How many diets have you tried that have ended in failure? Millions
of people start new diet programs every single day, only to end up
frustrated, confused, and angry at themselves for failing 'yet another'
diet attempt.
Did you also know that around 90% of people actually gain weight during the first 6 months of starting a new diet?
People
often blame the diet program itself for this. They claim that it just
doesn't work, it isn't the 'right diet' for them, and multiple other
reasons which i won't go into here, because the simple fact of the
matter is - the reason you are failing your diet is not the diet program
you are on... it's YOU.
And here's 11 Good Reasons Why:
1. First and foremost, What do diets initially create? - STRESS!
Stress
creates a compulsion to eat more, and many people fall at the first
hurdle by having something naughty (cake anyone?) to reduce their stress
levels. Of course a quick fix is just that - a quick fix... the stress
soon returns and its back to square one.
2. Prolonged bouts of
stress can often result in depression, anxiety and mood swings. This can
reduce your bodies ability to lose weight, and many people actually
gain weight while going through depression.
3. When on a diet,
your mind is focused on food and eating. You can't shake the fact your
brain is telling you what you can and can't eat all day long. Of course
to have any real chance of losing weight these thoughts are exactly the
ones which you want to eliminate. You can't expect to lose weight if all
you think about is food.
4. Its often (although not strictly
always) the case that the reason you are overweight is because of other
underlying problems, which aren't related to food at all. Food can be
used to change your emotions, but diets do not address the cause of
these emotions, they address the result. This is a backward way of
treating the problem.
5. Diets slow down and lower your
metabolism. When your calorie intake is suddenly limited, your body
adapts to cope with this. Your metabolism slows down and as a result
your body burns less calories. Your body actually becomes more efficient
at conserving calories and storing them as fat because you started a
diet!
6. When your metabolism is slowed, your body goes into a
mode of starvation. Severely restricting your food intake simply tells
your body that there's not much food around, so it better adapt. Like i
said in my point above, your body prepares and protects you from
starvation by burning less calories and storing more fat.
7. It's
in the numbers!. People judge the success or failure of their diet by
the numbers displayed on their scales, and by the amount of pounds they
have lost in x amount of days. They lose sight of the the real reason
they want to lose weight, increased energy, a better mindset, feeling
good about themselves and looking good in their favorite clothes again.
8.
Are you losing weight for yourself or for someone else?. Many people
want to lose weight because they think everyone else perceives them to
be fat, or they think their other half doesn't think they are pretty any
more. In essence they are losing weight to please other people not
themselves.
If you are serious about losing weight you need to do
it for yourself, and you need to believe you can do it. After all, how
can you expect to lose weight for someone else if you can't even do it
for yourself? YOU are the most important factor in losing weight.
9.
Goals, we all need a goal, right? Wrong! Setting a goal or target
weight within a certain amount of time in your diet will just cause you
to stress out and feel like you have failed if you don't meet that
target. Even if you do meet your target, this can cause you to assume
you've succeeded and will likely result in you pushing the diet to the
side a bit, and slipping back into your old eating habits. If you do
need to set a goal, set an end goal - but don't restrict yourself to a
time limit, as this will cause more harm than good.
10. In the
Advertisements on TV, you often see the skinny good looking people
drinking diet coke, or other types of diet soda. Surely this must be the
reason they keep their weight down?. Well, not really. In fact its the
opposite!
Diet soda's contain a chemical called phosphoric acid,
this increases your appetite and slowly drains the calcium from your
bones... not good! Many of them also contain Aspartame which depletes
your strength, energy and stamina. The last thing your body needs while
on a diet is to feel even more weak than it already is, so steer clear
of these types of drinks.
11. Diets are really just a short term
way of changing your eating habits, while this is a good start, they
don't change your long term mindset about food and the way you eat. Your
thoughts create your bodies actions, so if you don't change the way
your mind works you will have the same thoughts and the same actions.
You will eventually start to eat the same type of food you ate before
your diet.
You need to make changes in the way you think, in order
to maintain a long term change in your body. This means taking steps to
change what essentially is YOU. So stop thinking about your diet for a
minute, and start thinking about YOURSELF. Only then will your diet have
a fighting chance in succeeding.
Almost 300,000 Americans die each year from being overweight. It's a very sobering thought, and could be greatly reduced if we TAKE ACTION and start taking simple steps to lose weight the right way now.
Take control of your life, don't just become another statistic.
Take control of your life, don't just become another statistic.