3 Reasons to ditch dieting for good this year!

ditch dieting

Here are my 3 reasons to ditch dieting for good this year.  I thought I would share with you why I think your should steer clear of dieting and what I recommend instead.  I hope you find it useful.

1.  Dieting is often just too extreme

Many diets recommend restrictions that are too severe, usually focusing on fast results.  Of course, fast weight-loss is usually water and muscle glycogen (the store of sugar in the muscle) rather than fat.  Severe energy restrictions result in fatigue, sleep problems and potential nutrient deficiencies among other things.  Feeling tired and rubbish, you’re more likely to fancy the fatty, sugary treats too.  Then, when you finally give up, as severe energy restriction is just not sustainable, you go back to eating ‘normally’, you replace the water and muscle glycogen. Then you end up feeling even more rubbish as you’ve ‘failed’.

2.  Following a diet-plan is too prescriptive

A lot of people over the years ask me to write them a diet-plan as they just want something easy to follow.  I always refuse, because in my experience it doesn’t work long-term. It’s too prescriptive.  What I mean by this is that it might be ok for a week or two, but as soon as life gets in the way it becomes too difficult to stick to.  As soon as you face difficult situations, a diet-plan isn’t going to help you.  It also doesn’t necessarily take into account the issues you might have around food/eating.  It would be much better to focus on resolving unhelpful thinking patterns instead – otherwise you could just be adding to those unhelpful thoughts if you fail ‘yet again’.

Dieting
Dieting can leave you feeling guilty about eating treats when they can be part of a healthy balanced diet!

3.  Dieting promotes an unhealthy attitude towards food

Many diets or slimming-clubs refer to some foods as ‘free’ or good foods and others as ‘bad’ or foods to avoid.  They may split food into ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ – but this is oversimplifying nutrition.  Often people then overeat on the ‘healthy’ or ‘good’ foods or feel guilty when they eat the ‘unhealthy’ or ‘bad’ foods.  Overeating anything is likely to result in you taking in more energy than you need which then prevents weight-loss.  However more important than this, the guilt from eating so-called ‘bad’ foods can lead to a cycle of binge-eating and feeling worse and worse.

So what can you do instead of dieting?

First of all, try to focus on eating a healthy balanced diet rather than focusing on restricting things.  If you are feeling completely confused about what ‘healthy eating’ is, with all the conflicting advice in the media, or you’ve been yo-yo dieting for so long you’ve just lost track of what is normal healthy eating – don’t despair! You can go back to the basics with my FREE ‘Healthy Eating’ guide and find out how to make it easier for yourself too!

Ditch the labels around food and try to focus on nourishing your body with balanced meals. Give yourself permission to have a little of what you fancy, but don’t beat yourself up if you over-do it. Draw a line and move on. Remember you’re a good person no matter what you eat!

 

Need help to ditch dieting forever? Want to eat normally again AND lose weight healthily ..? While still enjoying the cake & chocolate? Hell yes!

I can help you ditch dieting forever, either with my 1-2-1 support. Or if you prefer to work independently, you can learn all the skills I teach my 1-2-1 clients, on my ‘No More Diets’ online course.