Why you should ditch the diets for good and play the long game of health… for life
We all have good intentions when starting something new, we chase that feeling that this is it, this is the new me and I’m going to make a positive change for the very last time.
Now if this next sentence sounds a little bit like you then you need to keep on reading…
“Right here we go, I’m on a new diet and my plan is to cut out bread, pasta, potatoes, chips oh and i’m going to give up alcohol. I’ll exercise everyday and when I go out for a meal i’m choosing the healthiest dish on the menu, Yep I’ve got this!!
Sound familiar? Thought so…
This shock to the system is great in theory and you probably will see some dramatic changes to your weight, but just ask yourself is this way of living sustainable long term and more importantly will you be happy ? The chances are you won’t.
Before I continue It’s worth me mentioning that there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing this option if It’s for a short period of time, like I said you’ll get results it will just suck all the fun out of life whilst you’re doing it and I don’t know about you but that doesn’t appeal to me.
You see going from ‘all to nothing’ might suit some people as it will be the only way they can make progress but for the vast majority of us cutting everything out of our life or making too many extreme changes will lead to serious withdrawals causing you to cave within a week (and that’s being generous) putting you right back where you started with an even bigger hill to climb and seriously depressed state of mind as there is nothing more demotivating than failing at something so quickly or not seeing it through.
The way to prevent this from happening is to make small changes over time whilst building healthy habits into your lifestyle.
Unfortunately with the fast paced life we all live now we want fast results, but I’m here to tell you that in order for this change to last you actually want this journey to take a little bit of time and that’s totally ok.
Let me explain…
Over the years I have worked with many clients who have lost a large amount of weight in a relatively short period of time, which is great. Unfortunately though, a few of them have put a lot of the weight back on because they didn’t continue with what worked for them for just a few more months and slowly transitioned through a healthy maintenance phase of their journey.
It always amazes me how people work so hard to lose the weight then just stop everything they were doing and expect their body weight or shape to stay the same, It’s just not going to happen.
Remember the tortoise and the hare children’s story, that is pretty much how you should follow a successful weight loss journey – slow and steady wins the race. Then when you have reached your goal remember to keep going as this is just the beginning, you’ve built your new body and now its about finding balance to keep it.
So remember – “Take it slow and introduce small changes, over time and you’ll be onto a winner”
