How long do people generally stick to diets

[Anonymous]

I always hear that most diets are not effective because most people stop following them. I was wondering, in your experience, how long people tend to stick to diets. By "diet" I mean any deliberate change in eating habits primarily intended to lose weight.

[Anonymous]

Tough to say. Really depends on the person.

Some people stick to them long enough to lose the weight they need. Could be a month, a few months or years.

Some stick to a diet for a few days here and there, never get consistency down and keep failing to lose the weight.

Now diets that include legit lifestyle changes last a lot longer.

[Anonymous]

Spent 10 years yo-yo dieting (17-27). I would be on most diets for a couple of months and then go back to old ways and gain back the weight. After DS was born I gained weight d/t PPD and continued to gain for the next year. When I decided to take action to lose the weight, I didn't do the whole "diet" thing. I didn't eliminate anything. I started counting calories and macros. I lost the 75 pounds I gained plus another 15. I don't deny myself anything. I've been at this weight for 2 years now and am always in the same 5 pound range. Been doing the calorie counting/macros for a little over 3 years now.

[Anonymous]

If you consider tracking calories a diet, I’ve been on it for 11 years.

Fad diets and diets that require you to give up entire groups or classes of foods? I give it a year tops.

[Anonymous]

I spent 10 years eating 2 meals a day. The emails were not restricted in any way (eg pastry for breakfast etc). I lost about 40 pounds durong that time.

In hindsight this looks like IF but it was not a thing back then.

[Anonymous]

In general the more restrictive the diet (extremely low calorie, cutting out entire food groups, crazy exercise routine) the less likely people are stick stick to it for a long period of time. Now that doesn't mean that some people won't stick to a very restrictive diet for a long period, but the are the minority not the norm.

I always say that you shouldn't do anything to lose the weight that you can't stick to to maintain the weight loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general the more restrictive the diet (extremely low calorie, cutting out entire food groups, crazy exercise routine) the less likely people are stick stick to it for a long period of time. Now that doesn't mean that some people won't stick to a very restrictive diet for a long period, but the are the minority not the norm.

I always say that you shouldn't do anything to lose the weight that you can't stick to to maintain the weight loss.

Yeah start eating now as if you are already on your target wait and you will get there.

[Anonymous]

Weight

[Anonymous]

I have been slowly and steadily losing weight on low carb but I don’t count calories at ALL and probably eat way more than I should. I am thinking of it as a lifestyle because I find it easy and sustainable (please don’t chime in if you don’t “agree” with LC - it works for me).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been slowly and steadily losing weight on low carb but I don’t count calories at ALL and probably eat way more than I should. I am thinking of it as a lifestyle because I find it easy and sustainable (please don’t chime in if you don’t “agree” with LC - it works for me).

I’ve been loosing weight on low carb / low sugar. Two months of mostly sticking to it - down almost 20 pounds. But I have been tracking. The biggest thing for me was giving up snacks. They say new habits take 30 to 60 days to take root. I think I have finally broken the bad habit of snacking. I very rarely snack now.

[Anonymous]

They stick to diets until the diets no longer work - generally when they're restrictive and people can't do them forever.

It's not that diets don't work - they generally do, but for the short term. It's why everyone you know who does low carb will lose some weight. And it's also why everyone you know who goes back to a diverse diet usually gains it back, plus some. And they all think they'll be the exception.

[Anonymous]

I'm awesome at diets. I can lose 10 pounds like a champ. Sadly, I always seem to gain those 10 pounds back. The whole cycle probably takes about 6-8 months. Rinse and repeat.

My "diets" never involve taking out a food group - I usually just lower my calorie count and track. I've found that I don't like living with a lowered calorie count. I'm trying to find a happy medium somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm awesome at diets. I can lose 10 pounds like a champ. Sadly, I always seem to gain those 10 pounds back. The whole cycle probably takes about 6-8 months. Rinse and repeat.

My "diets" never involve taking out a food group - I usually just lower my calorie count and track. I've found that I don't like living with a lowered calorie count. I'm trying to find a happy medium somewhere.

How much are you lowering calories? I find that having a more moderate deficit means you lose the weight more slowly, but you also feel less deprived in the process and it feels less like a "diet". I also think you need a clear plan for adding in calories when you get to a place where you want to maintain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm awesome at diets. I can lose 10 pounds like a champ. Sadly, I always seem to gain those 10 pounds back. The whole cycle probably takes about 6-8 months. Rinse and repeat.

My "diets" never involve taking out a food group - I usually just lower my calorie count and track. I've found that I don't like living with a lowered calorie count. I'm trying to find a happy medium somewhere.

How much are you lowering calories? I find that having a more moderate deficit means you lose the weight more slowly, but you also feel less deprived in the process and it feels less like a "diet". I also think you need a clear plan for adding in calories when you get to a place where you want to maintain.

I'm 5 feet tall, weight 128, and am at 1350 calories. I'm losing slowly and I have no problem with that. But if I stop tracking, my consumption will increase - a bite here, a bite there,

[Anonymous]

2-3 months. About the average time people go to the gym and then stop. Yes, I am talking about myself.