3 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Go on Another Diet

1. Diets do not help you to maintain weight loss in the long-term.
The idea that people fail at diets because of a lack of willpower is a myth that is perpetuated by the diet industry. There are powerful biological factors at play, which essentially ensure that your attempt at dieting will fail . Traci Mann, a researcher who has studied dieting for over 20 years, found that there are metabolic, hormonal, and neurological changes that contribute to "diet failure."According to Mann, "When you are dieting, you actually become more likely to notice food ... But you don't just notice it-it actually begins to look more appetizing and tempting." Mann also stated that as you begin to lose weight, "the hormones that make you feel hungry increase" and "the hormones that help you feel full, or the level of those rather, decreases."Lastly, Mann explained that when you are dieting, "Your metabolism slows down. Your body uses calories in the most efficient way possible ... When your body finds a way to run itself on fewer calories there tends to be more left over, and those get stored as fat."Thus, it comes as no surprise that studies show that 95 percent of people will "fail" at diets. Most people can lose weight in the short-term, however over time the majority will regain the weight that they lost-and potentially gaineven more. Working to suppress your weight below your natural body weight is ultimately a fruitless effort and an utter waste of time. Even if you are in the 5 percent of people who can maintain a suppressed weight in the long-term, think about what you may be giving up in order to achieve this. After all, what good does it do to have "the ideal body," if you are sacrificing eating out, socializing with friends, and your interests outside of calorie-counting and obsessive exercise.

2. Weight loss is not the key to increased happiness.

As stated above, diets do not work if your aim is maintaining weight loss in the long-term. However, I have a problem with the very idea of weight loss as a goal. Tying your happiness to something external is a recipe for discontent.Andrea Bonior, a clinical psychologist, exemplified this point when she stated, "It's not the external achievement of some goal that's going to make us happy. You think that will automatically change your life in some meaningful  way, but it could be that your life pretty much remains the same."
For argument's sake, let's say that you had your "ideal body" and were supremely happy with your appearance. The reality of life is that our bodies will change as we age. Ultimately, putting all of your worth and value into your appearance is akin to boarding a sinking ship.Additionally, people want to be thin because of the meaning that they assign to it. There is a pervasive societal belief, which is the unspoken notion that we can control our world, our relationships, and our self-esteem, through our weight. It makes sense that in a world full of uncertainty, people would desire to focus on something tangible that they falsely believe they can control. However, weight set-point theory holds that your body will work to maintain its set-point weight range through powerful biological and psychological mechanisms. Further, we cannot control our external environment through our attempts at manipulating our weight. What if instead of trying to manipulate or control your weight, you focused on loving and accepting your body exactly as it is now?
Further, counting calories, obsessing about your body fat, and reading diet books, is likely taking time away from more meaningful pursuits. Think about all of the other passions that you could explore if you gave up the goal of weight loss. What if you poured all of the time, money, and energy that you spent on dieting into something that could actually make a difference in the world?

3. Losing weight will not make you healthier.

You can be considered overweight and be healthy. You can also be considered thin and be unhealthy. A person's weight is simply not a good barometer of their overall health.
According to an article in The Nutrition Journal by Dr. Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor, "Most epidemiological studiesfind that people who are overweight or moderately obese live at least as long as normal weight people, and often longer."

8 Keys to Healthy Relationships

1. Taking Interest: People in healthy relationships take interest in one another. This is usually done in a variety of ways from asking how someone is doing (and not just in the small-talk-passing-on-the-street kind of way), inviting them to do things, and asking deeper questions about how they experienced something rather than just what they did. 

2. Acceptance & Respect: This means accepting what we have come to know about the other person and continuing to treat him/her with respect. When we really get to know someone, we find out things that are not that great about them, and they find out the same about us. Continuing to hold the other person in a positive light (and you being held in a positive light too!), are essential practices in healthy relationships. Additionally, people in the happiest relationships also talk favorably about each other in social situations, and also try to honor the preferences the other person has for things. 

3. Positive Regard: People in healthy relationships tend to see negative things the other person has done as honest mistakes or due to difficult circumstances, and attribute positive things as the result of the other person just being a good person, due to hard work, or other positive character traits.

4. Meeting Basic Needs: The basic needs that everyone has in relationships are companionship, affection, and emotional support. People in healthy relationships are focused on meeting these as well as other special needs that the other person has, and they are willing to grow to be better at this. Read more about those basic relationship needs (link is external).

5. Positive Interactions: Research shows that relationships are the most satisfying when there are quantitatively more positive interactions with the other person than negative. For some relationships there may be a large number of negative interactions, but as long as the number of positive interactions is a lot higher, satisfaction will remain high. For more on this, learn some basics of communication (link is external). 

6. Solve Problems: There are a lot of unsolvable problems in relationships that will continue to cycle through, regardless of solutions, and people in healthy relationships find ways to reduce these conflicts as much as possible. However, there are also a lot of problems that can be solved, and highly functioning couples will actively compromise and find solutions to those. 

7. Rupture & Repair: people in the the healthiest relationships are able to quickly and effectively repair damage (ruptures) to their relationships. This means a) recognizing that you or the other person is hurt, angry, or unhappy with something, and b) addressing it in a way that fixes things in a timely manner. Many people wait too long to initiate repairs, some try but make things worse because they aren't sure what to do, and others do not do it at all. A good repair usually starts with an apology, read How to Apologize (link is external), or bringing it up in a constructive way (read How to Say Hard Things (link is external)). 

8. Reciprocity: This means that both people in the relationship are working on this stuff. If only one person is taking an interest, accepting and respecting, giving the benefit of the doubt, meeting the others' needs, providing positive interactions, and repairing ruptures, then the relationship likely has larger problems that need to be explored.