There are a lot of people out there trying to lose weight. And one thing that most of them know is that in the end, a huge percentage of diets fail. And there are some good reasons why diets do not work.

The overarching problem with dieting is that people don’t stick to their diets. Either they lose the weight and then stop, or they don’t even get that far. Both are discouraging, and can lead to even more weight gain.

Diets are not a natural way to eat, usually. They require radical changes in the way that people normally eat, and make dieters give up some of their favorite foods. Willpower generally cannot overcome biology when a dieter’s body is constantly telling them to go back to their old way of eating. Sooner or later, they will.

Often, it’s not just hard to fight oneself when it comes to eating. People who restrict their food to an extreme extent often find it hard to enjoy social events, which can be hugely food centered. Many people also get very depressed when they don’t manage to maintain their diet, and then they give up on it entirely.

Less calories must go in than are expended when trying to lose weight, but what most people don’t know is that if you restrict calories too much, the body’s metabolism will slow to make up for it. These people wind up eating less but still not losing weight, which is incredibly frustrating, of course.

While on a diet, people do not just lose pounds of fat. Actually, if they don’t exercise, each pound lost is about one-third water, one-third muscle, and one-third fat. Since muscle is where most of the calories the body burns are used, losing muscle lowers your overall caloric needs. And when these people stop dieting, the water weight and fat come right back, but the muscle is gone.

There are more reasons than are laid out here, but these are all good reasons why diets do not work. Dieting, judged by scientific studies on the subject, actually appears to be detrimental to people’s health. But losing weight, and keeping it off, is good for you. So, there must be some other way to lose weight than through a diet.

Everyone knows the calorie balance — that to lose weight, dieters must expend more calories than they burn. But to do this immediately is very difficult, and a major reason that people fail. So, the changes must be made slowly if they are expected to stick, even if this does also mean slower results.

Small changes made one at a time give people the best chance for success. A change might be reducing sugar intake by half or walking three days a week. This is the only change you would make for at least two weeks, maybe a month, in order to let yourself get used to it. Then, another small change would be added. In this way, hopefully, the changes become normal and a permanent part of the way you eat, rather than a transient diet. It can be tedious, but it can work.

Get the low down on good reasons why diets do not work and fab lose weight tips and advice now in our online overview of the best weight loss review .

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