Why Crash Diets Don't Work

Anyone who has struggled for years with a weight problem will tell you that crash diets DON'T work.  The main reasons are obvious; if you spend 6 weeks eating nothing but cabbage, as soon as it is over, you are bound to eat the first pizza or small child that is unfortunate enough to stray into your general vicinity.  When the diet is over, your increased calories eaten will put that weight right back where it was, and then some.

Aaah, but what is that?  And THEN SOME?  Why would you actually gain MORE weight rather than only gain what you lost?

The answer to that is: Metabolism.

When you deprive your body of the basic nutrients it needs, your body eventually becomes convinced it is starving.  It kicks into Survival Mode, your metabolism slows and any food you eat will be more likely stored than burned for energy; after all, the body doesn't know when its next meal is coming.

So basically when you go back to your normal eating habits, you have starved your body, and now it wants to build up a reserve for the next crash diet/attempt on your life.