I was about 10 when I went on my first diet, which led me into developing an eating disorder. My sister was even younger when she first started counting calories because she was a bit chubby. She’s struggled with the Jo-Jo effect of dieting and weight gain ever since.

I’ve tried seemingly every diet out there, read books upon books, bought DVDs and magazines and basically fell into every trap this more than 60 billion dollar industry (in the US only) prepared for me.

When my experimental phase was over, I went back to the most basic form of dieting: restricting. My entire world fell apart, but that was the most successful I had ever been in my weight loss career.

So, maybe if you really want to lose weight once and for all, you simply develop anorexia nervosa and that issue would be resolved.

But since nobody in their right mind wants to go that far, the weight loss industry provides a slew of products that keep you busy for an entire lifetime and empty your pockets im more ways than you may realize.

Why the Weight Loss Industry is so Powerful

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that the weight loss industry is so powerful? If diets worked, should the industry then simply not exist? People would go on one diet and keep the weight off for the rest of their lives. It makes sense, doesn’t it? So, why does reality portray a completely different picture?

It’s because diets don’t work and people hop from one attempt to the next. There are a number of reasons for the broken nature of diets.

Diets are Set Up to Fail

Most diets are based on having to give up or limit certain kinds of food. You stop eating fat. You eliminate carbs. You eat only fruit and vegetables. Whatever it is your newest diet is dictating you to eat or not eat, it’s creating a constant craving inside of you for exactly the one item you cannot eat.

It’s natural. It’s human. We always want what we can’t have. If you can’t eat chocolate, all you think about is exactly that. If you can’t eat carbs, all you want is to go to the Chinese take-out and order some Fried Rice. If you have to eliminate red meat, you can’t stop wanting a bloody steak.

You’re setting yourself up for failure from the very beginning. Or to put it differently, the weight loss industry is ensuring that you’ll have to rely on them to come up with a new diet for you to buy into.

Your Mindset doesn’t Change

Whenever you go on the next diet, which promises to work magically, your mindset essentially stays the same. You want to lose weight without a lot of effort. Sure, you may change your eating habits for a few months, but then you’re back to the old structure. Nothing’s changed and the pounds will be back in no time.

Diets don’t teach you about healthy living. They don’t show you what a balanced diet looks like. They aren’t based on the concept that your mindset and a complete change of your behavior is necessary for you to successfully keep your weight off. They also don’t mention that this change of your habits has to remain for the rest of your life.

Diets Won’t Solve your Problems

Diets also won’t heal your underlying issues. The problems that eat at you and make you seek comfort in food. Our quest for thinness is often a result of being unhappy with our life. The media and society portrays the picture than thinness equals happiness, success and wealth.

It’s natural to feel the need to chase after exactly that vision, especially if you feel the need of fixing your problems in life. However, your life won’t fall into place the moment you have lost your desired amount of pounds. Instead of wasting your energy on weight loss, it’s more effective to work on what is really bothering you.

Health isn’t the Goal

If you live a rather unhealthy life, then it’s crucial for you to reevaluate your entire diet. Why not integrate healthy choices? Why not start moving more? Why not give your body what it deserves: the best and only that?

Instead of chasing after an unrealistic new miraculous weight loss program, you should stop eating junk and start eating nutritiously and balanced. Your body will thank you for it. It’ll adapt to the new lifestyle and find the shape it’s meant to have. You may not end up pin thin, but you will be healthier than ever before.

No diet will do that for you.

What dieting does to your body

What really happens when you diet is that by reducing your caloric intake, your body responds by lowering its basal metabolic rate. Then your body basically starts to eat its own muscle because it tries to preserve fat and giving your brain the energy it needs to function.

The loss of muscle mass makes calorie burning extremely difficult. Another much disliked consequence of the loss of muscle mass is the fact that your metabolic rate is lowered.

When you stop your diet and start eating more again, this will increase the chances of you regaining all of the weight quite quickly and you’ll even end up with a higher percentage of body fat than before you started your diet.

People don’t tell you that, do they?

The fact is that there is no secret sauce to staying in form and being healthy. It takes work and whenever the weight loss industry is telling you otherwise, they’re lying. Don’t make them even richer than they already are and instead invest your money in the right kind of food.

Being healthy means eating regularly, balanced and being active. That’s all you need to know to keep your weight in a healthy range.

Which traps did you fall into in the past and what have you learned from your experiences?