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Want Success? Ditch The Diet

You can lose weight without restricting food--really. Science now explains why.

by Marianne McGinnis

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In a world filled with endless weight-loss plans, it might surprise you to learn that the best diet may very well be…none.

“While studying for my Ph.D., I realized that everything we commonly accept about controlling our weight is a myth,” says Linda Bacon, Ph.D., lead author of recent research that found that people who were taught self-acceptance and encouraged to eat in response to hunger and for satisfaction and pleasure were healthier and happier than people who lost weight on a traditional diet—even if the nondieters didn’t drop a pound.

“Weight-loss programs tell us to cut calories to lose weight, but the human body is physiologically set up to fight this system,” says Dr. Bacon, associate nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, and professor of nutrition at City College of San Francisco.

Generations ago, when life was literally feast or famine, the body learned to conserve calories when food was scarce. Today, with food available on every street corner, your body still panics when you curb your eating, and it slows the rate at which you burn calories, putting the brakes on weight loss. What’s worse, when that chocolate cake you’ve deprived yourself of for so long finally proves irresistible, your body—defending itself against another self-imposed famine—piles the weight back on, storing those calories as fat.

But you don’t have to ride the dieting rollercoaster forever. “The human body has an intelligent system that can help you stay at a healthy weight, but you must learn to respect and listen to it,” says Dr. Bacon. To test this theory, she assigned 78 overweight women to either a traditional dieting group (calorie restriction and weekly nutrition classes) or a nondieting group (unrestricted eating and weekly well-being classes) for six months. The nondieters doubled their physical activity, lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol, and maintained a steady weight, and 100 percent of them reported that they felt better about themselves. What’s more, the benefits were still evident two years later. On the other hand, the diet group regained the small amount of weight they initially lost (about 5 pounds) and didn’t maintain any health benefits. Plus, only 47 percent of the dieters said they felt good about themselves; most felt that they had failed the program.

Although Dr. Bacon’s nondieters didn’t lose any weight, others following the same body-wisdom plan have. “From Fen-Phen to Atkins, I’ve tried it all, but nothing worked until I gave up dieting,” says 43-year-old France Forget of Quebec, whose astounded friends have watched her drop 60 pounds over the past year. Forget used to longingly watch others eat French fries while she forced down salads. Later, she’d binge on fries. “Today, I eat what I want when I’m hungry for it, and I never overeat,” she says. “Since I know nothing’s banned, the desire to stuff myself has vanished.”

“If being tough, restricting food, or even hating ourselves really worked, most of us would be skinny by now,” says Laurelee Roark, cofounder of Beyond Hunger Inc., a California-based nonprofit organization that helps women and men overcome compulsive eating by using restriction-free strategies similar to those used in Dr. Bacon’s study. “Instead, we need to learn to love ourselves unconditionally—consequently, that’s what works,” says Roark, who started her company after her own struggles with an eating disorder.

Listen to Your Body Talk

Giving up diets sounds simple, but it takes time and patience to learn to let go of old rules about restricting foods and to adopt new strategies for listening to your body. Follow these starter tips from the nondiet experts.

“Your body tells you when it needs to go to the bathroom, to sleep, to drink water—and it will tell you what and how much you need to eat. But if you’ve been dieting for years, you may need to relearn these signals,” says Roark. Here’s how to get started.

Get hungry. Pick a low-stress day when you can clear your schedule. Tell yourself, “I’m going to wait until I feel very hungry, and as soon as I do, I’ll eat exactly what I want.” Everyone feels hunger in their own way. Some people get slightly lightheaded, some feel grumbling in their stomachs, and others feel a bit nauseated, says Roark. Wait for your signals. It may take hours; at first, what you think is hunger may be boredom or anxiety. Note these emotions and wait until true hunger emerges, then go to the next step.
Eat exactly what you want. Once you’re hungry, ask yourself, “In the entire universe, what would I like to eat?” If nothing pops right into your mind, you may not really be hungry yet, so wait a little longer. Or you can ask yourself if you’d like something salty or sweet, crunchy or smooth; when you’re truly hungry, you’ll get a clear message. It may warrant a trip to the grocery store or a local restaurant, but it’s especially important to honor what you’re craving, because this is how your body will learn that you aren’t going to withhold food anymore. At first, that might mean eating something like chocolate chip cookie dough. We often need to revisit foods that we’ve restricted before our bodies will move on to craving healthier foods, says Roark.
Stop when you’re satisfied. Part of being satisfied is starting with food you truly desire. “If I eat apples when I’m craving pizza, I’ll eat a whole barrel and still end up ordering an extra-large pie to top it off,” says Forget. “If I just get the pizza, I’ll have a slice or two and stop.” Stopping when you’re satisfied, not stuffed, takes practice; feeling satisfied is more subtle than a growling, hungry stomach. To help yourself “hear” when you’ve had enough, eat in a quiet location without a lot of distractions. “I used to think I was done when I felt stuffed and sick, but then I learned that there was an in-between step where I’d lose interest in what I was eating,” says Roark. “That’s satisfaction.”
Relax your exercise regimen. When you force a strict workout schedule on yourself because you know it will help you lose weight, it turns into a bitter pill, says Dr. Bacon. Finding ways to reconnect to the joy of moving your body is a way to increase physical activity without having it feel like a chore. Turn on dance music while you dust, boogie with your small children, take leisurely walks with friends instead of going to happy hour, or plan a weekend family hike.

Marianne McGinnis writes for many national publications, including Prevention and Parenting, from her home in San Diego. She also lost 75 pounds by not dieting.