Why Diets Fail, and It Is Not Discipline

A question that sounds simple but is not: what is the best diet for losing weight? The honest answer is that no single diet wins for everybody, and the reason diets fail rarely has much to do with which diet was chosen. That comes out of comparison studies that keep showing the same thing.

What comparison studies show

When low carbohydrate, low fat, Mediterranean and intermittent fasting are compared over the long run, the average difference between them is usually small. What decides the outcome is adherence. A diet you can follow for two years beats a diet that is better on paper but abandoned after six weeks. This is why the more useful question is not which diet is best, but which diet you can keep.

Why diets fail, and it is not discipline

Most diets fail for reasons that can be predicted.

• They are too strict, so they can only be held while life is running smoothly
• They remove food that is part of family and social routine
• They do not have enough protein, so hunger eventually wins
• They come without resistance training, so part of the loss comes from muscle
• They have no plan for what happens once the target is reached

That last one is the most commonly overlooked. A diet with no maintenance phase is not a plan, it is an event.

What the diets that work have in common

Under different names, the approaches that deliver long term results share several features. Enough protein at every main meal. High fibre from vegetables, fruit and legumes. Reduced processed food, particularly anything high in sugar and fat at the same time. Carbohydrate from sources that still look like the thing they came from. And most importantly, they still let somebody eat with their family without bringing their own container.

What to check before choosing

If there is confirmed insulin resistance, an approach that reduces carbohydrate load may suit better. If there are kidney problems, high protein has to be set by a doctor. If there is a history of disordered eating, an approach that counts every mouthful may not be a safe choice. This is why diet selection should come after assessment, not before. See metabolic assessment.

How to choose for your own case

Ask three questions. Can I eat this way during my busiest week? Can I eat this way at a wedding, an office function, or over the festive season? Can I picture myself eating this way two years from now? If the answer to any of them is no, that diet will end, and the weight will come back. Read how to lose weight and keep it off.

Next step

A nutrition plan that fits gets decided after history, blood results and daily circumstances are taken into account. Book a consultation, or read how to lose weight.

The health-risk background for body weight sits in the WHO fact sheet.

Every iLIV guide is written and reviewed under our editorial standards, and each one carries the name of the reviewing doctor together with their MMC registration number.

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