Do You Need Another Diet?
“I want to lose weight, but I am so sick of trying and failing diet after diet”.
I hear this all the time and I felt that way too.
There is no shortage of weight loss advice out there and it can be hard to wade through it all and find something that actually works…
I can say one thing with a lot of certainty - you don’t need another diet…you’ve done that already…you know how that turns out.
What you do need is to lose the weight in a way that you want to live your life, meaning you actually enjoy (at least most of the time) what you’re doing and that you can keep it up for the long haul.
After years of dieting this is what I learned that helped me to lose the weight and keep it off - WITHOUT that diet nonsense.
Eat real food. This is probably one of the most important changes I made. When you eat food that nourishes your body (vs just being empty factory-made calories) not only do you feel better, but you’ll likely find you’re actually less hungry, because your body is getting what it needs to function properly.
When you’re eating processed food, it makes it really easy to overeat because those foods are designed to make you want to eat more and crave more.
Eat when you’re hungry, don’t when you’re not. We are so used to living life on autopilot that a lot of times we eat without even realizing it or stopping to ask ourselves “am I even hungry?”. Whether it's a handful of crackers as you pass through the kitchen, or snacking from the office candy dish as you chat with a coworker, or eating the leftovers off your kids plate. We do a lot of snacking and grazing whether we’re hungry or not. Get in the habit of asking yourself - before you eat - “am I even hungry?” If so, eat. If not, wait until you are.
The second part of this is that when you are hungry, have a meal, rather than snacking or grazing all day long. That's a really easy way to end up eating way more than you even realize.
Prioritize protein & keep carbs in check. When you focus on eating plenty of protein that can be a real game changer for getting control of your hunger. Protein is the most satiating of the three macros - it takes longer to breakdown and digest so it helps to keep you fuller longer. Protein also helps to trigger satiety signals so it's harder to overeat.
Carbs are not the devil by any means, but the fact is most of us eat more than we need or can use. Carbs are our quick energy fuel source, but most of us live pretty sedentary lives these days so we don’t have a huge need for a ton of that quick and easy energy.
Pay attention. This goes back to that idea of getting off autopilot. We need to start paying attention more. Both to figure out if you’re even hungry before you eat, but also paying attention to how the food that you do eat makes you feel. This can give you really important info - like if you notice you get really bloated after eating xyz or maybe you notice your energy crashes shortly after lunch. Those are signs that your body is trying to tell you something and you might want to look at that.
Make a plan! Whether it's the night before or the morning of, plan what you are going to eat for the day. Make sure you have the stuff on hand or how you’re gonna get it. This not only takes some of the mindlessness out of your eating but this way you’re not scrambling trying to figure out what to eat when you’re tired and hungry at the end of the day.
Be prepared. Always make sure you have stuff on hand that you can grab on the run or make or heat quickly when you’re short on time or just hungry and tired.
Don’t do anything just in the name of losing weight that you can’t keep up for the long term. A lot of times we look for those quick fix/fad diets to try to lose weight quickly, but those quick fixes usually just end up with fast regain too. You want to lose the weight in a way that you can live your life (small, consistent, doable changes over time) so you can get off that lose-gain-lose again cycle.
Perfection is not required. Just because you mess up or things don’t go exactly as planned that doesn’t mean you ruined all your progress or that you should just quit. Consistency is what matters not perfection. Just keep going!
Commit to figuring it out. Know that no matter what happens you will figure out a way to make it work for you and keep going.
Move your body - often. Our bodies are just not designed to be so sedentary. Find ways to move your body and move it often throughout the day. This doesn’t have to be formal exercise , but just find ways to break up that sedentary-ness throughout the day. Walking is a really great and simple way to do this.
Hydrate. Being hydrated is so important not just for weight loss, but for overall health, and your energy as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean drinking gallons of water every day but drinking often and normally, meaning you’re not guzzling or downing large amounts of water at one time - which actually does very little to actually hydrate you - you are just quickly cycling the water in and then right back out without giving it a chance to actually hydrate you.
Sleep like your life depends on it - because it does! Sleep is crucial for successful weight loss. You can have everything else all dialed in but if you aren’t getting enough sleep, your progress is going to suffer.
In short, start where you are now, not where you think you should be. Start with small doable habits that you can realistically fit into your life right now. Start building that momentum and confidence and as that begins to feel more comfortable and second nature you can add on another small habit or 2.