Diets simply don’t work. If they did then we’d all be super slim and have the bodies we want.
Lifestyle changes do work, but that’s for another time.
You’re probably in a place right now where you’re desperate to lose the weight. Your clothes are too right, you’re self-conscious about how you look all of the time and you just don’t feel comfortable with your body.
Lots of people (in the 80-90%) fail when it comes to dieting. Yo-yoing from one diet to the next and then piling the pounds back on when they come off the diet.
You’ve probably tried one or two of these in the past and they just didn’t give you the answer: and it was probably like eating rabbit food and not really feeling full and happy after you ate. Going to be hungry isn’t the answer.
Why do we fail at new diets?
- They’re temporary – usually they have a short-term lifespan because they shock the system
- Our habits are hard to break – you’ve probably been having a glass of wine and a bag of crisps (or other snacks) in front of the telly for years. That’s going to be hard to change.
- When you restrict your body reacts – when you cut down on certain foods your body reacts. Sometimes it will go into starvation mode when you don’t give it enough of the right foods.
- Fad diets don’t care for nutrition – people might have lost a lot of weight on a certain diet, but most of them don’t provide you with adequate nutrition.
- They don’t teach you healthy eating – most are restrictive and don’t actually teach you to be healthy and what eating healthy is.
- They don’t work for everyone – one diet may work for one person, but have little to no affect for the next.
And there are many more than these.
Essentially, a diet teaches you nothing about what you should eat and when, and how your body may crave certain things but not actually need them all that much (sugar, etc).
What can you do instead?
Here are some thing to keep in mind and help you become healthier for longer:
- Prepare your own food (doing this will help you understand what you’re eating)
- Chew your food slowly and listen to when you’re full
- Exercise at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes to one hour
- Eat fresh, organic produce (too many items have been sprayed heavily)
- Learn how big a portion should really be
- Listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry (but, ensure you have sufficient fuel if strength training
- Manage your stress levels
- Set yourself goals (if you don’t know where you’re going how do you know when you’re progressing?
- Monitor where you are
- Reward your achievements – it’s okay to have a reward, just don’t overindulge
If you don’t want to think about dieting ever again and want to lose weight well and not have it feel like everything is a chore then reach out to us at personal trainer Blackburn to see how we can help you with your weight loss and nutrition, and live the life that you really want.