Fighting FAT LOGIC

Whether it’s three, 13 or 30 kilos, slimming down is about much more than losing weight – it’s about seeking health, wellbeing and confidence. But if diets boycott this, how can we permanently achieve a healthy weight?

We strive to stand out in so many areas of life. But when it comes to weight, we want to fit the mould at all costs, and many of us are willing to put ourselves through the wringer to achieve it. The problem is that the long-term success rates of diets are abysmal, meaning most of us are struggling without success. Why?

DITCHING THE DIET LIES

The search for answers about why diets don’t work keeps leading scientists back to the brain. We make 35000 decisions a day, many of which affect what and how much we eat, and whether and how we exercise. ‘My studies have shown that diets often make people fatter and less healthy in the long term because they inhibit people’s ability to recognise real hunger as such,’ says US neuroscientist and diet objector Sandra Aamodt. ‘This makes people extremely prone to emotional eating and susceptible to the