While dieting is  supposed to be known to help someone get healthier and lose weight. While all diets say that you are going to “lose 20 pounds within the first week”, that is not true at all.

Here are five of the top reasons a diet can actually expand your waistline:

1. A diet can throw your body out of balance

One in three women starts dieting between the ages of 15 and 20. Most of them routinely diet about three times a year, but over 10 percent diet five times a year. Trouble is, many schemes are too strict, which can either bring your metabolism to a screeching halt causing everything to shut down and work harder, or other approaches can result in an imbalance. “For example, cutting fat too low can lead to a surplus of carbs your body can’t burn, which then get socked away in your fat cells.” Explains M.D Cardona.

And don’t think that you are about to get away with “all you can eat diets,” yes there is such things! Diets that permit eating unlimited amounts of “allowed” foods essentially sanction overeating, and unfortunately, any time you eat more than your body needs, even healthy stuff, the excess feeds body fat.

2. Diets does not allow wiggle room, meaning NO MISTAKES everything comes with a cost.

The number one thing that makes dieting unsustainable is the “on” or “off” mentality. When people go “on” a diet, then slip up, they feel like they totally blew it, which shifts them into “off” mode, and right back into unhealthy habits. In so many other areas of life, we accept a lack of total perfection, and even use detours as learning opportunities. That should be the case with weight loss.

If overall you ask yourself, why did you turn to food as a reward, comfort, or way to quell anxiety? You’d get to the root of finding out what causes you to relaps. What’s neglecting you to meet your final goal? which is overall accomplishing a better lifestyle. If  you discover the root of your problems, actively work on finding other ways to meet those needs. Or if you binged because you were completely starving, the diet is failing you, not the other way around. The reality is losing weight and keeping it off requires consistency and your approach should be something you can stick with.

In my experience it’s a constant battle, but overall is knowing what works for you. You neglecting or starving yourself is detrimental to your health and might I add it is adding pounds to that round butt or thunder thigh you wanted to get rid off. Find your root problem, in doing so you will find that, that is often the true key to lasting weight loss.

3. You have to eat foods you don’t like

There’s nothing worse than having to choke down foods you can’t stand because a diet demands it. That just creates feelings of deprivation and resentment, which may boost stress hormones, and as a result, intensify cravings. Plus it’s not necessary! You can eat meals you look forward to and enjoy and still lose weight, it’s all about finding the right balance.

For example, You loved sandwiches, and thought you had to ditch them in order to lose weight. After a few days of eating unsatisfying salads, you give up, and go back to sandwiches, feeling guilty but satisfied. The real problem was the proportion of your sandwiches, they were portioned for the body of a male construction worker, not a petite female who works at a desk or doing retail for a clothing store- yea I went there! Once you tweaked the proportions, you’ll be able to enjoy your custom-built sandwiches, and finally get results.

4. Diets are filled with fake foods

“Diet- foods trigger nails on chalk board kind of response within me, because they’re just wrong on so many levels. Most are laden with artificial additives, which in my opinion is like body pollution. They rarely taste good or feel satisfying, and they’re typically way too skimpy, so you’re left with lingering hunger and distracting food fantasies,” saids M.D Cardona.

What if I told you that most of the foods you consume are FAKE? I bet even those of you who think you are eating healthy are actually consuming a ton of artificial, processed and preserved foods.

Breakfast – frozen waffle made up high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors? Top it off with a fake syrup. Lunch deli meat on processed bread? Dinner – Pasta filled with preservatives and jarred sauce with high fructose corn syrup?

Today, 90% of the foods Americans eat are processed! You need to eat foods that are grown, fished or killed (sorry to be brutal here).

Here’s another way to think about it. Are the foods you are eating something you could make in your home? You wouldn’t bake yourself a bread with transfats, artificial colors and additives would you?

Let’s face it. Food companies are in business. They make money by making foods cheap and making them last long on the shelves of the grocery store.

5. Diets forbid foods you can’t give up

Balance is a boring word, but when you think about what it really means, it’s incredibly alluring. To me, balance means having your cake and eating it too – literally.

For example, if you’re going to a restaurant and you want to get dessert, which is high in carbs and fat, leave the carbs and fat out of your dinner, so that the sacrifices of eating that dessert won’t haunt you. Consume a lot of water so that by the time dinner comes you don’t binge.

Mind over matter people, consistency is the key!