The Somae Health Blog

5 Surefire Reasons Your Diet Plan Will Fail

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The new year is right around the corner. It's almost that time of year for starting the new diet plan. The reality is that most diet plans fail within a few weeks of starting them. 

Here are 5 surefire reasons your diet will fail:

1. It's not sustainable. The problem with many diet plans is that they involve altering your eating habits temporarily in order to quickly lose weight. I have friends that diet this way and say things like, "I can do anything for 4 weeks." People do lose weight - but it always comes back. Why does the weight always come back? Because the way they were eating is not a sustainable long-term lifestyle. The Cookie Diet, hCG, the Atkins Diet, The Soup Diet, Pre-packaged (heavily processed) meals, etc are all examples of diets that just aren't sustainable long term. To find lasting success, your diet plan needs to be something you can sustain not for a few weeks, but for the rest of your life. When evaluating a new diet, ask yourself - Can I eat this way everyday for the rest of my life?
2. It's not doable. Whatever your diet plan, make sure that is something you can comfortably do on a daily basis for an extended period of time. If it requires eating only one type of food, spending a ton of money on pre-packaged meals, if it requires elaborate preparation, or activities that are way outside your normal routines - beware. The reality is that you will not keep doing it long term. An effective diet plan consists of planning and preparing meals in a way that is simple for you to do that doesn't break your budget.
3. It's not enjoyable. If you want to lose weight long term, you must exchange the way you eat today for something healthier. You are eating the way you are today because you like it. You enjoy eating the way you do. You prefer certain types of foods. They give you pleasure and comfort. They can also make you fat. In order to maintain a diet plan for the long term, make sure it is something that you enjoy. If you don't like it, I guarantee you won't stick to it for very long.
4. No accountability. Most people are great at setting New Year's resolutions and they are also great at not sticking with them very long. Old habits are very hard to break. Altering the way you eat is one of the most difficult habits to change for the long term. Most diet plans fail. One of the main reasons is that we stink at holding ourselves accountable for our behavior. Have you ever set a goal to go running in the morning? What happens when the alarm rings? You press snooze, right?And pretty soon, you say to yourself, "I don't feel so great today, I'll go running tomorrow." But what happens when you're meeting a friend to go running?You get out of bed right? Because you don't want to let your friend down. We're okay with letting ourselves down, we've done it so many times before. But we're not okay with letting a friend down. Studies have shown that long term diet plan success involves two factors: keeping a daily journal of what you eat and having a personal coach or mentor. Whatever diet plan you choose, make sure you are journaling your food intake every day and find a coach or mentor to report to that can help you stay accountable.
5. Lack of support. Following a new diet plan is not easy, especially for emotional eaters. Stress, frustration, depression, and bordedom eventually raise their ugly heads and we find ourselves eating our old standby comfort foods (ice cream, chocolate, deep-fried twinkies) to deal with our negative emotions. During those times, it really helps to have an advocate, a friend, a coach, supporter who is there to help us sort through those negative emotions and focus on our goal. And if we indulge and gain back a few pounds, that support person helps us get back on track right away rather than falling completely off the wagon for 6 months until we can regain the motivation to start over.