Why Do Diets Fail ?
According to Harvard Health nearly three-quarters of us are overweight or obese and more than 160 million Americans are on a diet at any given time. One of the many issues individuals face when they are successful in losing weight maintaining their goal weight. Many of us do not realize that losing weight is one part of the equation and maintaining the weight is the other. Most often when someone says, "I am going on a diet," this comes with a mindset of the diet being a temporary fix to help them lose the weight, but they do not realize that there needs to be a long-term plan that can help them maintain their desired weight. According to an article by Ohio State University 95% of dieters regain the weight they lost within two years.
When I started my health and fitness journey over 7 years ago When I started my health and fitness journey over 7 years ago, I slowly started to realize that health and fitness is not a final destination—it is an ongoing journey of discovery. In order to be successful, my goals had to change every so often, and so did my process. Health and fitness is a continual journey, and we have to make sure that whatever we choose to do to meet our goals is something that fits into our current way of life. When we continue to make a continuous stream of choices, it yields results. The question that we have to ask ourselves daily is what those choices will look like in that moment.
Making Adjustments
As a part of my health journey, in 2017, I made the choice to go vegan in the hopes of losing weight. After a few months, I lost 10 lbs. and felt great. However, over time, I found it challenging to stick to a vegan diet due to the limited options and my busy lifestyle as a working mom of five. To make it easier, I switched to a vegetarian diet so I could cook for my family and still enjoy meals with them. Later on, I found that the vegetarian diet wasn't providing enough energy for my workouts, so I made the decision to incorporate dairy, eggs, and occasional seafood into my diet. Although it was a tough decision as I was initially determined to stick to a vegetarian lifestyle, I realized that making adjustments to reach my health goals was more important than sticking to a specific diet. In 2023, I also started weight training to further improve my health and well-being. I gradually came to the realization that there was no point in setting a goal if I was not willing to make the necessary changes to reach it while still feeling good by eating the right type of foods to help sustain my lifestyle.
It's crucial to understand that making shifts and changes in your journey can help you reach your goals. Many people lack this understanding and try to stick to the same diet they started with, which may not fit their future goals. When they reach that point, instead of adjusting, they go back to their old ways, causing them to regain the weight they lost. In my opinion, most diets tend to fail because we follow a diet that we can maintain temporarily but struggle to maintain long-term or make the necessary changes to fit our new lifestyle and goals. Another important factor is how we view the change we are making. Many of us realize that making changes to our diets is not fun or something we want to do. We feel like we are missing out on something if we are not able to eat the unhealthy foods that we love. However, learning to readjust our mindset goes a long way when it comes to making small changes to our lifestyle to meet our health and fitness goals.
Getting Started
If you are interested in starting your fitness journey today, click on "Start My Journey" to book your first free coaching session with me. I can help you get started on living a healthier lifestyle and learn how to avoid falling into the never-ending loop of fad diets.
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