20 Reasons You Shouldn’t Diet

When most people want to lose weight, the first thing they do is go on a diet. While that may seem to make the most sense, here are 20 solid reasons why you shouldn’t take this route, especially if your goal is weight loss:

1. It slows your metabolism, making it even harder to lose weight.
2. The feelings of deprivation increase your cravings.
3. It doesn’t prepare you for when you “go off” the diet.
4. You become absolutely obsessed with food.
5. Even if the diet does work, it’s a short-term fix.
6. Most people who diet gain the weight back…and then some.
7. You’ll constantly be fighting hunger, and hunger usually wins.
8. Because swearing off your favorite foods often leads to bingeing on them.
9. Dieting tends to keep you from enjoying food-related events with family and friends.
10. Dieting isolates the dieter because family and friends get sick of “hearing about it.”
11. Limit your calories too much and you’ll keep your body from getting the nutrients it needs to not only thrive, but possibly even survive.
12. Dieting doesn’t make you happier; if anything, it makes you unhappier.
13. It’s pretty hard to lose weight when you’re constantly telling your body it’s bad (as in, too fat).
14. Diets can be boring as most require you eat the same foods over and over again.
15. You tend to have minimal energy when you’re on a diet, making it hard to keep up with work, family, and home obligations.
16. Lose weight too fast or in the wrong way and you could put your health at risk.
17. Dieting can be a gateway to serious food-related disorders (like anorexia or bulimia).
18. Dieting pits you against the scale, even though weighing yourself doesn’t give you an accurate depiction of total fat lost.
19. Dieting does nothing for emotional eaters.
20. There are better, more positive ways to lose weight (like more physical activity and simply choosing healthier foods!).