outcomes. Our bodies are incredibly adaptable. Often, when we consistently live with a severe calorie deficit (eating less calories than our body burns in a day) our bodies adapt and begin to move into a state of starvation. This means we will have increased hunger as our body is trying to get enough nutrition and our metabolism will start to slow down in order to function on fewer calories.
Yes, over time “fewer calories in” turns into fewer calories out in order to maintain homeostasis in our body. This is a major reason why weight loss plateaus after a few weeks on a diet. Read on to see how you can overcome this plateau.
Deprivation, Food obsession, and “Yo-Yo Dieting”
Additionally, a severe calorie deficit can lead to food obsession over time. I used to work at Gold’s Gym and would see this with bodybuilding competitors. To meet their competition goals, they would need to measure their foods down to the gram and go on a very restrictive diet. While still on their restrictive diet, some would start to obsess about foods they would eat after competition. And as time progressed, so would the list of foods they wanted to eat once the competition, and diet, were over.
Once the competition was over these athletes would often eat large portions of the “treats” they had been missing, giving in to all cravings.
As you can imagine, this cycle created large pendulum swings on the scale, as these athletes would quickly gain back all the weight they had lost, then would diet again to drop down to that lean body they had during competition.
Fitness competitors are not the only group of people that deal with this pattern of “yo-yo dieting”. Many people who start dieting to lose weight go through similar cycles of losing and regaining weight. Over time this pattern can lead to disordered eating and body image disorders.
Choose nutrient dense foods rather than smaller portions
Simply restricting the portions of the same old comfort foods that lead to cravings (empty calorie foods) will only increase hunger and feelings of deprivation. In addition to lowering your metabolic rate and increasing hunger, restricting calories can cause fatigue and depression because your body is not getting what it needs to run optimally. See if you can shift your focus to eating more food and less calories.
For example, a large fry and double cheeseburger from Burger King has 956 calories and 100 grams of carbs. If you are dieting, 900 cals likely accounts for a large portion of your allotted calories for the day. Unfortunately, these calories are devoid of nutrition and will leave your cells malnourished. In addition to healthy fats and lean protein, your body needs minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins (B-complex, vitamin C, vitamin A, etc.). You will experience cravings in the form of headaches or rumbling stomach shortly after such a meal because your body’s nutritional needs were not met. Excess sugar consumption can also cause cravings (yes there is tons of sugar in your burger and fries!).
Now imagine eating a meal consisting of a 6 ounce chicken breast and 1 cup of wild rice mixed with 2 cups of mixed kale, chickpeas, broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper, all topped with avocado. You’d get about 525 calories along with tons of fiber, healthy omega fats, and a wide array of essential vitamins and minerals. A meal like this will not only help you feel fuller longer from less calories, it also helps you lose weight, and can help lower cholesterol and treat insulin resistance! Wooo!
Ditch the ‘Low Fat’ idea
Often, packaged foods that claim to be healthy are low in fat and high in sugar. This combination fuels insulin production in the body which blocks fat burning and also causes increased cravings.
It’s important to know that sugar is the health risk, not fat! For a generally healthy person, fat in your diet only becomes a concern when you are eating high concentrations of saturated fats (think bacon) paired with a diet high in sugar (breads, pasta, candy, soda, etc).
Fatty acids are used to produce new cells and hormones, and vitamins such as A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they need fat for absorption. Pairing low glycemic vegetables with healthy fats (think greens with mashed avocado or olive oil) will help you absorb all the nutrition from your veggies, help lower blood glucose levels and help you lose weight.
Diet drinks also can actually contribute to weight gain. Studies have shown that diet soda drinkers have more cravings and less food satisfaction than full sugar soda drinkers. Part of the reason for this is because they contain artificial sweeteners, which taste sweet while having zero calories. The problem here is two fold. As the body and brain communicate, the brain thinks you’ve given the body something sweet, but the body has received no glucose (sugar), so the brain tells the body to eat and drink more in order to get the energy it needs. Additionally, there is a growing body of research that suggests the chemical aspartame itself causes increased cravings for sugar. Check out this article for more information on how artificial sweeteners can cause cravings.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712130107.htm
Wellness Coach