Diets Don't Work

I’m going to tell you something that you won’t believe: Diets don’t work.

What do I mean by that? I mean that the goals of dieting are not achieved by dieting.
None of them. Diet culture is so ubiquitous and intrinsically twisted into every aspect
of popular culture that it is almost uniformly unquestioned. Just try dropping “diets
don’t work” into any conversation when losing weight comes up (as it inevitably will)
and watch people fumble over excusing and defending their detrimental behavior, as
I’m sure you, the reader, are mentally doing now.

So what are the goals of dieting? The first and most obvious is to lose weight. The second,
the reasoning behind adopting a diet, is to be more healthy. The third and most honest
goal is to gain societal- and self-acceptance.

But hold up! I hear you cry, I do lose weight when I diet! You’re right. Almost every diet
results in a 5-10% weight loss, but after five years, all or more of that weight is regained.
This conclusion is drawn in study after study after study, because the body seeks to
maintain a set weight. Not only is it nearly impossible for many to achieve a so-called
“normal” weight, these results are not long term.

But surely diets make you healthy! Wrong again. Diets are incredibly hard on your body.
They increase risk of numerous diseases, including those often associated with “obesity”.
Weight loss is dangerous even as “treatment” for disease. Negative health consequences
are present even when an individual has dieted in the past and now maintains their natural
weight. Similarly, it’s been proven many times that being fat does not lead to an increase
in mortality, and in many cases can improve your chances of surviving a serious illness.
Every person benefits from healthy lifestyle choices, but dieting is not such a choice.

Well what of gaining societal acceptance? Unfortunately, our society is hugely fatphobic.
Not only do thin people slide through life without constant criticism of their bodies and
the ability to easily find clothes that fit, they also are more likely to be treated by medical
professionals, rather than shamed and ignored. So, dieting and weight loss does indeed
lead to increased social acceptance. It will not, however, make you feel good about
yourself. Studies show that intentional weight loss is stressful. Dieting leads to an obsession
with food and body image as well as disordered eating. And because fatness is wrongly
attributed to lifestyle choices, when dieters inevitably regain the weight they lost it can feel
like a crushing personal failure.

So what is a person supposed to do? Just stay fat? Yes. Since fatness has not been proven to
cause any health issues and can in some cases be beneficial for your health, there is no
reason to attempt to lose weight. But shouldn’t I be monitoring my calorie intake so that
calories in equal calories out? Nope, that’s a bunch of hooey. You need to remember that a
calorie is a unit energy, and your body knows how much energy it needs. By practicing
intuitive eating, you can feed your body what it needs and wants without developing a
dangerous relationship with food. Exercise, too, should be a joy rather than a punishment.
Studies show that focusing on well being over weight loss is more beneficial in every way.

Okay, but you want to be accepted. I hear you. No one should have to live with the abuse
and vitriol that is thrown at fat people every day. But how will society change without
more people calling out the diet industry for the bullshit it tries to sell? The more people
reject diet culture, the more normalized disbelief in its credos will become. The more
people stand up against this dangerous misinformation, the easier it will be for us to tear
down the companies spreading it and demand truth and compassion in our health science.