Pictured above is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which many of you may remember from your psychology classes from way back. When I was lurking through the forum, I found that many of us try to lose weight to fulfill the Social Needs, a.k.a. Belongingness and Love Needs (aside from obvious health benefits).

If you are not familiar with the Hierarchy of Needs, this shows the basic needs for a human being, with the bottom layer needing to be fulfilled before going on to the next level. For example, it’s hard to have a high self-esteem when you are disliked by everyone (unfulfilled Social Needs), and it’s hard to be social or loving when you think that everyone’s out there to get you (unfulfilled Safety Needs).

Problem with the low cal diet is that while the person is trying to fulfill the Social Needs while neglecting the Biological and Physiological Needs by depriving the body of food and nutrients. Sure, that person may be motivated enough in the beginning to ignore the most basic needs but unless that person is anorexic or bulimic, the need to fulfill Biological and Physiological Needs will override the dieters’ want for the Social Needs.

I believe that this is also the reason why many overweight people suffer from low self-esteem since they are having problems meeting the Social Needs. Unfortunately, it seems that the society is harder on overweight women than men, even though men usually can lose weigh quicker then women.

This is also the reason why low carb, normal cal are easier for the people to do, since this WOE fulfills the Biological and Physiological Needs by avoiding starvation.