The Diet Industry Wants You to Fail: Here's How to Break Free I EP. 12

The diet industry makes $72 billion a year. They need you to fail. Here's how to stop feeding the machine and start building real, lasting transformation.

Let me ask you something.

How many diets have you tried in your lifetime?

Weight Watchers. Jenny Craig. Atkins. South Beach. Keto. Paleo. Whole30. Noom. Optavia. The cabbage soup diet. The grapefruit diet. The shake diet. The meal replacement diet.

How much money have you spent? How much time? How much mental and emotional energy?

And here you are… still struggling. Still searching. Still hoping the next diet will be the one that finally works.

Here's what nobody's telling you.

The diet industry doesn't want you to succeed. They need you to fail.

Because if you actually lost the weight and kept it off? You'd stop buying their products. You'd stop signing up for their programs. You'd stop being their customer.

And they can't have that.

The $72 Billion Machine

The diet industry is worth $72 billion a year in the United States alone.

Let that sink in.

$72 billion.

That's more than the entire GDP of some countries. And it's built on one simple business model:

Keep you coming back.

Here's how it works.

They sell you a diet. You lose weight… at first. You feel hopeful. You think this is finally the one.

But the diet is unsustainable. It's too restrictive. It's too extreme. It doesn't fit into your real life.

So eventually, you stop. And the weight comes back. Usually with a few extra pounds.

You feel like a failure. You blame yourself. You think you just didn't have enough willpower or discipline.

And then… they're right there waiting for you with the next diet. The next program. The next promise.

"This time will be different. This time it'll work."

And the cycle repeats.

That's not a bug. That's the feature.

Why Diets Are Designed to Fail

Here's the truth about diets.

95% of diets fail.

Not because you're weak. Not because you lack discipline. But because they're designed to fail.

Here's why:

1. They're too restrictive
Diets tell you what you can't eat. No carbs. No sugar. No fat. No fun.

And restriction triggers deprivation. Deprivation triggers cravings. Cravings trigger binges. Binges trigger guilt. Guilt triggers more restriction.

It's a vicious cycle. And it's by design.

2. They ignore your biology
When you drastically cut calories or eliminate entire food groups, your body goes into survival mode. Your metabolism slows down. Your hunger hormones spike. Your body holds onto fat.

This is called "adaptive thermogenesis," and it's your body's way of protecting you from starvation.

So you're eating less and less… and losing less and less. Eventually, you're eating almost nothing and the scale won't budge.

The diet industry knows this. But they don't tell you. Because if they did, you wouldn't buy their products.

3. They're one-size-fits-all
Diets don't account for your unique body, your hormones, your lifestyle, your preferences, your stress levels, your sleep quality, or your mental health.

They give you a generic meal plan and expect it to work for everyone. But your body isn't generic. And what works for someone else might not work for you.

Especially if you're a woman over 40 dealing with hormonal changes, slower metabolism, and increased stress.

4. They don't teach you anything
Diets tell you what to eat. They don't teach you how to eat. They don't teach you how to listen to your body. They don't teach you how to make sustainable choices.

So when the diet ends… you have no idea what to do. You go back to your old habits. And the weight comes back.

And then you need another diet. Which is exactly what they want.

5. They profit from your failure
The diet industry makes money every time you fail and come back. Every time you sign up for a new program. Every time you buy their shakes, bars, supplements, and meal plans.

If you actually succeeded and kept the weight off? They'd lose a customer. Forever.

So they create products that work just enough to give you hope… but not enough to give you lasting results.

The Real Cost of Diet Culture

Let's talk about what the diet industry has actually cost you.

The financial cost:

• Weight loss programs: $500-$5,000+/year

• Meal replacements and shakes: $200-$500/month

• Diet books and apps: $100-$300/year

• Supplements and fat burners: $500+/year

• Gym memberships you don't use: $300-$1,200/year

Average lifetime spending on diets: $50,000 to $100,000+

But that's just the money.

Here's what diet culture has really cost you:

• Your time … years spent obsessing over food, counting calories, tracking macros

• Your energy … mental and emotional exhaustion from constant restriction and guilt

• Your confidence … feeling like a failure every time a diet doesn't work

• Your relationship with food … viewing food as the enemy instead of nourishment

• Your joy … missing out on social events, celebrations, and life because you're "on a diet"

• Your health … yo-yo dieting damages your metabolism, hormones, and mental health

• Your self-worth … tying your value to a number on the scale

That's the real cost of the diet industry.

My Diet Industry Wake-Up Call

I've been there. I've tried them all.

I spent thousands of dollars on programs, shakes, meal plans, and supplements. I spent years obsessing over food and feeling guilty every time I ate something "off plan."

I lost weight. I gained it back. I lost it again. I gained it back again. Plus more.

Every time, I blamed myself. I thought I just wasn't disciplined enough. I thought I was the problem.

But when I ended up in the ER at 40+… burned out, exhausted, doing everything "right" and feeling like my body was betraying me… I realized the truth.

I wasn't the problem. The diets were.

The diet industry had been profiting from my failure for years. And I was done feeding the machine.

What Freedom Actually Looks Like

Here's what I learned when I stopped dieting and started nourishing my body.

Real, lasting transformation doesn't come from restriction. It comes from freedom.

Freedom to eat real food without guilt. Freedom to listen to your body. Freedom to make choices that support your health and your life. Freedom to stop obsessing and start living.

Here's what that looks like:

1. Eat real food
Not shakes. Not bars. Not meal replacements. Real food that nourishes your body and tastes good.

Protein, healthy fats, complex carbs, vegetables, fruit. Meals that satisfy you and support your hormones.

No forbidden foods. No guilt. No tracking every calorie or macro.

2. Listen to your body
Your body knows what it needs. It tells you when it's hungry. It tells you when it's full. It tells you what makes it feel good and what doesn't.

But years of dieting have taught you to ignore those signals. To override your hunger. To eat by the clock or the meal plan instead of by what your body is asking for.

Learning to listen again is the key to freedom.

3. Focus on how you feel, not what you weigh
The scale is a liar. It doesn't measure your energy, your strength, your confidence, your health, or your worth.

When you stop obsessing over the number and start paying attention to how you feel… everything changes.

Do you have energy? Are you sleeping well? Do you feel strong? Are you showing up for your life?

That's what matters.

4. Move in ways that feel good
Exercise isn't punishment for eating. It's celebration of what your body can do.

Find movement that energizes you instead of exhausting you. That makes you feel strong instead of broken.

Walking. Yoga. Strength training. Dancing. Whatever makes you feel alive.

5. Build sustainable habits, not perfect ones
Perfection is the enemy of progress. You don't need to eat perfectly. You don't need to work out every day. You don't need to be "on plan" 100% of the time.

You just need to show up consistently. Make choices that support you most of the time. And give yourself grace when life happens.

That's sustainability. That's freedom.

How to Break Free from the Diet Cycle

If you're ready to stop feeding the diet industry and start building real transformation… here's how.

Step 1: Stop buying their products
No more shakes. No more meal replacements. No more diet programs that promise quick fixes.

Save your money. Invest it in real food instead.

Step 2: Unfollow the noise
Unfollow the diet influencers. Unsubscribe from the weight loss emails. Stop consuming content that makes you feel bad about yourself or tells you that you need to be fixed.

Your feed should inspire you, not shame you.

Step 3: Educate yourself
Learn how your body actually works. Learn about hormones, metabolism, nutrition, and sustainable habits.

The more you understand your body, the less power the diet industry has over you.

Step 4: Find support
You can't do this alone. You need people who get it. Who understand the struggle. Who celebrate your wins and remind you that progress isn't linear.

Community is everything.

Step 5: Give yourself permission to stop dieting
This is the hardest step. Because diet culture has convinced you that if you're not restricting, you're failing.

But the opposite is true.

When you stop dieting and start nourishing yourself… that's when real transformation begins.

The Real Cost of Staying in the Cycle

Here's what I want you to think about.

How much more time are you willing to spend on diets that don't work?

How much more money are you willing to give to an industry that profits from your failure?

How much more of your life are you willing to miss because you're obsessing over food and feeling guilty about your body?

The cost of staying in the diet cycle is way higher than the cost of breaking free.

What If You Never Had to Diet Again?

I know it sounds too good to be true.

But here's what happened when I stopped dieting and started living.

I lost weight. I kept it off. I stopped obsessing over food. I stopped feeling guilty. I started enjoying meals again. I had more energy. I felt strong and confident.

Not because I found the perfect diet. But because I stopped looking for one.

You can have this too.

Your Next Step

If you're ready to break free from the diet cycle… if you're ready to stop feeding the machine and start nourishing yourself… I've got something for you.

Download my free 2-day meal plan. It's not a diet. It's real food that supports your body, your hormones, and your life. No restriction. No guilt. Just nourishment.

Grab your free meal plan here.

And if you want more support… if you're ready to build a life where you never have to diet again… join the EmpireSun Fitness Tribe on Facebook. It's a community of women who are done with diet culture and ready to live free.

You don't have to spend the rest of your life dieting. You don't have to keep feeding an industry that profits from your failure. You don't have to stay stuck in the cycle.

You just need to choose freedom.

Let's do this together.

✨ Trish

P.S. – If you're struggling to let go of diet culture… if you're scared of what happens when you stop restricting… you're not alone. Let's talk. Book a free 30-minute discovery call and let's create a plan that helps you break free and build real, lasting transformation.