Scientific Research Shows Why Diets Dont Work, If You Want to Sustain Long Term Weight Loss
To say that dieting rarely leads to sustainable weight loss isn't particularly controversial, scientific research shows that 90% of people who try to lose weight by dieting fail. Did you know that dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry, and that there are over 25,000 books on diets, many of which contain advice that clearly contradict each other. The saddest fact about dieting is that many people try and fail at many different diets, and in the end conclude that biology is against them, and resign themselves to being obese for the rest of their lives. The truth of the matter is very different, and has more to do with Biology than the type of diet.
If you fail to lose weight with a diet traditional philosophy would have you believe that you've either been on the wrong diet (too many/few meals, too much/little carbohydrates, etc.) or you lack the willpower to stick with your diet. However this is completely wrong, and is backed up by scientific research conducted by Ancel Keys in the 1950's and documented in his famous work 'The Biology of Human Starvation'. He discovered that reducing people's diet to a state of semi-starvation produced symptoms of irritability, loss of endurance, and obsessive behavior around food, including but not limited to lying, hoarding, and stealing.
Even more telling was that in the three month period after the semi-starvation was ended and people could once again eat whatever they wanted, the obsession with food continued. None of the subjects had regained their former physical capacity, and their daily caloric intake had increased to a level higher (at times up to 8 times higher) than before the study began.
What this research goes to show, is if you want to loose weight, starving yourself on the latest fad diet, it probably the worst and most ineffective way of achieving your weight loss goals. This is particularly true if your goals are long term. The scientific explanation for this is simply that by starving your body, by reducing your calorie intake, results in your bodies survival instinct kicking in. This results in the body storing fat in order to sustain its energy requirements, resulting in the absolute opposite of what you want.
The logical conclusion from this position is simply 'if what you are doing isn't working you need to try something else'
What 'something else' is will be determined by the underlying reasons for your obesity in the first place. Alongside dieting one of the biggest contributors to obesity is the pattern of emotional eating. Many people eat because they are bored, miserable, lonely or any manner of emotional reasons, none of which has anything to do with physical hunger. Putting food in your stomach will never feed your emotional hunger, and you'll never feel 'full', leading to the cycle of constant eating. This will guarantee your weight will bloat beyond control. The only way to combat this type of eating is to constantly ask yourself, are you genuinely hungry or do you simply want to change the way you feel. If you simply want to change the way you feel, eating is not the answer.
The final of the three big reasons for obesity is the development and practice of poor habits and attitudes towards food. Another way of expressing this is simply 'faulty programming' which has resulted in the development of unproductive habits, leading to poor choices in the way you eat. Fortunately this faulty programming can be easily changed and replaced with good productive habits which will fundamentally change your attitudes towards food, resulting in a passive move towards your weight loss goals.
One of the easiest and ways to achieve long lasting weight loss, is by appealing to your subconscious mind, and addressing the core issues that are the cause of your particular weight problem. How do you do this... My recommended method is through hypnosis. It is a proven, tried and tested method that consistently delivers results after results, which last longer than any diet will ever do.
John Perry is the author of this article and has successfully lost weight through hypnosis. He now shares his experience by providing a review of Hypnosis for weight loss at his site: http://www.weightlossbyhypnosis.com
Related Articles:
Lose Weight with These "Worst" Diets of 2006 -- Slim Chance!
Looking for a new gimmick to jump start your New Year's diet this January? How about a real staple that pierces cartilage in your upper ear to suppress appetite? Or a detoxification plan said to clean toxins and pollution out of your body? "Save your money - and save your health," Francie M. Berg, chair of the Weight Loss Abuse Task Force of the National Council against Health Fraud, tells radio listeners. These are just two of year's "worst" weight loss schemes highlighted by Berg in announcing the 18th annual Slim Chance Awards. Tune in to the "Size Matters, Too" On-Line Radio Show with the Velvet Voice of Size Diversity, Veronica Cook-Euell, as she interviews Francie M. Berg who gives us tips on h...
Aerobic Exercise: Treadmill Weight Loss
Doing exercise on the treadmill is a wonderful way to lose weight. However, you need to combine it with something else if you want you weight loss on the treadmill to be effective.
Low Fat Snacks For Weight Loss and Good Health
Eating a low fat diet can be tough. Especially in the beginning when you feel like you are starving for at least twenty hours of the day. Eating a low fat diet and getting healthy doesn�t have to mean you have to suffer. Try some of these low fat snacks that will keep you feeling full.
Dieting Tips For Fast Weight Loss - How To Jump-start Your Diet
Do you want to lose weight fast? While there is no diet that will allow you to eat as much as you want and still lose weight, there are things you can do to speed along the process. Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are the most important aspects of any diet, but there are appetite suppressants and diet aids designed to help you burn fat and increase your metabolic rate.
Thirty Hints & Tips to Achievable Weight Loss
Here are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started, keep you going, and help you stick to your diet.1.
Weight Loss Programs - Ready to Lose Weight Now?
Models everywhere are thin, skinny, and thus they are considered beautiful With this popular standard that thin is in, more people have the tendency to think that their actual weight is not the right weight for them
Read The Truth About Weight Loss And Weight Loss Patches
Weight Loss Patches In Dealing With Obese, Is It For Real?
Accomplix Review - Best Buy Supplements Releases Their Annual Review of Weight Loss Supplements
Best Buy Supplements releases their 2008 review of Accomplix and other weight loss supplements. The review includes ratings for categories including thermogenic effect, ingredient quality, appetite suppression and weight loss potential.
Treadmills and Home Exercise
People need to exercise. This is a fact. The growing problem obesity in the world today has shown people that they really need to take action or suffer the consequences of their unhealthy living. Warnings from the government and from independent groups have prompted people to start looking for discount treadmills and home exercise machines.
Best Way to Lose Weight-Lose it Instantly Using Proven Methods!
Despite what many people think, losing weight is not a tedious process wherein you have to starve yourself to death and spend your whole life in the gym, this is not the case In fact, losing weight should come from within
Work Cellulites Away with Cellulite Diets
The term cellulite is often viewed as a fanciful name that refers to the puckered, lumpy, and dimpled look of the skin especially in the areas pertaining to the buttocks, thighs, and hips. The reason as to why women are more prone to having cellulite is because they have a different structure of connective tissue as contrasted with the men. However, having cellulites could never be a fanciful dream to assume. Specialists who know very well how cellulite formation develops point out emphatically that there is the need to follow a strict employment of cellulite diets in order to minimize such condition in the skin.
How To Lose Weight At Home
It seems that wherever we look there are photos of perfectly thin models and actresses So it can be easy to lose perspective on what we think our bodies should look like
Lose Weight and Feel Great the Natural Way
Much to the chagrin of the diet industry, the most effective methods and techniques for natural weight loss lies within each and every one of us, and not in a pill or capsule. Each and every year we spend billions of our hard earned money in the hopes of achieving better health and losing excess weight, when in reality, becoming healthy and fit doesn't have to be an expensive venture in futility.
How To Handle And Overcome A Weight Loss Plateau
I have a close friend whos been struggling with weight her entire adult life and spent the best part of it on a weight loss and weight gain rollercoaster shed lose five pounds and quickly gain seven, shed lose twelve pounds and then gain sixteen and so on and so forth. She must have tried every diet ever concocted but nothing seemed to help and she remained obese.
Rating the Fad Diets
THE 200 POINT SYSTEMWith so many different diets available, how are we to know
what works and what is safe? The only way to be sure is to
discover the author's background and the research behind
the diet's methodology. Every good diet should give a
background about the author and his/her credentials and
experience in the fields of nutrition and biochemistry.
