Why do people always regain the weight they lost after being on a diet?

[Anonymous]

I always hear that people gain all the weight they lost back. Why does this happen?

[Kiwedin]

I read a book called The Great Starvation Experiment and it explained sooooo much. I used to have disordered eating where I would pretty much diet and under-eat a lot, but then I'd have these big episodes of binge eating. The book explained what happens to our bodies when we under-eat and how it also plays a big role in mental health. I used to just think I was lacking willpower, but after reading this book I know that I'm just human and I was working against my own body. Our body wants to be healthy and it wants us to survive. When we diet, our body doesn't understand that we're trying to lose weight, all that it knows is that we're going through a famine and that it needs to hold on to as much as it can. Also, our metabolic set point changes and your body adapts to the amount of food you give it, which is why some people experience a plateau in weight loss. Then, when you stop dieting and you eat the amount of food your body needs to properly function, it just piles on the fat in order to prepare for the next famine you'll put it through. It sucks, but your body is just protecting itself. This is why diets don't necessarily work all too well for long-term weight loss, instead people should be making long-lasting lifestyle changes that they can sustain for the rest of their lives. Instead of under eating, we should just be eating more unprocessed foods with tons of fruits and vegetables. The weight loss is slower, but it's long-term and you won't have to yo-yo again.

[kaylaS91]

Because most people want immediate results, so choose to lose the weight by binge-dieting (not eating anything at all or cutting out carbs completely) for a few days. They may lose a bit of actual weight, mostly water weight. But things like that are in no way sustainable. So they'll gain it back, often more, pretty quickly.

They fail to realize that if you want to really lose weight and keep it off, that will require more of a life-style change than a few weeks or days of dieting.

[Justsomeguy9814]

This is the concept people don't seem to understand, these companies that force diets and things on to people design them to make money, now if everyone loses all their weight on it then eventually they lose all of their customers so what's the idea? Make a diet that works but as soon as they get off of it then they put the weight back in then they do it again and again generating repeat income from these companies. People generally make the massive mistake of slashing their calories way way to low, it works at first, poof the weight is gone then imagine if you will your body then turns around and says "fuck this shit I can't run on this" it starts to hold every single calorie that you put in like it is life of death so u stop losing the weight. Then you start eating properly but it's too late your body is clinging onto all of these calories now so you gain the weight back and then some. The answer? Exercise and if you lower kcal intake then it can't be a stupid amount and it has to be a gradual drop over a decently long period of time, and then every couple days while you are low on your kcal you should spike it up to stop your body entering starvation mode

[Flex4Ever]

Because most people are ignorant and naive. They think that a "diet" (whatever that even is) is going to do wonders. It does, in the short-term, but as soon as one returns to his/hers previous way of eating, they gain everything back.
It's not a change in the foods consumed, it's a change of lifestyle that makes the difference.

[coconutelixir]

For myself in the past, it was basically because I didn't lose weight from changing my lifestyle with regards to diet and exercise. I had lost weight from eating less, and when my job involved free food for every meal... yeah... that environment did not help lol.

[Anonymous]

Because a diet is a short-term craze they are doing for purely emotional reasons.

To keep that weight off, a complete change of lifestyle is necessary. In which case, a "diet" no longer is a thing -- you simply eat healthy routinely.

[dogbert444]

Diets, especially fad diets, don't work long term. It is better to change your eating habits completely. I'm generally 30 lbs down on this time last year.

[DodgersGM]

They go on unhealthy, unsustainable "diets" rather than making realistic, long-term lifestyle changes.

[Filipe97]

Some people make ridiculous cuts like going from 5 meals a day to only 3 or 2 from one day to the next. That messes up your metabolism and puts you at greater risk of gaining the lost weight back. You need to cut back on calories little by little

[RedRain]

That's because many people go back to previous eating habits that led them to go on a diet.

[Blueeyes81]

They go back to an unhealthy lifestyle. If you go back to fast food and soda and cut back on exercise it shouldn't come as a surprise to gain the weight back.

[Anonymous]

yoyo dieting! its prb because they think now that i lost the weight i can go back to eating what i want but they end up just overdoing it because well that's how they got in trouble in the first place

[ShaeNielson]

They don't always. You gain weight after a diet, because you stop dieting and start eating the crap that got you fat in the first place.

[jakeofalltrades]

because if they just go back to their habits that they had before of course they will put all that weight back on

[xXiTacoXx]

They don't like being as skinny as they ended up.