Why Diets Don't Work

The average person who wants to lose weight has been on more than one diet. That fact leads one to believe that diets don't work, because if a diet was an effective way to lose weight, you would only go on one diet, and that would be it. You would achieve your weight loss goals.

But obviously that is not the case. Many people are "serial" dieters, or "yo-yo" dieters, moving from one failed diet to another. Why are diets NOT an effective way to lose weight? It's quite simple.

A diet is a short-term event.

I go on a diet, I lose weight, then my diet is finished. I have achieved my goal, so I go back to all of the bad habits that got me into trouble in the first place. I have not made any real change, so I am back where I started.

That's why diets are not an effective way to lose weight permanently.

As Albert Einstein said (see our Top Weight Loss Secrets), the thinking that got us into our problems is not the thinking that will get us out. In other words, if you gained weight because you ate too much food and didn't get enough exercise, going back to eating too much food and not getting enough exercise will not solve your weight problem.

To permanently lose weight, you don't need a diet. You need a lifestyle change. To lose weight you need to stop eating too much of the wrong foods, and you need to get exercise. That's not a diet. That's a lifestyle change.

So if you want to lose weight, don't go on a diet. Change your lifestyle, for permanent change.