I often work with clients who are struggling with weight management and their relationship with food. I have found that at times, a little information goes a long way.

You may know that the diet industry is a $20 Billion industry, with a whole host of diets telling us what to eat, what not to eat, and how much to eat. Unfortunately, there is a dark secret that the diet industry doesn’t want you to know about. The research indicates that for the vast majority (90-99% of people!) diets don’t work in the long run.

Diets unfortunately don’t address the underlying, core issues that are often crucial in getting to and maintaining a healthy weight. Here’s a summary of what my investigation into the research has found:

Why doesn’t dieting work?

A UCLA review of the research suggests that those who diet and lose weight are likely to gain the weight back plus some. They indicate that causes of this effect are both physiological and psychological:

On a physical level, restrictive diets cause:

  1. Changes to the body that increase subjective hunger, reduce satiety, and increase food cravings (potentially for a full year!).
  2. Changes to increase the body’s energy efficiency and energy storage in peripheral tissues. Essentially, the body assumes there is limited food available, so it increases fat storage to ensure you survive.
  3. Increased weight-retaining hormones like cortisol, due to the increased stress of  controlling hunger and cravings.

On a psychological level, restrictive diets cause:

  1. Food obsessions and cravings. You’ve probably been there. The moment you can’t have something, that’s all you can think about!
  2. A “restrict-overeat-feel bad-emotional eat” vicious cycle. Restricting leads to feelings of deprivation, which lead to overeating when the restriction is finally lifted (intentionally or unintentionally). Overeating often leads to self-recrimination, which leads to guilt and shame. In turn, that distress can lead to emotional eating and binging. The loop can be endless and painful!
  3. An “eat because I ate” loop. Studies show that when once those on a diet have “been bad” by eating something they feel they shouldn’t have, they then open the floodgates and eat even more than those not on a diet.
  4. A negative focus on the body, often creating both body shame and chronic self-criticism. This results in stress and despair, again increasing the likelihood of emotional eating.

So, what does work?

Recent research provides us with a number of interesting findings that can help us get healthier without going on a restrictive diet.

On a physical level:

  1. Adjust your eating habits by implementing small, sustainable changes over time. This is likely to lead to better results.
    • Learn to eat intuitively.
      • Re-connect with your body’s cues of hunger and satiety and how food makes you feel. Learn more in the book “Overcoming Overeating” by Hirschmann and Munter and “How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too” by Spinardi.
    • Make simple, healthier food substitutions that you still enjoy.
      • Reduce your sugar consumption. There’s little debate that sugar is problematic for health and weight on many levels.
      • Educate yourself on your food options. You might be surprised to find out that some things you think are healthy are not. For example, some “low fat” foods may be full of sugar, ultimately making you heavier and less healthy. Consider reading “The Obesity Code” by Dr. Fung for a layperson-friendly summary of the research.
      • Consider consulting a nutritionist in your area to develop a healthier food/meal plan you’ll enjoy.
    • Don’t stock your “addictive” foods in the house.
      • Brain science is backing up the idea that some foods trigger the brain’s reward center the same way that addictive substances do, thus increasing cravings and lowering inhibition. So feel free to have those foods occationally when you’re out, but don’t keep them in the cupboard. Which foods are addictive varies by person, so you need to pay attention to your own eating to identify your trigger foods that cause a start-and-can’t-stop reaction.
  2. Pick an exercise you’ll actually do and exercise for a reasonable (for you) length of time.
    • For example, if you hate going to the gym, don’t make that your exercise. If you like a clean house (and you do burn lots of calories cleaning), then clean regularly instead! If you’ll exercise for 20 minutes, but not 50, then choose 20 minutes as your starting point.
    • If you hate all exercise, don’t despair. While it’s good for your health, research indicates that exercise actually has a very small impact on weight loss.

On a psychological level, some things that can help are:

  1. Figure out the beliefs and emotional drivers behind your eating habits.
    • Often, we’re conflicted about changing our eating habits. For example, it could be that a part of us believes “I deserve this piece of cake! It’s not fair that I can’t have it!” and this gets in the way of our healthy eating goals. If you’ve tried and failed at changing your eating habits a number of times, you’ll be interested in the book Right Weight, Right Mind. This book lays out a strategy to explore and address the part of you that blocks your progress.
  2. Emotional eating is associated with weight gain and can also be part of what prevents weight loss.
    • You can discover ways to manage your stress and emotions in ways that don’t involve food. Calling a friend, journaling, or going for a walk are all good ways to reduce stress. If you’re stuck for ideas, try the book “50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food” by Albers.
  3. Stop restricting foods to improve your relationship with food.
    • It may seem counter intuitive, but when you stop restricting foods, it helps to reduce compulsive eating. Overeating is often driven by the emotional sense of “I don’t know when I’ll get to have this again!” Your overeating is likely to decrease if you know that you can have the desired food any time want it. There is no longer a need to eat it all at one sitting. Learn more in the book “Overcoming Overeating” by Hirschmann and Munter and “How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too” by Spinardi.
  4. Work on becoming more aware when you eat.
    • Just observing and asking yourself questions like: “Am I still hungry?”, “Why am I eating?”, and “What am I feeling right now?” helps you start to become aware of your food choices. This awareness helps you start to understand your habitual, craving-based, or emotional reasons for eating. As you become aware of your patterns and begin dealing with your emotions, you’ll find it easier to eat intuitively, based on “stomach hunger” rather than based on “mouth hunger” or cravings. The previously referenced books by Hirshmann and Spinardi will help here too.
  5. Improve your relationship with your body.
    • Increasing your awareness of what you like about your body, and focusing on your body’s function rather than it’s appearance can help your mood, which will help reduce emotional eating. Hirshmann’s book will help here.
  6. Improve your relationship with your Self.
    • Increasing your self-compassion and learning to talk to yourself about your eating in a more constructive way will also help you feel better about yourself and reduce emotional eating. Check out “Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself” by Kristen Neff for help in this area.
  7. Get social support.
    • Find a friend who is interested in getting healthier and make the changes together. Or use one of the many websites that allows you to connect with others who are going through the same journey.

Above all, be patient as you make these changes. While it’s tempting to grab for the newest book with the latest “lose weight fast” promise, taking the research-informed approach above will lead to a lifetime of success.