By Alex Kain
Why is starting a diet a bad thing? There are so many diets out there that surely you’ll be able to find one that works for you, right? For many people this isn’t the case. Yes there are a lot of diets out there and maybe your friends have had success with one, or several. There are many different kinds from the Atkins diet to the Zone diet, there are as many diets out there as there are letters in the alphabet. Perhaps you’ve heard that so and so lost 10 pounds with their diet, or your friend lost 20 pounds with her diet. This might all sound great, but when we start a diet what is our ultimate end goal?
What are you looking to gain by starting this diet? I think the obvious or first reason is to lose weight. That is a very valid reason to start a diet, but what is the reason why we are wanting to lose weight. Is it for an upcoming wedding or event that we want to look good for? Perhaps it’s summertime and we want to look amazing in our new swimsuit. If you’re looking to just lose some weight for an upcoming event then a diet might be the right move for you. Just a quick and effective way to lose some weight does the job. But even this brings me back to my first question… What are you looking to gain by starting this diet?
Where do you want to be in 6 months from now, one year from now or even 5-10 years from now? If you’re looking to lead a healthier life and not have a constant up and down battle with your weight then you should not be starting a diet. Diets are meant to fail. Sure they might bring about some quick results because you’re cutting almost all the carbs out of your eating, but for the long term goal of 6 months or a year from now, how realistic is it to NEVER have any carbs ever again? Think about that for a minute… No more bread, no more chips, no more ice cream, no more cookies, candy, etc. and the list goes on and on. This is not realistic, not for anyone. Therefore if you start a keto or low carb diet, sure it might work for the first month or two, or maybe even the first couple of months, but eventually you’re going to crack and want to start eating some carbs. If I told you that you could lose 10 pounds by cutting out all sugar from your diet you’d jump on board and say that sounds great. But after the 10 pounds is gone, I’m willing to bet you’re going to want to take a winners lap once around the bakery and get every sweet in sight.
So you’ve now broken the diet and 6 months later where are we? Back to where we were originally which got us thinking we should start a diet in the first place. Thus brings us to the up and down battle that many people go through their entire life and why diets seem to always be on the topic of discussion. There’s always going to be a newer diet that promises results, and odds are it probably delivers on those promises for the short game, but not for the long game. Getting on a diet is like having a leaky roof and putting a patch on it. Sure that works for the summer or winter or through the rainy season, but eventually you’re going to have to replace the roof. Personally I’d rather put in the hard work and have that roof last the next 10 years then just replacing a patch every summer. This is why you shouldn’t start a diet… it will not provide you with the long term habits you need to keep the weight off. Starting a diet is a quick and temporary fix to the problem, which is… your eating habits.
