Mordax et al

bigfatscience:

Let’s just summarize here:

• The non-dieters [who practiced HAES] had better health (as measured by cholesterol and blood pressure). The dieters didn’t.
• The non-dieters felt happier and better about their bodies and their lives. The dieters didn’t.
• The non-dieters kept going. More than half of the dieters just stopped showing up – and based on my own life experience, I’d guess that they were at home having some ice cream and wanting to scream at themselves because they “messed up” some part of the diet and couldn’t do it anymore.
• The non-dieters got to eat what they liked and didn’t need to obsess. The dieters got to keep conventional “food diaries” to count their calories and fat grams.
• Oh, and no one really lost weight in the long term. (which is consistent with other research suggesting that no diet really works in the long term).

And yes, if the only thing you are thinking is: “what? NONE of the groups lost weight?” I hear you.

But here’s the thing: for most people, conventional dieting just does not work in the long run. In fact, for many people dieting can lead to weight gain as your body over-reacts to what it perceives as starvation.

It’s okay if you don’t like this reality. Most people don’t, so they just figure that they’ll go on another diet — because for them, this time, it will work. And yet: most of my clients have been on many of them, and come to me once they are completely exhausted and frustrated. They’ve spent the last few months or few decades alternating being on diets and eating way too much.

So, if you may or may not lose weight anyway, how would you like to spend the next two years?