We have all come to the point where we have either follow through or considered going on a diet. After looking at yourself in the mirror and feeling bloated you may tell yourself “THAT'S IT! I'm starting a diet Monday”. Maybe you put on an extra 5-10 lbs and feel like your nutrition habits from your last diets have gotten away from you only to bring you back to square one. You may find yourself blaming a specific food, “It’s all that bread I had this weekend!” and vow to stop eating any bread at all.
This may sound like a good plan and there are plenty of diets that are built around eliminating and restricting certain foods.
In the beginning you meet this new diet with excitement and vigor. Meal prepping, staying away from snacks, eating less bread - this all is flowing pretty well! You may even ask yourself why you couldn’t do this in the past - why you weren’t able to find this magical diet that is showing you some results.
Then one day down the line you are met at a crossroads - you really want that piece of bread. For whatever reasons in your life - this bread has been there for you in the past in times of distress. You feel conflicted knowing that this bread is not within the confines of your diet program. You wrestle with yourself - asking why do I have this craving? Why can’t I just not have it?
It may be an especially stressful day or an event with family, but the urge to indulge is too strong and you find yourself overindulging in the bread & pasta that you so desperately missed. Later, you may feel guilty and feel ashamed and find yourself saying, “I was doing so good - I don’t know what happened”.
This in turn leads down a path of self sabotage and a re-entry into the habits that you had prior to this diet. Back to square one - back to figuring out what you have to do to change.
The reason for this is the following:
1. Not all diets are made for you: Sure, some people can live life eliminating bread from their every meal. But that does not mean that is the right plan for you long term.
2. Many fad diets are not sustainable: Many strict diets are great to help the body go through a cleanse or a jump start. But these are not always sustainable for the individual. If you choose a diet like this, give yourself a time frame to go through it and transition out of it and into your new fit lifestyle.
3. You may want a diet that is built around YOUR lifestyle. It may not be that you are failing at the diet. The diet is failing you. If you find that you can not enjoy time with your loved ones because you are so obsessed with not being able to enjoy food or to maintain a diet you have to use complicated recipes with hard to access ingredients, this is not the diet for you.
Our philosophy at Forever Fit Method is simple - don’t follow a diet!
Diet’s so often keep us restricted to a select number of foods - ones that you may not even like. Diets don’t take into account your comfort foods - the ones we all inevitably need at times in our journey. Instead of focusing on what you need to take out or restrict - think about what you can add to your nutrition to make it that much better.
Action step:
Consider all foods on a spectrum of “eat more”, “eat some”, “eat less”. No food is inherently bad or good. Let yourself off the hook and stay focused on how you can get more vegetables, lean meat, and healthy fats in your kitchen! Most importantly - learn to be patient with yourself and with your progress!
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