You’ve already seen me talk about why dieting is not the answer to lasting weight loss.
They’re about as much fun as a poke in the eye and our bodies are cleverly engineered to resist them.
But, given an estimated 70% of women at any one time are dieting – I figured it was worth revisiting the topic.
So before you decide to join the dieting majority, let’s re-visit exactly why diets don’t work so you can save yourself from the seductive allure – and endless frustration – of the diet treadmill.
Diets are really hard work
Dieting is hard work because it relies on our willpower to keep us ‘on the right track’.
We all know that willpower is plentiful in the beginning when we’re desperate to lose our muffin top (say, any given Monday), but willpower ebbs and flows.
Or rather, it ebbs and ebbs some more, with the pressures of day-to-day life.
We all know that sense of frustration when, by about Wednesday evening, all that will power has evaporated. Right?
Diets make you crave like a crazy person + make food the enemy
Research shows that no matter what your size, diets create powerful cravings for the exact food(s) your diet prohibits
And, we all know that anything that’s repressed, becomes the obsessed.
“Think sugar…… cheese….chips…..mmmmmmmm”.
Food is not the enemy. It’s the way you behave around food that’s the issue here, and no diet will help you with that.
Diets fail to address the emotional aspect of overeating
You’re probably already aware that we often eat to help deal with emotional problems, rather than just physical hunger.
As in, we turn to food for emotional comfort – like anger or loss, or after a stressful day at the office or a row with a loved one.
More specifically, overeating can be caused by early life trauma. In one study of 286 obese people, half had been sexually abused as children, for example.
No diet can teach you how to deal with your emotions. Or release previous trauma.
Diets do not address day to day habits
Diets teach you nothing about healthy eating.
Yes, you will lose weight while you’re ‘on’ the diet. But get this – 95% of people who lose weight by dieting will regain it in a year.
Depressing, hey?
When you’ve “completed” your diet you’ll boomerang straight back to the unhealthy eating patterns that caused your weight gain in the first place.
Your old eating habits will creep back in, no matter how much weight you’ve lost, and you’ll find yourself back at square one.
Grrrrr!!!!!
Diets cause our metabolisms to slooooow down
Restrictive diets lead directly to the Starvation Response.
And, since your body is super smart and doesn’t want you to starve, it responds by slowing your metabolism, which we all know, makes it even harder to lose weight.
Permanent lifestyle change – the first step
In a world full of foodie temptations, celebrity cooking shows and the rush rush of modern life, it’s admirable to want to be your happy, healthy weight.
I salute you!
The first step is to lose the diet mentality. In fact, the first thing I get all my clients to do is forget everything they’ve ever learned about dieting.
Yes – everything!
Becoming your healthy, happy weight is about making subtle, permanent changes to your daily habits.
Diet-free love etc, Avril
PS: If this diet-free zone sounds like a bit of you + if you’ve decided that you’ve had enough of the diet treadmill and you’re ready to embrace long term habit change while still enjoying your food, c’mon over, let’s have a chat.
