Here’s the Real Reasons Why Diets Don’t Work Long-Term.

Surprisingly to many, it’s a fact diets still don’t work……so……

……how DO I Lose Weight without Dieting???

My regular followers have heard me say this many times before and I will say it once again…..in the long term, and is there any other way……Diets Don’t Work. Period!

(Although I have found that VANITY is a powerful motivator.)

This is Part 1 of “Why I don’t believe diets work in the long term” and Part 2 covers my new “The Elusive Weight Loss Success Factor“. It is a simple hands-on approach to long term weight loss success that actually works.

Ahead are some powerful ideas I have researched offering a different approach for you about “how to prevent weight gain instead of encouraging weight loss”.

So, Why Don’t Diets Work Long-term?

Because as soon as you finish the program whether it is a 90-day challenge your local gym or personal trainer has organized, the Paleo Diet (or Caveman Diet), the Skinny Bitch Diet, the 3–Hour Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Cabbage Diet, the Fat Flush Plan, the Glycemic Index Diet, The Hormone Diet, the Blood Type Diet, the Nutrisystem Diet, the See Food Diet, Jenny Craig the Slow Down Diet, the 7th Day Adventist Diet or any of the other weird and wonderful diets like Gold Diet Pills that continually flood the market and empty your pockets, you end up slowly but surely putting the weight back on.

It is inevitable.

Many unsuspecting people are often conned by the histrionics of the marketing surrounding the benefits of certain over the counter weight loss supplements and products.

Why is that you might ask?

The real answer is not sugar-coated or pretty…….but here we go anyway.

Because you, the person trying to lose weight, still haven’t come to grips with the main issue…..your eating habits…..so nothing has really changed.

James Clear tells it like this: “If you commit to nothing, you’re distracted by everything.”

So you finish the diet program, have probably lost a few kilos, and in some cases a lot of kilos, but you revert to your former eating habits (or should I say lifestyle/environment).

You haven’t managed to develop a new HABIT……or conversely….you haven’t rid yourself of the old one.

Better still, you haven’t created a new “lifestyle” for yourself. I know, it’s a hard slog, isn’t it?

Here’s a TED Talk I recommend you watch: Why Dieting Doesn’t Usually Work.

It’s all about: “Why a lot of people are now focusing on preventing weight gain instead of promoting weight loss. Let’s face it; if diets worked, we’d all be thin already. Why do we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results? It’s ok to eat when you’re hungry. So teach people to work with their appetite instead of fearing it.” Well that makes good sense to me.

Here’s something else you will find helpful in your elusive search for the perfect weight loss supplement or program.

Kris Gunnars, whose opinions I value highly, is a nutrition researcher with a Bachelor’s degree in medicine. I recommend you read the following two articles……they will help get your mind in the right place for long-term weight loss success.

1. Top 12 Biggest Myths About Weight Loss

2. 12 Popular Weight Loss Pills and Supplements Reviewed

Now let’s go back to what George Foreman said to Peter Fitzsimons in an interview, “I’m on the seafood diet. I sees food, I eats it.” Oh, and btw, make sure you read Peter’s book, “The Great Aussie Bloke Slim-Down”. It’s written in a typical Aussie style and makes great sense to me.

Maybe this book with its “pull no punches” observations and recommendations is not for everyone but everyone should read it, especially if you are 30 to 45 kilos over the limit like Peter was.

The book is well researched, entertaining, down to earth and gives one of my favourite bad boys, sugar, a real hammering…….which it thoroughly deserves when you understand how we, our kids and families, have been hoodwinked over the last 30 or 40 years by the multi-nationals to the detriment of our health and to the good of their directors and shareholders hip pockets.

So a lifestyle change, or anti-aging diet, means coming to grips with what you need to eat to be free from lifestyle diseases (e.g. high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease etc) and filling yourself with good quality anti-aging fuel instead of takeaways, crappy breakfast cereal in a box from your local supermarket and sugar-laden fibre free fruit juices and soft drinks.

You may as well add fruit yoghurts, ice-cream, and most of the bakery lines you find there too.

You might think I am being a bit harsh here……well I’m not.

I just want to light a match under the bum of everyone out there who is overweight for no other reason other than poor diet and also those people who have fallen into the habit of resting and rusting…..i.e. lack of regular moderate exercise.

I just want you all to live longer with better fitness (so you can do and enjoy more things) and have a healthier lifestyle! It’s what I call Active Ageing.

I can’t speak for you, but when I come across these shocking statistics for Australian Males (and it is pretty much the same worldwide) that look like this;

# 66% are overweight/obese
# 33% (15-75 yrs) do little or no exercise
# 33% have a chronic health condition
# male suicide rates are the highest since 1997
# and only 20% rate their health and well-being as good or excellent.

Well……I am concerned for you personally as well as for the future health of our nation (and all others)..…..very concerned.

And I really want to help you.

That’s why I continue to write articles on this blog in the hope that someone somewhere will see the light and get up off their bum and do something about it. That would delight me more than anything else so please let me hear about both your successes (and failures – learning what not to do is just as important as learning what to do).

As I mentioned previously, don’t think for a moment this is a phenomenon only happening Down Under…..it’s not. It is like an epidemic…..figures for the US and UK are pretty similar.

In his book, Peter sited sugar, eating way too much food, and downing copious quantities of booze as his demise. Nothing new there. I could give you 100 names straight off the top of my head of people I know personally who are in the same boat.

The only difference is, Peter did something about his problem. He wanted to see and enjoy some quality time with his grandkids (when he finally gets some), but most importantly of all…..he wanted to change his lifestyle.

He wanted to live longer and to feel better.

Why?

For all the important reasons…..it was putting pressure on his relationship, on his capacity to perform at an acceptably high level on a daily basis in his work and bodily he looked and felt like crap. I am sure there are a lot of people who can relate to those comments.

So what’s the problem here?

It appears to me, “Food is by far the most abused comfort and anxiety drug and, unfortunately, exercise is the most underutilized antidepressant.”

If this is so, then why aren’t people rushing around changing their lifestyles? It can’t be that hard…….can it?

It’s not as though there aren’t dozens of good books around like Peter’s telling you all about the long term dangers of how you choose to live and that offer plenty of sage advice as to how to remedy your decaying body. You could also spend some time going through the hundreds of articles on my site here and get some great ideas for your diet and exercise program.

I was speaking with a young lady at my gym recently who had lost well over 20 kg (44 lbs) and she offered this gem of a piece of weight loss advice, “I’ve been maintaining my ideal weight for two years and I eat and drink whatever I want – just not however much I want……..that’s been a big difference.”

Losing weight is not a short-term endeavour……..it should be looked at as a total lifestyle change which requires plenty of self-discipline – here is something else I wrote that will help you get to your ideal weight and then keep it there: Why You’ll NEVER Lose Weight Without Self-Discipline.

To me, that is one of the big “secrets” of weight loss success – we all eat too much.

I’ll leave you with this quote to think about from Aristotle; “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Cheers – John – your Active Ageing Mentor and Coach.

P.S. Help a friend with their health and fitness – like and share. Thanks.

P.P.S. Best wishes with your journey and if you need help, then don’t be shy…….just yell out.

Now read Part 2 here: “Discover the Elusive Weight Loss Success Factor“.