Why that diet didn’t work and what to do instead
Let’s look at why that diet didn’t work and what to do instead. You can watch the video I made about this below or keep scrolling if you prefer to read.
This is for you if you started off the year planning to go on a new diet. Or maybe your New Year’s Resolution was to eat better. You thought “I’m going to try this new diet” or “I’m going to make all these changes”. You had all these great plans and maybe things started off OK. Maybe the first week or two you were following the plan, you were eating better, you were making changes that you’d planned to make…
But then reality hit, your plans went out the window! Those old habits started creeping back in and the new habits have slipped. It’s too hard to keep up and you start thinking that you’ve blown it. You think you might as well just give up and go back to your old habits. Maybe that couple of pounds that you lost have gone back on again already and you start feeling rubbish. You’re telling yourself you’re a failure coz you’ve blown it completely!
Here’s why that diet didn’t work…
First of all the main reason why it didn’t work for you is I’m guessing you tried to change too much in one go. This is the biggest reason why I see people fail to make changes is they try to change too much. Also when you’re following a diet or going to a slimming-club, there’s so much pressure to get results. It’s all about getting the number on the scales going down and getting to your target weight, regardless of how you do it.
Often the reality is, you don’t actually want to make the changes that you’re making to your eating and exercising habits. You’re just doing it to get the results, because that’s what you’ve been told to do to get to your target. Plus the diet-plans and slimming club rules are too drastic; it’s all too different to your normal eating habits. In which case it’s no wonder that you can’t stick to it!
You haven’t failed – the diet failed you!
It’s not you failing, it’s just that all these diets and slimming clubs make you think you have to follow their plan perfectly. You think you have to do everything ‘just right’ and eat perfectly. But then what they tell you to do isn’t sustainable coz it’s too different to your normal habits. It’s no wonder then that when things start to slip, it gets too difficult, you think you’ve failed! Then you put all the weight back on again, feel rubbish and you think it’s you that can’t do it at all.
Forget all that dieting and trying to change everything, here’s what to do instead:
Firstly, focus on building habits instead of watching the results
Have a think about what habits you want to build forever. If you don’t want to do it forever, don’t do it! Pick changes that you think “yeah that’s a habit I want to build”. Like for example, you don’t normally have breakfast, but you think that’s a habit you could build into your life. If it’s a habit you want to create then look at how you’re going to do that instead of following the perfect plan. Focus your attention on building that habit instead of looking at the results – the results will follow eventually.
Just tweak it!
Instead of doing something completely different to what you normally do or trying to change too much. Just pick one little thing to start with, one little change to what you normally do. Take your time making changes coz it takes time to build new habits. Focus on one little tweak at a time and you’ll find it so much easier.
Check you actually want to change
If you don’t really want to be different, don’t do anything. It’s absolutely OK, I give you permission! You don’t have to change if you don’t want to. Think about what your goal is and just check-in with yourself. Do you actually want to get there? Is it really that important to you right now? Think about the changes that you’re making – do you really want to make those changes? If you don’t want to make that change, pick something else to tweak. Make it easy for yourself by doing what you WANT to do, otherwise it’s going to be an uphill battle.
Dieting doesn’t work, it makes it worse for you in the long-term.
Three things to do instead of going on that diet:
- Focus on building habits instead of watching the results on the scales.
- Tweak it; make little changes instead of trying to change everything.
- Make sure that you actually WANT to change.
Not sure where to start with tweaking it? I’ve got help for you – check out my guide to making healthy eating easier to help you get started. Have a look at what I recommend then see where you could tweak what you normally do.
Remember it’s time to ditch dieting forever – because you absolutely deserve better.
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My Weekly Round-up! AKA; what I’ve been up to recently…
- Tea of the week has been Earl Grey Vanilla again. Did I mention that the tin I’ve put the teabags in smells incredible – yum!
- Been keeping up the daily walks down by the brook after the school run most days. Although I haven’t done the yoga and my little exercise routine as many times as I was aiming for this week. It’s noticeable how it affects my back, so planning to do them both at the weekend too to make up for it!
- We ticked off another walk for our family challenge ’23 Walks in 2023′. This weekend we walked around Shrewsbury Battlefield. Can’t believe I’ve never been round there before, despite growing up round here. And my Dad also used to be a history teacher! Not sure how we escaped being taken round there and given a full background lecture – ha!
- I decided to do another reading challenge to get myself reading more new books this year. Last week I finished reading William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for book number 1 of ’23 New Books in 2023′. I’ve had it on my shelf for years, but never got round to reading it. Took ages as I had to keep reading the accompanying notes to figure out the jokes etc! Now I’m reading one of Caitlin Moran’s books – there are actually a few of hers on my to read list!
- For the last few weeks I’ve been watching a murder mystery series on Netflix called ‘Stay Close’. It was pretty bizarre in parts and to start with I didn’t know what on earth was going on! Really enjoyed it though and it had a fantastic cast too.
- Bird Nerd Report: I keep seeing lots of little flocks of goldfinches and long-tailed tits – always makes me happy to see them. I’m sure there were some greenfinches at one point too, I could hear them, but couldn’t see their colour as they were too high up the tree. I also saw a couple of goosanders down on the brook a few times too – I wonder if there will be babies again this year…
