In light of the fact that Weight Watchers is offering free membership to teens this summer, I just wanted to chime in to the conversation and remind people at all different life stages that no one simply starts a diet and lives happily ever after. When was the last time you heard someone say “I went on a diet, lost a bunch of weight, and now I never have to think about food or exercise ever again”? I have yet to meet anyone who has had that experience… and I talk to a lot of people about their diets.
Diets suck you in because they work at first, but then they stop working and you have to put in more time and effort and eventually it consumes your entire life.
Weight Watchers is in fact a diet, not some sort of healthy lifestyle change that is going to make teens’ lives better and healthier.
Some facts to consider:
-95-98% of all diets fail.
-60% of people will gain back more weight
-35% of people will progress to pathological dieting and of those 20-25% progress to an eating disorder
-dieting predicts weight gain
-dieting is correlated with increased guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, low self esteem and eating disorders. All of which are correlated with worse health outcomes.
-people who diet are more likely to binge eat.
Struggling with your relationship to food and your body? Recovering from an eating disorder or chronic dieting and in search of an experienced eating disorder registered dietitian in the Centerport, New York area or virtually? Send Christina an email to learn more about 1:1 nutrition therapy sessions!