Diets don’t work! We have been told this factoid time and time again, but it is that really true?
Playing devil’s advocate for a moment I would suggest that diets do work.
Even….. faddy unsustainable diets may give you some positive results even if it’s just for a short time.
Fad dieting it not where it’s at
Let’s be clear I am not suggesting that you do a fad diet for the short-lived positive results.
Any changes you make to your eating should be well thought out, sustainable and have a long term positive results.
The idea that we can endure the torture of faddy diets. Leads me to ponder the following question. If we can stick to faddy unsustainable diets even for the short term gains or in this case losses then why can’t we keep to diets that are well thought out and sustainable?
Is it lack of willpower, planning or not having the desire to lose the weight?
It could be all of those things or it could be the mind-set we bring into the process of dieting.
How you think about dieting matters
If you think of dieting as something you have to do for a short period of time until you achieve your desired outcome. For example, you’re only going to give up chocolate, carbs or whatever your guilty pleasure is for the prescribed amount of time required to reach your goal then.
As Henry ford says … “you will always what you’ve always gotten” that’s if you have done this before and I’m pretty sure you probably have.
How can you do things different this time?
How you approach changing your lifestyle takes some thought.
- Why do you want to lose weight?
- How have you approached losing weight before?
- What worked for you before? (was the diet was easy to follow?)
- What didn’t work? (was the diet too restrictive, did it have to many unfamiliar food items)
- Did you go it alone? Do you need to get others on board for support?
- Why do you eat the way you do?
A little self-reflection around these points may really help you moving forward.
- In the past have you planned your meals? or did you wing it?
- Do you need to plan your meals?
Based on these answers to these questions what could you do differently?
As we all now know
Diets don’t work.
They don’t help you understand why you’re eating more than your body wanted in the first place.
Susie Orbach
Mind-set is where it at
How you think about losing weight will affect the results you are able to achieve and how committed you are to taking the actions required.
Getting clear about why and how you are going to achieve the results you want, will result in you being less likely to have an out of control cheat day or weekend, that turns in to a week or a month or longer.
Having a big picture view of the reasons why you want to reduce your weight such as, being able to play with your kids or grandkids, being healthy in old age are better the standard reasons like attending a wedding or going on holiday.
A powerful why will help you to stay the course as you move toward your goal.
There is more to addressing your mind-set then this but getting clear on the above is as good a place as any to start.
Here’s a question for you?
How have you thought about losing weight before?
- Is it been a short term change of your eating and when the weight is lost you go back to your normal eating patterns?
Or
- Do you think of losing weight as a lifestyle change to firstly reduce your weigh and then the habits are maintained to protect your weight-loss?
If the answer is short term you are going to be yo-yo dieting for a long time.
How many times have you started trying to lose weight or got to your target weight and rebounded with this thinking?
Is it time to change your current thinking?
Making any kind of change can be very challenging and you have to give yourself a break, make small changes and don’t try do too much at once.
I know you want result yesterday…… I get it…. been there got the outfits in multiple sizes to prove it. But, if you’re a serial dieter you’ll know that when you have gone all in the past it just doesn’t pan out….. well not for long any way.
Think about what you want to achieve and what needs to be done to get there that’s the first step.
The changes you make have to be sustainable. Otherwise you could be trying to lose the same 14 to 100lbs for the next 5 five years plus just because you are choosing not to be consistent or realistic about what you can do and need to do in this moment.
It’s time to try something different
- If you are not happy with your weight and you want to make a change the first thing is to decide I’m going to do it now or not. decide one way or the other don’t to try
- Deciding to change your lifestyle is not going on another diet. If you start out with a dieting mind-set falling off the wagon…. just becomes a matter of time
- Take an honesty look at your current diet (keep a food diary for a few days this may help to really see what and how you’re eating)
- Make small changes and build on them to avoid being overwhelmed
- Create a shopping list with meals for the week in mind
Most importantly be patient with yourself. Change takes time don’t aim for perfection aim to incorporate your new habits into your life slowly and for at least 80% of the time.