Let's talk fad diets.
Fad diets are everywhere these days. They claim to have rapid weight loss results and generally involve eliminating full food groups, eating only little packets of food, drinking their protein shakes, or damn near starving yourself. They normally are at the forefront of the dieting world, and are too good to be true.
Then there are the programs that claim to specifically not be fad diets. They generally claim to be healthful, they claim to be whole food nutrition. They claim to be easy. They claim slow, steady weight loss is the only way for long term results. They could be right, their program might do all the things it boasts about.
I'm not here to slam any diet or eating program. I'm not here to tell you which diet or eating program is the best. I'm not here to tell you how you should be losing weight. I'm here to tell you that it is the mindset you go into these diets or programs with that will make you fail, not the diet itself.
But seriously, in my humble opinion, a fad diet is anything that you go on with the hope to go back to normal. Normal is exactly how you ate to become unhappy with your body and your weight. As soon as going back to normal comes into your mind, you can guarantee the diet, meal plan, or program will fail.
We want to blame quick weight loss. In 2014 I lost 90 pounds in 10 months. Was it on a fad diet, sure. However the weight didn't come flying back on out of no where. When I lost my weight, I made it my lifelong mission to ensure I was never unhappy with my body again, and I changed everything about what I ate, everything about what I drank, but most importantly I changed everything about how I thought. Yes, I gain weight. I'm a human being. Weight gain is a natural process that the body goes through when in a state of excess. It's not because some magic program makes you gain weight. It's because you go back to unhealthy eating habits that you gain weight.
The process is simple, first it's one indulgence a week, then it's two, then it's a small indulgence every day because you deserve it. Maybe it's been a hard week, or maybe you're stressed. These are all valid excuses, however it's when we start to validate these excuses and put our mind in a state of "I deserve" that the weight really comes on.
Before you know it, every meal needs to be topped off with something sweet. Every meal needs to have fireworks for your taste buds. The vegetable intake drops, the water intake drops, the treats increase and before you know it you've gained your weight back.
Let's talk about what you deserve. We are animals by nature, and what we deserve is simple. We deserve to have to hunt for our food. We deserve to have to walk for our water. We deserve to have to work hard to stay alive. Unfortunately, society has shifted. Now we have access to cars, we sit all day (granted not everyone does), and there's a fast food restaurant on every corner. We are being made to think that we deserve this high fat, high sugar, processed junk, and there's something wrong with us if we don't get to indulge regularly.
The best way to get rid of this yo-yo cycle isn't by giving up on weight loss, or jumping to the next program that will fix your weight loss problem. The solution is to shift how your mind thinks.
Before, I felt like I deserved junk food. Now I know that I do not deserve anything that the ground did not provide me with. I know that whole food is what I need to rely on as my primary source of nutrition, and anything other than that is a treat. I know that if it has a food label, it most likely isn't the best option.
So how can you shift you mind to embrace a healthy lifestyle?
1. Choose a eating plan you feel you can stick with long term. As I mentioned, weight gain is a natural occurrence. The body wants to put on weight. It's what it's made to do. As soon as you think you are going to go on a diet, lose weight and return to your old eating habits, you are guaranteeing yourself failure. Instead, find a weight loss strategy you love, something that doesn't make you feel deprived, and something you feel confident in. The reason this is so important is because you will have to go on it again.
2. Accept that tune ups are normal. As I mentioned, weight gain is a natural occurrence. All because you gain weight, doesn't mean you are a failure. It means you are human. So be prepared to be human and accept that you are going to have to go back on your program and lose a couple pounds every so often.
3. Accept that eating junk food is not "NORMAL". There is nothing normal about being able to indulge everyday. That is how you gain weight. There is no way to sugar coat this, it's just the truth.
4. Accept that normal is healthy eating. If you want to stay at your preferred weight, it's what you'll have to do. Eating 4 servings of vegetables a day is normal. Eating fruit everyday is normal. Drinking 8 cups of water a day is normal. Balancing your carbohydrates is normal. Monitoring your fat intake is normal. Keeping track that you aren't going over your caloric intake is normal. Eating a Big Mac, fries and a milkshake is not normal, and is not what you should be allowed to do. Accept it.
5. Stop saying "I can't have that". Instead try saying "I don't want that." When we say "I can't", the mind is put into a state of victimization. It wants to rebel. Cravings will become worse. Temptation will be everywhere. You will not feel in control. Instead, but the mind in a state of power and say that you don't want that junk.
6. Tell yourself you love yourself. Stop beating yourself up. Stop treating yourself like your worst enemy. Stop abusing your psyche. Start telling yourself how you are doing all of this because you love yourself. Start telling yourself that you want to be the healthiest version of yourself. Start believing that you deserve better than the pile of junk food. You are a strong, beautiful, amazing, wonderful person who deserves to live their healthiest life. Stop telling yourself otherwise.
When moving into a healthy lifestyle, acceptance is going to be important. Accept what you can do, and what you can't do. Excuses will not bring you closer to your goal. No one is impressed by your excuses either, they're only impressed with your results. Hold yourself accountable to what you want most. You want to be confident. You want to feel good. You want to be the best version of yourself. Give yourself the opportunity to see what happens when you don't give up. There will be good days. There will be bad days. But the important thing is that they are just days, and every day is a new opportunity to try again. Commit, and just keep going.
A healthy lifestyle needs to come from a place of internal desire. You have to know why you are doing what your doing and why it is important to you. It can be something that someone else is putting on you. You have to want to be living your healthiest life, and not just losing weight to see a number on the scale. Focus on what you want most and why you want it. You want to love who you see in the mirror. You want to feel better. You want to be living your healthiest life. Do this for you because you are worth it and you want it just as badly as you want to breath. Want it for you.
Cheerfully,
Serial Dieter 911
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