Why Diets Don’t Work

PART I: Why we Diet?

By Rebecca Cooper, MFT, CCH, CEDS

Have you ever dieted? More than once?

Most of the methods we may have tried to control our eating have not worked long term. I hope to explain why diets don’t work and present some ideas for you to consider that do work.

Diets don’t work. Let me contradict myself now and say “all diets work.” The protein diet, the grapefruit diet, low carb diet, the (fill-in-the-blank) diet, all work. The more bizarre the regime the better it works, at least temporally.

The problem is that we go off them. We rebel. We get fed up with the diet and we eat all the things we have been depriving ourselves of. We go off the diet. Then we gain the weight back… plus more.

Due to the food restrictions of the diet, our metabolism has slowed down. Our body thinks it is experiencing a famine; it is in starvation alert mode and is trying to store every calorie. The result is that we gain weight with a vengeance, faster than ever before.

Repeating this behavior over time forms a predictable pattern. We gain weight, go on another diet, rebel, and then start the yo-yo cycle of eating and dieting over and over again.

When we diet, we set ourselves up to overeat because we subconsciously rebel over restricting our food. Binge eating often starts as a direct result of dieting. Thirty-five percent of “normal dieters” progress to eating disorders.

Currently over half the population of America is overweight, and nearly one-quarter obese. There are more overweight people in the US than any time in history. Americans spend over $50 billion on dieting and weight loss products each year. Weight loss is a national obsession. At any given time, 25 million Americans are seriously dieting. Only 1 out of every 200 dieters lose their weight and keep it off for a year or more.

Currently 2 million Americans suffer from eating disorders. At least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of their eating disorder. Because of the secretiveness and shame associated with eating disorders, many cases are probably not reported.

Even before we start our diet the thought of going on a diet begins to influence our overeating. Have you ever thought “I’ll go ahead and eat that cake now because tomorrow (or on Monday, or the first of the month or year) I am going on a diet”? How many times has this happened to you?

PART 2: What is Disordered Eating?

Disordered eating involves a mental obsession about food, weight, diet, and body image. It affects our self-esteem and robs us of the quality of life that we deserve. We may become depressed, withdrawn, or anxious because of our eating patterns. It affects every area of our lives and our family’s lives.

There is a difference between unhealthy eating habits and disordered eating. A person with disordered eating is using food to cope with life. We overeat as a means to stuff down feelings or thoughts. We refrain from eating or go on a diet to feel in control. We may use the eating to avoid or block some painful part of our life.

Psychological factors that contribute to eating disorders include: low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, perfectionism, feelings of lack of control, inadequacy, loneliness, emptiness.

Situations that can set us up to develop eating disorders are limited coping skills to deal with feelings, denial of feelings, secrets, sexual abuse, excessive ridicule (real of perceived), unrealistic expectations for achievement, parental enmeshment, family disharmony or enmeshment, a cry for help, perfectionism, peer pressure.

Disordered eating has varied definitions and types. It is eating when you are not physically hungry and/or not stopping when you are full. It may result in excessive body fat. It is not necessarily apparent on the outside. We can be normal weight, but we know what we are doing to stay there. We may be bingeing, then starving or exercising excessively. We may use diet pills or other drastic measures. Labels associated with disordered eating are compulsive overeating, binge eating, anorexia, and bulimia (several types). We may go from one disorder to another and another. Rebecca