Let's Look at the Dieting Cycle

Women who view themselves as overweight have a high chance of entering the dieting cycle. This cycle begins when you have strong thoughts about dieting and losing weight. You find a diet that you believe will work for you this time. You work hard at following all of its rules and regulations. Soon you begin to lose weight and feel that you are on the right path. Over time, the effects of the diet wane, and the weight that you had lost returns. At this point, you start to experience various negative feelings about yourself and your ability to maintain weight loss. You once again start to enter a state of depression about your weight and look for a new diet to try.

As you can see in the above example, the dieting cycle can continue for life unless you find a totally new way to lose weight. Not only does the dieting cycle lead to weight gain, but it also brings about negative feelings. Every time a diet fails you are reminded that you were not successful. What if I told you that you are successful; it is the diets that have failed and not you! The dieting cycle begins to prove that many diets do not work. Most diets eventually lead to weight gain. There are many different reasons why this happens. One of the main reasons is because many diets are based on deprivation.

Deprivation is one of the main tenants of many diets which help you lose weight quickly. The meal plan and techniques set forth by the diet are not based on eating what your body says to eat. Instead you eat what is written into the meal plan. Many meal plans assume that in order to lose weight you must reduce the amount of food that is consumed and restrict yourself from the foods you love. Following this type of strict diet has side effects that can cause you to gain weight.

When you do not eat what your body needs, your body begins to crave those foods. Your body is telling you that it needs certain foods in order to sustain optimal health and weight loss. Sometimes when you are listening to your meal plan instead of your body you end up eating even more. For example, your body may let you know that it wants ice cream. Instead you eat an apple. This did not satisfy your body so it continues to crave ice cream. You then eat a few strawberries hoping to reduce the cravings. This pattern continues to the point that you have now eaten more calories than you would have by eating a smaller portion of ice cream.

Another reason why deprivation does not work is because it is very difficult to stay on track long-term. When you are on a diet based on deprivation, you may run into situations where you feel the need to eat, such as a party or work lunch. These occurrences can cause you to eat outside of your diet plan. Once you break the diet, it is often hard to get back on track. When your body is used to eating less than it needs, a larger amount of food can cause you to put on weight quickly.

You can lose weight without dieting. By using a non-diet approach to weight loss you can eat according to your body's needs instead of a meal plan. You can eat exactly what your body needs and still lose weight.