What I’ve Learned From Being On 116 Diets

She’s serious. She’s been on exactly 116 diets. It is not a metaphorical number. And when she does the math, it works out to be 10 or 11 diets a year from ages 16-27. No matter what it was she tried, Jennifer Hand’s attempts ended in failure.

She tried diet pills, Weight Watchers, Paleo, South Beach, Atkins. You name it, if it promised results, Hand tried it.

Hand’s last diet was in place for 2 days. It was then that she knew she was done. Now 4 years ‘diet-free,’ Hand’s experience as a serial dieter was certainly informative. In the effort to save you years of wasted time, tears and frustration, she wants to share with you what she learned:

1. Diets fail 100 percent of the time.

That’s right, it’s true. If you start a diet, you will eventually stop it too. Hand explains, “if you’re cutting out foods, restricting, and rigidly trying to adhere to a diet, you’ll eventually reach a point where you just can’t take it anymore.”

You may lose weight on a diet but it will come back down the road. The success stories you hear aren’t based on long term numbers or sustainability. What does work is adopting healthy eating habits that fit your life. For some help with this, check out the BodyRock Meal Plan!

2. Every diet gets harder.

At first, you can sustain diets for months at a time. But when you fall off the wagon, only to then hop on another wagon, those rides become shorter and shorter. Hand explains, “dieting is strict, rigid, and inflexible. You’re punishing yourself day in and day out with all the foods you can’t eat, shouldn’t eat, and refuse to eat. No wonder the body gets tired of living this way!”

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3. Dieting makes you feel like a failure.

If your diet only lasts for a few days, there is no way you won’t feel like you have failed. It creates a battle with yourself. You will wonder why you can’t just get it together! But Hand says, “this is an illusion of diets. You’re destined to fail from the beginning. When you know it’s not your fault, it can be very freeing!” It isn’t you, it is the system!

4. Diets take you further and further from listening to your body.

Hand says it best: “Diets are the antithesis of intuitive eating.” When what you put in your body is based on rules and guidelines, it creates a sense of separation. You don’t listen to what your body needs or is asking for, you eat only what you are ‘allowed.’ Long term weight loss requires an understanding of and a peace with your body. That cannot be done on a diet.

Have you given up on dieting and achieved weight loss success? Share your story with us!

Source: Mind Body Green 

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