Why Most Diets Fail (and What to Do Instead)
Most diets aren’t built to last — and deep down, you probably know it.
Maybe you’ve lost weight before, only to gain it back. Or maybe you stuck to the plan until life got messy — and the whole thing fell apart. The truth? That’s not because you’re lazy or undisciplined. It’s because most diet advice is built around restriction, not reality.
Let’s talk about why that approach keeps failing you — and what to do differently.
The Real Reason Diets Fail
Most people don’t “fall off” their diet. Their diet falls apart the moment life stops being predictable.
Rigid meal plans, complicated food rules, and perfection-based thinking don’t survive:
A stressful week
A busy family schedule
A weekend away
When those things inevitably happen, most diets fall apart — and people are left scrambling to get “back on track.”
The problem isn’t that they slipped up. It’s that their plan never accounted for real life in the first place. No flexibility, no buffer, no structured way to reset.
The Problem with Small Deficits and Perfectionism
There’s a strange contradiction in most weight loss advice. On one end, you have extreme plans: slash your calories, cut out entire food groups, or do hours of cardio. Fast results — and fast burnout.
On the other end, you have overly gentle, “just eat a little better” plans that lack structure. You’re not changing your eating enough to see results — but you don’t even know where to make adjustments.
Both approaches set you up to blame yourself when things stall. But the issue isn’t effort — it’s a lack of strategy.
When you don’t know how to troubleshoot progress, respond to plateaus, or handle life getting messy, you default to one of two things: doubling down harder… or quitting altogether.
The Two-Gear System: Deficit + Maintenance
In my coaching, we don’t live in the extremes.
We alternate.
On-Protocol (Deficit) Weeks – short, focused windows where the goal is fat loss. These are structured, simplified, and clearly defined.
Maintenance Weeks – weeks where you deliberately eat more, stabilise your weight, move more freely, and practice the skills of long-term maintenance.
This two-gear system does a few key things:
Protects your metabolism from the effects of chronic restriction
Improves adherence because you always know a break is coming
Teaches long-term habits like portion control, flexible structure, and recovery eating
It also mirrors what long-term success will look like: not endless dieting, but knowing how to move between structure and flexibility.
What Success Actually Looks Like
Most people think success means hitting their goal weight and never having to think about food again. But in reality, success looks more like this:
You know how to respond when the scale stalls
You can enjoy food without losing control
You don’t panic after a weekend off-track
You maintain your results without needing rigid tracking
Success is having the tools, structure, and self-awareness to make confident decisions without relying on a diet app or food rules.
And — critically — it’s knowing that maintenance isn’t a pause in your progress. It is the goal.
How to Start Doing It Differently
If your experience with dieting has been one of extremes, guilt, frustration, or burnout — it’s not because you failed. It’s because the strategy wasn’t built for your life.
You don’t need a “new plan” every time life gets hard.
You need one that lets you move between structure and flexibility — without the guilt.
If that sounds like something you could use more of, check out my free 30-day fat loss series. It’s short, practical, and based on the same lessons I use with my 1:1 clients.
👉 Join the free 30-day series here
You don’t need to try harder. You just need a plan that works with you.