Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) (5 page)

It turns out that it’s the opposite of the quick-fix approach that seems to do the trick when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. Studies suggest that people who lose weight gradually are more likely to sustain their weight loss. In one study, two weight-loss approaches were compared: one that lasted twenty weeks, and another designed exactly the same but that lasted forty weeks. Weight-loss techniques were introduced to the participants in the forty-week group at a slower, more gradual pace than the twenty-week group. The results showed that individuals in the forty-week group lost more weight and were able to better maintain this weight loss over time.
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Why? These positive effects were most likely seen because people who lost the weight slowly were making gradual changes and easing into a new way of eating, instead of adopting the quick-fix mentality that is marketed all around us.

Why does weight seem to stay off when it comes off more slowly? It may have to do with the fact that, psychologically and behaviorally, it is much easier to enact small changes over time than to try to change everything all at once. Suppose, for example, that you want to teach your dog to perform a complicated trick that contains several acts in a certain sequence—such as to climb up a steep incline, jump through a hoop, and then sit down. If you try to teach the dog all three steps at the same time, learning might never actually occur. Instead, your best bet is to reward the dog at first for simply climbing the incline, then only reward it for climbing the incline and jumping through the hoop, and finally only reward it for doing all three actions in order. It will take some time and patience, but this method will work. This approach is a psychological learning strategy known as shaping, which incorporates change slowly so that the subject can learn each step involved without becoming confused or overwhelmed.

Similarly, when we make gradual changes to our eating patterns over time, we may be more likely to develop healthy eating habits and, as a result, lose more weight than people who attempt to make drastic changes to their eating patterns overnight. So, when you jump-start yourself into a new way of eating, trying to change
all
of your bad eating behaviors at once might actually sabotage you from the start.

In order to lose weight and keep it off, long-term (lifelong) changes are needed. Although it would be great if there were a quick fix, as with much else in life, quick fixes usually only act as Band-Aids, temporarily alleviating or distracting you from the problem without actually eliminating it. For these and other reasons that will be covered next, to lose weight and maintain weight loss, you need to make a permanent change in the way that you eat, rather than going on a diet in the way that this term is typically used. Instead, diet should refer to the way you eat, now and forever. The simple truth is that you need to make a conscious decision to eat a certain way and continue to eat that way if you want to achieve and maintain weight loss—so from here on out, tell yourself that your diet is the way you eat
all of the time
, not just until you reach a fleeting milestone.

The Problem with Diets You Have Tried in the Past

How many different diets have you tried over the years? Why didn’t they work for you? What were the problems with each one? At the end of the chapter, we’ll ask you to make a list of the diets you’ve been on and note the reasons why they failed. Below are some common reasons why we abandon diet plans. We’re sure that some of these issues will show up on your list.

PROBLEM #1: I’M HUNGRY!

One common problem when trying to lose weight is that we often feel hungry. This is probably one of the biggest reasons we quit a diet. The challenge when trying to lose weight is that for weight loss to occur, we need to eat less food, but as we lose weight, we actually need even fewer calories in order to maintain our new, lighter body weight. A person who weighs 125 pounds, for example, needs fewer calories to maintain that body weight (when activity and metabolic levels are controlled for) than a person who weighs 200 pounds. Essentially, the more weight you lose, the less you can eat if you want to stay that size. And if you want to continue to lose weight, you’ll have to eat even fewer calories. So, if you are 200 pounds and want to lose weight, you will probably feel hungry on most diets because in order to achieve this goal you need to eat less than you are used to consuming.

Yes, you need to reduce your caloric intake to lose weight, but caloric intake does not always directly match hunger levels. Certain foods make us feel fuller, or more satiated, than others. For example, later in the book you will learn about how liquid calories (for example, sugar-sweetened beverages) are less satiating than solid foods comprised of the same number of calories. Also, the components (or ingredients) of a food can affect how much it satisfies your hunger. Similarly, certain types of food can make you feel hungry or provoke you to eat more and more of them. We will discuss this in greater detail in later chapters, but for now, keep in mind that
what
you eat is equally as important if not more important for losing weight as
how much
you eat.

PROBLEM #2: I CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY ALL THIS FANCY FOOD!

Another barrier that you may have encountered when trying to diet is the cost of buying nutritious foods. If you go to the grocery store and look at the cost of buying a pound of fresh apples compared to a large bag of potato chips, you will probably find that the apples are more expensive. Likewise, researchers have shown that foods with a higher energy density (those that have more calories packed in each ounce of food) are less expensive than foods with a lower energy density.
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So you can spend less money and buy more food; however, what you purchase will consist of added sugar, fat, and refined grains.
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This means that while trying to reduce costs by buying cheaper foods, you may be contributing to the size of your waistline.

Interestingly, there is evidence demonstrating that, over time, eating a lower-calorie, nutritious diet did
not
increase diet costs.
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In this study, families with a child between the ages of eight and twelve in an obesity treatment program participated in sessions that focused on decreasing consumption of calorie-dense foods. After one year, dietary costs were significantly
decreased
. So while it may seem that you are spending more on food as you transition from eating processed and refined foods to those that are lower in sugar, over time, the amount of money you spend on food may actually be reduced. You are making an investment in yourself and it will be a better investment overall if you eat healthy.

PROBLEM #3: I DON’T HAVE TIME TO MAKE ALL THESE MEALS!

In some ways, time and dollar costs can be a double-edged sword. Even if we save money by buying less food or not going to restaurants or fast-food chains as often, we may increase the amount of time we spend chopping, seasoning, cooking, and preparing fresh meals.
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For many of us, time is a precious commodity. Between commuting, work meetings, spending time with friends, volunteer work, and children’s soccer practices and ballet classes, the thought of adding one more thing to your metaphoric plate may seem daunting—but fear not! There are many little ways to make preparing healthy meals easy (see box on
this page
).

PROBLEM #4: I DON’T HAVE THE ENERGY TO WORK OUT THIS OFTEN!

All of us have had our own unique triumphs and struggles when it comes to consistently incorporating exercise into our daily lives. Maybe in the past you have gotten bored of doing the same motions day after day and week after week or you found exercising more of a burden than an enjoyable activity. Maybe you found that it took too much energy to work out on a consistent basis, or you never seemed to find the time. Whatever the reason may be, you are not alone in how you feel.

Throughout this book, you will see that an important component of implementing this plan and changing your lifestyle is doing what is right for you. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has physical activity recommendations for adults, such as doing 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity (like brisk walking) every week along with muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days; or doing 75 minutes of jogging, running, or other vigorous intensity aerobic activity along with muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days. You can break the activities into ten-minute chunks of time.
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The CDC also recommends scheduling your workouts at the times during the day or week when you have energy.
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If you are someone who feels energetic in the morning, then try working out before you go to work. If you prefer the middle of the day, try going for a brisk walk during your lunch hour, maybe with a friend. If you are a night owl, work out while you watch television after you get home. Regardless of the time of day or activities that you prefer, find what works for you and feel free to make adjustments as you go. The key is to make sure that you consistently elevate your heart rate and stay committed. Changing your eating habits can help you lose weight, but you must also stay active to tone your muscles.

Tips for Preparing Healthy Meals

• Try to set aside time to decide on and plan your week’s menu, perhaps with other members of your family, before going to the store. In addition to making sure that your kitchen is stocked with healthy options for the week, planning recipes ahead of time can help cut costs as common ingredients can be chosen and purchased for several different meals.

• Take just a half hour to an hour each week to precook: slice vegetables to have ready for salad toppings or side dishes, or make enough of your favorite low-carb/low-sugar meals, like crustless quiches, stews, and soups, to freeze for later in the week. In fact, whenever you cook, try to make extra that you can store and save for the next day.

• As with almost everything else in life, your attitude toward cooking can make all the difference. Instead of treating it as a source of stress or a time-consuming task, try to view cooking as enjoyable and even calming! Preparing a meal can be an opportunity to wind down after a long day or a fun activity for the whole family.

PROBLEM #5: I DON’T KNOW WHICH DIET WILL WORK!

There are tons of programs, pills, shakes, juices, and books out there to help you lose weight—so many, in fact, that it can be hard to decide which ones might actually be worth trying. Over the past twenty years, we have seen our fair share of diet fads. The Beverly Hills Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Baby Food Diet, and liquid fasts—this is just a handful of the many fad diets that have been developed and tried over the years. It may seem as though once you’ve learned all that is involved in one approach, another diet comes on the market with an entirely different focus, leaving you to wonder which types of food are really important to reduce in your diet and which should be included for your health and weight-loss goals. In the 1990s, we were told by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce fat intake. That was the start of the low-fat diet revolution. High-carbohydrate diets were readily available; people all over were cutting back on hamburgers and bacon, and eating anything and everything that was “fat-free.” Certainly, cutting out excess amounts of fat can reduce calorie intake, but the problem was the calories that previously came from fat were often replaced by calories from bread, pasta, pretzels, and “fat-free” diet foods. Although many people joined the fat-free diet revolution, as a society, our body weights continued to increase. The fat-free diet just didn’t seem to work well to sustain long-term weight loss.

In more recent years, the tables have turned: fat has become less demonized, and research suggests that weight-loss efforts may be more successful if they are aimed at reducing carbohydrate intake. Excessive intake of carbohydrates is a source of excess calories and
body weight, and surveys suggest that most people eat more carbohydrates than they think they should.
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There is science to back the idea that low-carbohydrate diets can work. A study featured in the
New England Journal of Medicine
showed that both a low-carbohydrate diet and a Mediterranean-style diet (which is also low in carbohydrates) are significantly more effective in reducing body weight compared to a low-fat diet.
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Likewise, another study found that a diet allowing only limited carbohydrate intake was more effective in producing short-term weight loss among women who were obese than a low-fat diet with a focus on limited caloric intake.
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