Why 95% of All Diets Fail

You may have heard this alarming statistic before.

95% of all diets fail.
This statistic has been published all over the Internet and used by health care professionals for years
because it’s true. I didn’t make it up. Let’s look at just a few numbers. Statistics show that about
40,000 people per year reach their weight loss goal. But when you consider programs like Weight
Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystem and The Zone have millions of people who participate in their
programs, that number is mighty insignificant and downright discouraging. Only 40,000 people out of millions reach their weight loss goal!
If you’re the one who is standing on the springboard of a new diet program, seeing a statistic like this
can be deflating. It doesn’t motivate many people to even try to lose weight because a vast majority
of those who diet and lose even a little weight will eventually put all that weight (and many times
more) back on as soon as they stop dieting. Bingo!
Therein lies the problem. Diets are doomed to fail right from the start because most people view diets
as a short term solution, something they can follow for a set period of time to get the desired resultsand then just stop. Sure, anyone can be motivated to follow a diet plan for a few weeks or even a few
months. But unless it’s a diet plan they can follow for life, they’re doomed to fail.
It doesn’t really matter if you believe that statistic or not. Quite frankly, it could easily be that 99% of
all diets fail, or maybe even closer to 90%. But ask yourself this. Do you want to be in the percentage
that fail?
If you want to lose weight and keep that weight off, you need to stop thinking of a diet as a
temporary fix. Everyone follows some form of a diet whether they know it or not. Unfortunately,
most people follow an “unhealthy” diet which leads to weight gain, high blood sugar, and for some,
obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Weight gain is the product of not paying attention to what you put in your body, how often you do
it and when. It’s a bad habit to get into, even if you’ve never struggled with your weight. Bad eating
habits don’t always just promote weight gain. They also produce long term health problems, such as
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, constipation, fatty liver, heart disease and more.
You may be feeling great because you’ve lost a few pounds on one of those Internet FAD diets you
tried. Well, good for you. It’s always good to celebrate your successes. But I guarantee you this. If
you stop following that diet, and go back to your old eating habits, very soon you’ll find yourself on
the wrong side of that diet failure statistic.
When you crash diet, you put your metabolism on a roller coaster ride. Instead of speeding up and
giving your body more energy, the lower calorie intake that normally goes with a crash diet puts your
body in “famine” mode. Your body will hold onto whatever “energy” it has. That energy is stored in
fat cells. That’s why it takes more calories to lose weight than gain weight. Your body doesn’t want to
let go of what it knows it needs to survive.
If you want to succeed in your diet, you have to stop thinking of FAD diets as the answer to your
problem. You need to think long term, healthy eating that will help promote a healthy metabolism,
not send it into shock. You also have to look at your lifestyle and learn how to incorporate fat burning
exercises into your daily life so you not only lose weight, but you maintain that weight loss for life.
In the next chapter, we’ll talk more about how to kick start your metabolism and turn it into a fat
burning furnace by eating the right foods and changing your eating habits.