Why Diets Fail (Part 1)

Warning: what you’re going to read in the following pages may not sit well with you if you are someone who has gone on strict diet and exercise challenges in the past.

A lot of us (including myself) have been delusional dieters thinking it was the best way to lose weight fast.

I even read the book “Dieting makes you fat” and went on a diet challenge the very next week.

I genuinely thought I could be in the 3% of population who have lost weight AND kept it off in the long-term.

(Yes, the stats suggest that 97% of dieters end up regaining back the weight within three years.)

Lucky for you, I’m a slow learner and it only took me almost a decade to figure out this yo-yo diet cycle is not working.

I tried many approaches along the way and I realised that there is a smarter way to approach your weight loss goals.

Over this blog post series, you will learn the nutrition and mindset strategies that helped me lose 34kgs (without going on another diet).
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How do I know that this approach will work for you?

Well, I’ll be upfront with you  and say that I don’t know if it will work for you unless you give it a shot (my Ozzy lingo after living down under).

The people who have given it a shot, have some pretty amazing stories to share.

I don’t want to share all the success stories with you right away because it is really easy to take their transformations out of context.

And I don’t want to get your hopes up for no reason.

The strategy and framework needs to make sense to you before you start taking action.

So let’s begin.

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Positive Motivation vs Negative Motivation

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There is a pretty interesting concept in sports psychology regarding positive and negative motivation:

Positive motivation – comes from a place of enjoyment and fulfilment.

Negative motivation – comes from a place of punishment and fear.
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A lot of the times we want to lose weight, we come from a place of negative motivation.

I remember when I wanted to first lose weight - I was embarrassed about my body.

I looked at the mirror and feared the day that I would have to take my top out in public.

Many people who want to lose weight do it after experiencing a significant ‘pain moment’ in their lives.

It may be a snarky comment at a high-school reunion…

Or not fitting into your wedding dress…

Or a close family member diagnosed with diabetes…

After experiencing such a ‘pain moment’,  we feel high levels of motivation and the following cycle usually occurs:

The one thing in common with all the above scenarios is that they are driven by negative motivation.

It comes from a place of fear and punishment.

We try to fight against our biology by going on restrictive diets or exercise challenges.

Negative motivation can be useful in certain scenarios.

Except for it lasts only over a short period of time.

And if we want to have the body of our dreams, we need to be a lot more patient and persistent than all the weight loss programs being sold to us.

So the next question becomes...

How do we stay on track over the long-term?

Enter positive motivation.