“Do diets really work?” seems to be the million dollar question. Such a complex question deserves a thoughtful and nuanced response. In this post I’ll be defining the term “diet”, outlining some of the history and original purpose of this infamous word, breaking down what the research says about the safety and feasibility of diets and concluding with what other options might be out there.
I’d appreciate your generosity as I attempt to outline this controversial topic. I’d also like to acknowledge that I live with thin privilege (in a small, socially accepted body) and cannot fully understand the challenges people in larger bodies face on a daily basis.
Defining “Diet”
We have to come to an agreement about this infamous word if we’re going to communicate clearly and effectively. If you look in the dictionary, “diet” has traditionally meant two different things: (1) “the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats” or (2) “a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.”
These two definitions yield incredibly different eating outcomes. The former simply describes “what someone eats” and the latter implies that some sort of intentional restriction is taking place. For the sake of this conversation, when we say “diet” we’re talking about the second definition where individuals intentionally restrict their food choices in order to lose weight or “improve” their health in some way. (I use quotations because it’s often assumed that weight loss equals improvements in health, and that may not always be true.) Take note of these reasons because we’ll circle back to see if these two perceived outcomes are possible.
Altering food choices for medical reasons is a different ball-game and can be necessary in certain circumstances (though in those cases it’s still more what people can eat versus how much); we’re going to stick with analyzing the outcomes of people who voluntarily adhere to a specific diet in order to lose weight but are not medically required because of an allergy, medication contraindications, a GI disorder or other intolerance.
History and Purpose of Diets
Though most of us have come to understand the purpose of diets as a necessary means to improve our health, I was interested to learn that diets originated purely as a way to improve one’s appearance through weight loss. The first diet book on record was William Banting’s “Letter on Corpulence,” which described how he lost weight by replacing his carbohydrate intake with meat, fish and vegetables.
Additionally, ads from the nineteenth century boasted slogans such as: “Lose weight and look lovelier”, “Don’t be fat!” and “How attractive are you at the beach?” Understanding the motives behind these campaigns is helpful. Restrictive and/or weight loss diets were not originally aimed at improving health but as a means for improving one’s appearance. If that’s the case, why is weight loss so frequently prescribed as a way to achieve better health? And, importantly, is weight-loss achievable long-term?

What does the research say about diets?
Regardless of whether or not you believe weight loss leads to better health, it’s important to examine what the research says about dieting long-term. Even if diets did lead to better health, a lot of the research says weight loss isn’t sustainable long-term.
Conventional wisdom about weight loss is this: if you eat less than you expend, you will lose weight. Mathematically, about 3500 calories equals one pound. To lose one pound, you must burn an extra 3500 calories. Diets promote this deficit. In theory, the belief is: if we work hard enough, we will lose weight. And many of us have tried very hard. So why doesn’t increased exercise and caloric restriction lead to weight loss in the long term? One review on dieting and restrained eating as prospective predictors of future weight gain concluded, “The prospective nature of these studies confirms that dieting at one point in time is likely to predict weight gain at a later point in time.”
Let’s further unpack what else is going on when we diet.
Set Point Theory – Set Point Theory is the theory that our body has a weight range where it feels comfortable. It’s a range, not one number, which means our weight can fluctuate throughout a lifetime. Set Point Theory helps explain why so many people who lose weight through dieting end up regaining it (sometimes plus more). It’s a feedback control mechanism that fights for you to be in a range your body naturally feels comfortable in. The hard part? We don’t get to choose our set point range.
Metabolism – Research shows that our metabolism slows when we are in starvation mode (e.g. a diet). It’s pretty genius if you think about it — our bodies want to keep us alive. When they sense a lack of resources (i.e. food), they slow down to conserve the energy they have left. Our bodies aren’t able to distinguish a real famine from a diet, so they take protective measures during both. This helps explain why it gets harder and harder to lose weight (i.e. why we hit a “plateau”) after dieting for a while.
Weight cycling – While we’ve long associated being in a larger body with increasing our risk of CVD, type 2 diabetes and other diseases, research is now showing that weight cycling also leads to adverse health effects. What causes weight cycling? Hopping from one weight-loss diet to the next. Why would someone do that? Because research demonstrates most diets lead to short-term weight loss but after about 6 months the weight stagnates or begins to creep back up. What if we have been associating larger bodies with an increased disease risk but it’s also the weight cycling (sometimes called yo-yo dieting) that’s contributing to this risk? (Also: I’m not here to debate whether being at a higher body weight is associated with health risks. I’m more concerned about what to do about it and to prevent further health complications.)
Weight stigma – It’s hard to deny the fatphobic nature of the society we live in. Chairs, planes, escalators — so many spaces are not equipped for people in larger bodies. Not to mention the well-intended but sharply misguided thin people who often suggest to people in larger bodies that they “should lose some weight” — this is harmful for a few reasons:
- It’s not your place to make unwarranted comments about people’s bodies. Ever.
- You have no idea what else someone has going on in their lives. Maybe they’re struggling with an eating disorder — not everyone suffering from an eating disorder lives in an emaciated body. Maybe they are on medication that recently caused their weight to change. There are tons of reasons.
- Shame doesn’t motivate anyone to make behavior changes, and it’s each person’s prerogative to decide if they want health to be a value. And it’s that person’s decision to seek guidance from a healthcare provider. Regardless of body size, everyone deserves compassionate, ethical care from providers who won’t dismiss their comments about what they need to pursue better health.
Psychological Trauma – Food is rooted in tradition and joy, and restriction leaves some people with psychological damage. Diets often lead to an unhealthy preoccupation with food, anxiety around eating, interference with social events and mealtimes, and an increased risk for eating disorders.
No Diet, Now What?
That was a lot of information. Based on the lack of efficacy of diets and their contributions to weight cycling and weight stigma, it’s clear that using diets as a way to improve people’s psychological and physical health isn’t helpful or ethical.
The good news is that you get to decide, given all this information, if you still want to pursue a diet or not. It’s totally up to you. If you don’t, there are other options to improve a person’s health regardless of their body size. Healthcare professionals care a lot about improving the health and well-being of their patients, and focusing on behaviors instead of weight loss is a great way to implement healthier behaviors for the long-term. Research shows that prioritizing well-being over weight loss can lead to improvements in physiological and psychological measures.
Lastly, mindful and Intuitive eating practices have been associated with improved self-esteem and health biomarkers. These eating styles have also been associated with a decrease in binge eating, external eating and emotional eating.
There’s so much more research and nuance to add, but I’ll stop for now. Thanks for taking the time to read. I appreciate your thoughtfulness about this topic.
48 Responses
Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of.
I say to you, I certainly get irked while people think about worries that they plainly don’t know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without
having side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely
be back to get more. Thanks
Great blog article.Really thank you! Keep writing.
you will have an excellent weblog right here! would you prefer to make some invite posts on my weblog?
Major thanks for the article.Thanks Again. Great.
I learned more something totally new on this fat loss issue. Just one issue is a good nutrition is very vital whenever dieting. A big reduction in junk food, sugary food, fried foods, sugary foods, beef, and bright flour products may perhaps be necessary. Having wastes bloodsuckers, and poisons may prevent aims for losing weight. While specified drugs briefly solve the condition, the nasty side effects are not worth it, plus they never supply more than a short lived solution. It can be a known indisputable fact that 95 of dietary fads fail. Thank you for sharing your notions on this site.
Im obliged for the blog article.Thanks Again. Keep writing.
When someone writes an article he/she maintains the idea of a user in his/her mind that how a user can be aware of it. Thus that’s why this article is amazing. Thanks!
I value the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
An fascinating dialogue is worth comment. I feel that you need to write more on this subject, it might not be a taboo topic but generally persons are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers
I loved your post.Really thank you! Great.
I just could not depart your site before suggesting that I extremely enjoyed the standard information a person provide for your visitors? Is gonna be back often in order to check up on new posts
Im thankful for the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to prevent hackers?
Nice post. I study something tougher on different blogs everyday. It is going to always be stimulating to read content material from different writers and apply somewhat something from their store. I?d desire to use some with the content on my weblog whether or not you don?t mind. Natually I?ll provide you with a link in your internet blog. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for the article post.Really thank you! Great.
I think other site proprietors should take this site as an model, very clean and great user genial style and design, as well as the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
wonderful issues altogether, you simply won a new reader. What might you suggest in regards to your publish that you simply made a few days in the past? Any certain?
I value the article. Will read on…
I value the article post.Thanks Again. Will read on…
I do enjoy the way you have framed this specific issue plus it does indeed provide me a lot of fodder for consideration. Nonetheless, coming from just what I have seen, I basically trust when other feedback pile on that folks stay on point and don’t get started on a tirade of the news du jour. Yet, thank you for this superb point and while I do not necessarily go along with it in totality, I respect the viewpoint.
Say, you got a nice post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
I appreciate you sharing this article post. Much obliged.
I really enjoy the blog post.Really thank you! Fantastic.
I think this is a real great blog.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
I’m not sure why but this blog is loading very slow for me.Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end?I’ll check back later and see if the problem stillexists.
I really like and appreciate your post.Thanks Again. Great.
A big thank you for your blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.
I quite like looking through a post that will make men and women think.Also, many thanks for permitting me to comment!
I’m extremely impressed along with your writing abilities and also with the structure to your blog. Is that this a paid topic or did you modify it yourself? Anyway stay up the nice quality writing, it?s rare to see a great blog like this one today..
Good post. I be taught one thing more challenging on completely different blogs everyday. It’ll all the time be stimulating to learn content from different writers and follow somewhat one thing from their store. I?d choose to use some with the content on my weblog whether you don?t mind. Natually I?ll give you a link on your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉Cheers!
Wow! This blog looks exactly like my old one!….
Someone essentially help to make critically articles I’d state. This is the first time I frequented your web page and up to now? I surprised with the analysis you made to create this particular submit incredible. Fantastic job!
What’s up friends, its wonderful paragraph regarding cultureand entirely defined,keep it up all the time.
flagyl dose giardia flagyl antibiotic dairy metronidazole dosing obesitymetronidazole cream 45gm flagyl iv dose flagyl iv frequency
Thanks for the article post. Keep writing.
Thank you for your blog.Thanks Again. Really Cool.
at web, except I know I am getting familiarity all the time by reading thes pleasant posts.|Fantastic post. I will also be handling some of these problems.|Hello, I think this is a great blog. I happened onto it;) I have bookmarked it and will check it out again. The best way to change is via wealth and independence. May you prosper and never stop mentoring others.|I was overjoyed to find this website. I must express my gratitude for your time because this was an amazing read! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I’ve bookmarked your blog so I can check out fresh content in the future.|Hi there! If I shared your blog with my Facebook group, would that be okay? I believe there are a lot of people who would truly value your article.|منشور رائع. سأتعامل مع بعض هذه|
A large percentage of of whatever you articulate is supprisingly accurate and that makes me wonder the reason why I had not looked at this in this light before. Your piece truly did turn the light on for me personally as far as this subject goes. But at this time there is just one issue I am not really too cozy with and while I try to reconcile that with the actual main idea of your issue, allow me observe exactly what all the rest of your visitors have to say.Well done.
how do you write a essayinterview essay examplewrite a good essay
I read this piece of writing fully concerning the difference of hottest and previous technologies,it’s amazing article.Visit my blog post Cool Cube Air Conditioner Review
Terrific post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Many thanks!
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.After all I’ll be subscribing to your feedand I hope you write again soon!
Thanks again for the post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Thanks so much for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
We happen to be professional wholesale supplier of jerseys,focused in supplying Wholesale Jerseys and customized jerseys.Jerseys using 100 stitched genuine quality,all Amounts, Logos and Titles are sewn upon and embroidered.wholesale jerseys
stromectol sales – stromectol online pharmacy stromectol medicine
Aw, this was an incredibly good post. Taking a few minutes and actual effort to produce a really good articleÖ but what can I sayÖ I procrastinate a lot and never manage to get anything done.