Why Do Most Diets Fail in the Long Run?

What is a diet?

In the nutrition world, a diet is defined as the sum of food that we consume on a habitual basis for the reasons of losing weight or maintaining health. It is estimated that two-thirds of Americans annually engage in some sort of a diet, for the pursuit of either feeling or looking good, or both.

We live in a world of awakening, with access to a staggering amount of information (and misinformation) about the human body and health. We know that excessive body fat leads to a variety of issues like diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers, and with a goal of avoiding these long-term health problems, we turn to Google for help.

We do the research, read articles and reviews. We choose a diet, push through it and relatively quickly lose weight. But then, as quickly, get off the track and gain all the weight back.

So what happens?

The simple answer is that in the pursuit of gaining results fast, we often turn to quick-fix solutions that are unhealthy for our body, and are not sustainable over the long run.
Currently, there are over ten trending diets, all promising exciting and quick results.

Some of the most popular diets include:
  • Keto
  • Paleo
  • Yo-yo dieting
  • Juice cleanse

Let's divide it into psychological and physical reasons why it's hard to stick to some diets long-term.

Physical reasons why most diets fail

The reason why we lose weight in the first place is that changing the types (or amounts) of certain foods we eat has a direct impact on our hormones. Hormones play an important role in regulating body chemistry, and they are all interconnected. And changes in one area can cause a domino effect for others.
Let's look at some examples.

  • Yo-yo dieting or juice cleanse, aka "I will stop eating for a month to fit into those pants before summer,"

This “diet” significantly restricts the amount of calories we consume daily. At first, our body reacts to this change positively by triggering a quick fat and water loss, and showing promising results. However, after a week or two of such "dieting" we start feeling sluggish and potentially gain the weight back, while still eating relatively little.

This is because in the presence of a severe caloric restriction, the body goes into a starvation mode. It deliberately slows down metabolism to preserve energy stores and minimize weight loss - a biological mechanism that helps us to survive at times of famine.

It does so by counter-regulating body’s thyroid and other metabolic hormones like leptin, ghrelin, testosterone, estrogen, and so on. The list goes on.

  • Another perfect example would be a ketogenic diet. Internet search shows a large amount of success stories, but most information out there is selective and fails to disclose the full truth.

While (almost) everyone should dive into ketosis from time to time, this doesn't mean we should be in ketosis all the time (or even for long periods of time).
In the short run, ketosis allows to re-balance the body. It stabilizes glucose levels, increases mobilization of stored body fat and decreases appetite. It increases energy levels, decreases inflammation and allows us to shed those extra pounds before the summer starts.

However, most of us don't do it correctly.

  • First, keto is not recommended for those who suffer from chronic mental stress. Stress causes hormonal imbalances and increases levels of cortisol, which triggers insulin response that prevents us from actually getting into ketosis and experiencing its benefits. So we're basically running down our body, forcing it to "change" while it already undergoes a lot of hormonal changes that come from stress itself.

  • Second, we tend to eat a lot of high-fat containing foods like olive oil, avocados, bacon, coconut oil, etc. But we forget to eat nutrient-dense foods like vegetables. This may lead to deficiencies in essential micronutrients needed for healthy metabolism, essentially hurting us on a long run.

Psychological reasons why most diets fail:

1. They are complex, restrictive, and require precision.

Most diets are incredibly complex, demanding the calculation of macros, continuous attention to the foods we eat, and careful daily planning. This complexity makes diets challenging to follow in the long run as they demand a significant amount of time and mental energy. Some diets may falter due to miscalculations, such as misjudging the quantities of specific foods (e.g., keto) or including items that are hard to avoid (e.g., Whole30, Paleo).

Additionally, spending hours daily in the kitchen or grocery store, meticulously measuring every gram of food or navigating extensive lists of "eat/not eat" items is an unattractive prospect for many.

2. Some of the diets are not in sync with our biology.

The human body has evolved over thousands of years, adapting to various forms of nutrition. But certain modern diets might not align with our biological needs, causing potential conflicts. These conflicts can lead to difficulties in sustaining these diets over the long term and may contribute to the challenges we might face in achieving lasting results.

A perfect example would be a low-fat diet, which has been advised for decades by health authorities but has been proven to create more harm than benefits. There is also the Paleo diet, which eliminates grains from our diet and suggests eating vegetables and fruits that haven't existed until very recently.

3. These diets don't allow for long-term behavioral changes.

If you're one of those people who is constantly "dieting" all year long in the pursuit of keeping weight off, then most likely you're approaching the situation incorrectly.
Even though "losing 30 pounds in one month" may seem exciting, such an extreme goal demands extreme behavioral changes that are not sustainable in the long run. t might be relatively simple to cut out carbs and sugar for a few months, but maintaining this for a year is considerably more challenging.

We choose one of these short-lived diets, lose that weight quickly, but soon we relapse into our old habits and simply put the weight back on. Then we go back, choose another diet, and the cycle goes on. Breaking out of this loop requires finding a strategy that works for years, not just months, and unfortunately, many of these diets do not provide a long-term solution to the problem.

So what's the most sustainable long-term health strategy?

Choosing a diet to follow for a few months may be hard, but more so is choosing a diet for a few years.

That's why we believe that intermittent fasting + strong nutrient foundation one of the best sustainable long-term solution to a better life.

Intermittent fasting is not a diet. It's a daily choice we make. After a few months, it naturally becomes a part of our lifestyle. Furthermore, after just a few months, a balanced fasting-feeding window allows our body to run optimally and we start feeling better, losing body fat, having more energy and mental clarity. This motivates us to keep going and being even more consistent.

Because intermittent fasting is straightforward and easy, it leads to a permanent lifestyle change that allows for healthy, steady weight loss. At the same time, proper nutrients provide our body with the fuel it needs to run millions of biological processes daily, particularly those involved in metabolism.