As popular as many diets are, they don’t always have the lasting effects people hope for. After you try over and over again without getting results, it can be disheartening.
Especially if you’re on a restrictive plan and constantly feeling deprived. This deprivation can increase the cravings for forbidden foods even further, creating a harsh cycle.
According to research people on a diet have trouble sticking with it because if your body gives up something which in return will crave even more, which results in people turning back to their old habits.
Here are five reason why dieting does not work:
Diets mess with your hunger cues
A good amount of the time you spend dieting is devoted to ignoring or suppressing your hunger. In the long run, this can affect how you respond to your natural hunger cues, which in turn makes it harder for you to listen to your body and regulate your weight. According to Sandra Aamodt, PhD and the author of Why Diets Make Us Fat, who told NBC,
“You become more at risk of emotional eating, eating out of boredom, and are more vulnerable to environmental cues that tell you to eat more than your body actually wants,” said Sandra.
Diets causes your Metabolism to slow down
Yes, lots of calories in your body are not happy, however, you need to burn more calories than you consume but eating too few calories can wreak havoc on your metabolism.
According to research, subjects on severely low-calorie diets lost weight at a slower rate. The idea is that, when you severely restrict calories, your body overcompensates by slowing down your metabolism to make the most of the calories you are consuming.
Diet Stress Can Cause Overeating
Dieting can be stressful as you are depriving yourself of calories and the food you actually want to be eating. Stressing about your diet doesn’t feel good, and it goes against your progress. Stress brings along diseases and illness.
Diest causes you to obsess over food
You will be thinking of food all day, which will therefore increase your food cravings.
It deprives you of energy
Food is fantastic because it fuels you for hours. If you’re on a no-carb diet, you’re probably drained, and the feeling of that exhaustion is a lack of fuel. Dieting can make you feel tired all the time because your system is deprived of food. This is why temporary diets are not ideal, but a balanced and healthy lifestyle is.
Also see: Why diet culture is toxic
