Hi friends. Here’s another post if you’re interested. Please read. It’s a good one.
What I’m going to talk about today is something I’m passionate about and have real-life experience with too. I’m going to make a blanket statement here that many people may call bullshit. I don’t think it’s bullshit at all though. In fact, it makes a lot of sense and plenty of evidence supports the claim that diets don’t work.
A crazy and often overlooked statistic is that 95% of dieters end up regaining the weight they lost, and sometimes even more, within a two-year time frame. Let me ask you this—would you spend a ton of time, money, and effort on a medical procedure or medication that would only work for you short term? Healthcare is expensive so I’d be willing to bet most of us answer no.
So why? Why do so many Americans diet over and over again, weight cycling, damaging their health and metabolism only for them to get frustrated, give up, and repeat the cycle? Let me tell you why.
We live in a society that preys on the insecurities of both men and women to make money. The dieting and weight loss industry has a revenue of over $70 billion per year. I’m getting pissed off just doing the research right now. I feel a little sad too that I used to buy all this stupid shit like the dieting pills that did who the hell knows what.
For the longest time, the world just wanted women to be thin, skinny, and petite. I can tell you right now, I’m not exactly any of those things. But I am fucking hilarious. I’m one of the funniest people I know. The point is, that women bring so much more to the world than what they look like. We are smart, ambitious, creative, passionate, and capable regardless of our body size or shape. And the fact that there’s an entire industry out there making $70 billion a year whose goal it is to shrink us, is absolutely infuriating. Think about it. All the dieting tools and pills, weight loss programs, waxing kits, Botox, makeup, tanning lotions, and shapewear. Can’t we just exist? Why do we have to change the way we look?
Stepping off that soap box and onto another, let’s talk about why specifically diets don’t work.
Biologically, our bodies were not made for diets. God, Mother Nature, the Holy Spirit, the Big Bang theory, or whatever the fuck you believe in, did not make you to restrict food. Our bodies are exceptionally intelligent and see a considerable lack of energy (calories) as a survival threat. We have built-in mechanisms to respond to food deprivation. Our bodies will make changes to our metabolism, hormones, and brain that leads to increased hunger and preoccupation with food. This is why it’s not an issue of willpower or determination. It is simply an issue of biology. The brain’s reward center will actually experience increased activity after consuming high-calorie foods after a prolonged period of deprivation.
This is why dieting can also lead to eating disorders such as binge eating. This is problematic because of the physical effects it has on the body as well as the decreased levels of self-worth. I don’t want to dive too deeply into this on the internet, but this result of dieting hits close to home. I think a lot of people would be surprised just how many people have suffered from or are still suffering from binge eating disorder or bulimia. We can thank our culture for that.
Another reason that diets don’t work is because they are not sustainable. For biological reasons we’ve already discussed, the body cannot be in prolonged food or calorie restriction. Time and time again it does not work and we blame ourselves. Another thing that needs to be considered is that close to 80% of our body’s shape, size, and weight is attributed to our genetics. You cannot out-train genetics and you cannot out-diet genetics. No matter how much food we restrict, we can’t contort our bodies into a shape it was never supposed to be.
Another quarrel of mine—diets are often suggested in the name of health. Diets are in no way imaginable healthy for anyone and weight alone is not a good indicator of health. You cannot look at someone’s body and tell what they ate today, how far they can run, how much they can lift, if they have good relationships, if they’re happy, if they have an underlying condition, or what their blood work looks like. I give these examples because they are better indicators of health than a number on the scale. Making sustainable lifestyle changes and focusing on healthy choices and habits without focusing on weight loss is a much better practice in my opinion. And by no means do I believe that weight loss is inherently wrong or unhealthy. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Someone can feel that losing weight is in their best interest and would help them feel better in their body. All I’m saying is that people have to make that decision to pursue weight loss for themselves, know what their intentions are for doing so, and practice this sustainably from a place of self-love rather than self-hatred.
I had my own experience with dieting and weight loss that I want to touch on briefly. In college, I initially lost close to 85 pounds. I gained some of that back which is typically the case in unsustainable diets. This may not be everyone’s experience but to some degree, I was less happy with myself after losing the weight. Nothing was ever going to be good enough. I still didn’t like myself at all. I think a lot of people can relate to this, but usually, it’s never really about the weight. We’re unhappy with ourselves for some other reason and as a method for grasping control in our lives, we decide to meticulously measure every calorie consumed. It’s a giant pain in the ass and also leads to social isolation, depression, and anxiety.
Now I want to make this point too because it can’t go unnoticed: people usually want to diet and lose weight for appearance-based reasons. And I get it. Unfortunately, I was treated a lot differently after I lost weight. With strangers, family, and friends—I saw a huge difference in how I was acknowledged, approached, and talked to by others. It’s bothersome and this world is undeniably cruel for that. But there is nothing more cruel than restricting and depriving ourselves of the fuel we need to be at our best. Yet, I do get it. We want to look better, be thinner, be noticed, be loved. But at the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is your own, and as we hear so often, we cannot hate ourselves into a body that we love. Sustainable changes can only come from a place of self-love. The people that matter most will treat you the same, regardless of the size and shape of your body. Please remember this.
Coming back to the point of this post— why the dieting industry is a hoax, let’s consider how many diet plans and weight loss programs are on the market. Noom, Weight Watchers, hers, Atkins, keto, and Jenny Craig, are just a few examples. These are all programs that take advantage of well-meaning men and women for the sake of revenue. If these programs and strategies actually worked I feel like there wouldn’t be an obesity crisis in America. If it were as easy as signing up for a weight loss or dieting program to achieve sustainable weight loss, I don’t think more than 41% of US adults would be considered obese. Just a thought. I think America handles the issues of obesity and type 2 diabetes in an absurd and backward manner. Why is that we live in a country where people are spending between $500 and $1300 a month (depending on insurance) for medications like Zepbound and Ozempic, rather than trying to promote a culture that guides individuals to take care of themselves in a cost-effective way? God bless America and everything, but this issue is fucking infuriating.
To close out I just want to say that food is something we need. Something to support us. Give us the energy to experience life. It should never be an internal battle, and for too long that’s exactly what it was for me. We would never intentionally restrict water, sleep, or warmth. We would never not use the restroom if we needed to. Yet much too often we’re willing to restrict food even if we’re hungry. We become more and more disconnected from our bodies. We come to fear food. It sounds silly now but let me tell you, 2 years ago that shit was not funny. Food is a simple way to take care of ourselves, it can even be a way to connect and socialize with others. Food is a beautiful thing and it makes me so sad that people still suffer from eating disorders or other similar struggles with food. It breaks my heart, and I wish there was something more I could do. Collectively, though I think the best thing we can do is promote a way of living for ourselves and for one another that emphasizes wellness over weight and encourages the respect of all bodies.
Below are some links I used to inspire my writing and learn more about this issue.
https://health.osu.edu/wellness/exercise-and-nutrition/that-diet-probably-did-not-work
https://alissarumsey.com/why-not-to-go-on-a-diet/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/five-reasons-not-to-diet-in-2018-and-what-to-do-instead/2018/01/03/2f23241e-e4cf-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html
https://extension.usu.edu/nutrition/research/the-dieting-dilemma