The evidence is obvious: remember at least all the ads that have bombarded you over the past few years and that extol the effectiveness of many diets. Think for a second: if at least one of these diets really gave the promised result, the problem would have long been resolved. I would not have to write these lines, and you would have to read them.      

Let’s think together why diets do not work, so that the next time you are persuaded to try another diet, you would know that this is just a mirage.   

Immediately make a reservation that the word “diet” in this case means a restrictive diet (strictly speaking, “diet” simply means a certain diet; there are diets to reduce weight, and there is to gain weight or muscle mass). And this is precisely the main problem of all diets.  

You are limited ! You can no longer eat the foods you would like, or eat as many as you would like.   

If you do not follow a diet, then you can eat anything at any time. Food does not control your life, but it is a very pleasant component of it. The moment you say “I need to reduce the amount of food consumed or refuse certain foods,” you make a sacrifice. You will feel miserable and miserable. Food will not become less important, just the opposite – it will seem ten times more valuable, and the more valuable it will seem, the more miserable and miserable you will feel. 

Thus, you start yourself an increasingly strong chain reaction. This is comparable to the torment of a smoker trying to quit smoking using willpower. Sooner or later your resistance will run out and you will succumb to the temptation.

If you follow a diet, you are constantly tormented by a feeling of hunger . Thinking about your next meal determines your whole life. You feel miserable because you can’t eat, and at the moment when the time has come for such a long-awaited meal, you don’t feel better – either because you can’t eat enough to satisfy your hunger, or because the dish that you eat does not seem tasty to you. In addition , your conscience usually torments you for eating more than your diet permits.  

If you do not follow a diet, you can easily refuse something during a meal or skip a meal altogether without feeling much loss. But if you skip a meal while you are on a diet, you immediately “write out a debt receipt” and note in your mind that you will definitely compensate for it during the next meal. By following a diet, you never consume fewer calories than your diet allows, but quite often consume much more.  

It is universally recognized that, observing most of the diets, in the long run, a person will likely gain weight than lose weight. If we analyze the psychological factors that accompany the diet, this does not seem surprising.

Even if you are characterized by iron self-discipline and outstanding willpower necessary to not step back from the chosen diet, and you really achieve the weight that you set when you started to follow the diet, then what happens? The diet is over. Finally, you can eat whatever you want, and, oh god, before you realize this, you again weigh as much as the day you started to diet! All these days, all these weeks, which seemed years full of self-discipline, suffering and a sense of loss, are crossed out over the next few days. 

We admit : diets only achieve what food seems to us more valuable, and turn food consumption into a nightmare. The process of following a diet and the accompanying feeling of loss, suffering and failure make us shudder at the mere thought of losing weight. 

Remember: diets do not work. The real problem is our habits. You need to change your lifestyle, daily rituals and habits, including eating habits. Sow a habit – reap a character. Sow a character – reap a life.