It starts innocent enough. When a person first decides to start a diet, it happens with the best intentions. It could be to lose weight for an upcoming event or to act as a support system for someone else. The reasons are endless. Nobody thinks they are about to embark on a vicious diet cycle. After experiencing some initial weight loss at the beginning of a diet, it “hooks” you into believing it works. Diets essentially give their followers an empty promise that provides enough hope for people to hold onto but will ultimately disappoint. And this isn’t just our opinion. According to a study released in 2020, the results showed that diets do not work to sustain long-term weight loss for the vast majority of people. In this blog post, we will share how to break the vicious diet cycle once and for all.
The Phases of the Vicious Diet Cycle:
Knowledge is power, and when it comes to getting off the diet train, this couldn’t be more true. Understanding how the diet cycle works is the first step to overcoming it.
Start a Super Restrictive Diet
Most people will lose weight quickly in this initial phase, which can be akin to a relationship’s honeymoon phase. Everything seems perfect, and you are viewing the diet through rose-colored glasses. Seeing that initial weight drop you crave only validates your decision to diet.
Feel Overly Deprived & Hungry
Our bodies are brilliant. When your stomach growls and you feel a headache coming on, your body is telling you, “Hey! I’m hungry!”. When we ignore these signals, we start an internal struggle that only hurts us in the long run. So, our body kicks it up a notch, and we feel strong cravings for restricted foods. The deprivation becomes too much to handle.
Break Diet Rules & Overeat or Binge
By the time the diet rules are broken, you feel ravenous – causing a person to overeat or binge, which results in gaining back more weight than initially lost. The diet ends up working in opposition to our intended goals.
Feel Guilt & Shame for “Falling off Track”
Because diets are generally not sustainable, dieters feel like they somehow failed. Body dissatisfaction and negative self-talk increase as it makes the program’s followers feel like a failure. The irony is that diets are not designed for real success.
Breaking Free From the Diet Cycle is the First Step
You may be wondering, “If diets don’t work, what does work?”. We recommend talking to a registered dietitian to receive personalized nutritional counseling. They can look at your medical history and provide sound advice on moving forward (and leaving the diet cycle habits behind forever).
We also recommend following reputable dietitians on social media as this is an excellent way to replace negative thought patterns about nutrition with positive ones. You can find some of our dietitians’ favorite ones in our recent blog post, The BEST Nutritionists to Follow on Social Media in 2022.
We hope you enjoyed this blog post titled “How to Break the Vicious Diet Cycle, Once and For All.” Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Are you interested in booking an appointment at Clem&Thyme Nutrition? We have two convenient locations in the state of Ohio – our flagship office in Yellow Springs and an extension office in the Columbus area. We also offer virtual sessions. You can learn more about our registered dietitians to find the right fit for you. Click here to get started.
