How many pairs of jeans do you have to try on before you actually buy a pair? For me, it seems it is well over 100! Most are too long, some are too tight on my thighs, some are too high on my waist; the list goes on. With our bodies being so unique, how can we expect a set of diet rules made for the “average” person to work and be maintainable for everyone? The answer is we cannot; there isn’t one pair of magic jeans that fit everyone.
According to the health research fund, 65% of people who complete a diet program gain all of their weight back in the first year. 95% of people gain all the weight they lost back in under 5 years. These popular diets reel you in with drastic success stories and show you how much weight Susan lost after she completed program X and how you can too! The real question is, where is Susan now? How does she look a year after the program? Two years? Five years? It says something about the diet industry that not one program follows up with their success stories years later when statistics clearly show that is when the most people gain their weight back.
Last year the diet industry reported an income of 66 BILLION dollars. How can they be making so much money when so many people fail? They make money BECAUSE people fail. They set up these unrealistic rules for everyone to follow yet they are nearly impossible to maintain. The industry, literally, banks on you failing so when you decide to do something about your new weight gain you in turn buy the next latest and greatest tool they claim works for everyone.
None of this is to say that all diets are bad and we should boycott every single one. In reality, there is something to learn from every experience but like the jeans it’s not a one diet fits all; there are no magic jeans. It is about making changes that are healthy and fit into your lifestyle. Changes that you can maintain and that help you reach your goals of being a healthier you; finding the jeans that fit just right.
