Why our extreme quest for weight loss isn't working.

Baby Food Diet? Americans Are Spending $50 Billion a Year Dieting -- And We're Getting Crazier By the Minute: The reason diets and calorie-cutting often do not work in the long term comes down to basic science. Weight loss can occur when you burn more calories than you consume. But your body always needs a certain amount of energy in order to perform daily functions and keep up a speedy metabolism. When a person cuts calories to below 1,200 per day, the metabolism goes into "starvation mode" and slows down, meaning that your body is no longer burning the calories it once did when you participated in daily tasks or exercise. This conservation of calories is a natural reaction from your body in order to maintain as much energy as possible until your next meal. During the first weeks of dieting, the dieter may notice a quick weight loss, but these types of results quickly slow down as the metabolism slows.