Starting a diet? Research says you'll fail again and here's why

Story and video by SWNS

The average person sets a goal to eat healthier four times each month - and follows through with none of them, according to new research. A new survey of 2,000 Americans who have been on a diet within the last five years found that the average respondent has been on four diets in the past five years, and quit prematurely during half of them. Most popular diets included low-carb (53%), low-fat (44%), intermittent fasting (35%) and ketogenic (30%).

The amount of effort required (35%), the cost (33%), lack of support (28%) and lack of time (27%) were among the top factors that contributed to respondents giving up on a diet. Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of MyNetDiary, the study also examined the biggest "diet downfalls" that respondents have faced, as well as the strategies that actually have worked for them. When it came to the top dieting difficulties, restrictive eating was a big dealbreaker. Thirty-seven percent of respondents say they quit because having to cut out foods they loved "drove me crazy. "Thirty-five percent said the diet they tried was too restrictive for them to stick to it effectively.

Not seeing results soon enough, in addition, was a diet downfall for 69% of respondents, and 73% agreed that giving in to junk food tended to derail their diet dreams. These setbacks likely aren't simply temporary road bumps for many dieters, as nearly half of the respondents agreed that if they get off track once on a diet, they can never get back on track with it. The difficulty of sticking with a diet can be a big problem given the fact that, among respondents who have not reached their weight loss goals, 67% say it will take six months or longer to reach their current weight loss goal. One bright spot emerged for both serial and prospective dieters alike. Fifty-three percent of respondents say they eat healthier when they track their food intake, and nearly half (49%) say they eat less. Forty-five percent, moreover, say the practice makes them more accountable.

Seventy-six percent say that having a support system specifically designed for their health goals would make sticking to a new diet easier but 66% agreed that manually tracking their caloric intake is a pain - which may help to explain why 41% have turned to a calorie tracking app, and more than a third (34%) have tried a weight loss app.