WHY DIETS DON'T WORK?

People who diet often can lower their metabolisms enough to decrease their caloric needs. This can be done in two ways:

• First, a diet of less than 1000-1200 calories can actually cause a starvation-like state and force your body to conserve calories The body will cut back its caloric needs to survive. Therefore, you won't lose more in the long run on a 500-calorie diet than you would on one above 1000 calories. This starvation state can lower the metabolism for as much as one year.
• Second, crash dieting can change the body's composition. Let's say you lost 10 pounds in two weeks. Most of that weight was water (5 pounds), some was fat (3 pounds) and the rest was muscle (2 pounds). When the weight is regained (as 95 percent is), it comes back in the form of fat and water. Every future diet can perpetuate this downward cycle of muscle loss; the chronic dieter may change their percentage of body fat over time from 25 percent to 35-40 percent. Surprisingly, the scale may not show large amounts of weight change. Muscle burns up more calories than fat and chronic dieting makes you lose a large percentage of what helps you keep trim. This Yo-Yo effect of losing and regaining can harm the body. It is better to never have dieted at all than to keep losing and regaining the same 1020 pounds.
• What does help lose and maintain weight is healthy eating habits and food choices and a more active lifestyle. Take a fresh look at your daily diet and exercise -- get rid of the idea that a diet is something to endure for a month after which you can go back to your old habits. Make short- and long-term goals to slowly change your lifestyle to include healthier food choices and to be more active at work and play.