The word diet has been used as something you do for a short time to get a quick result. We would like to present it as a lifestyle. Rather than dieting, a healthy DIET (way of eating, long-term) consists of foods that fuel, and honor, your body. While fad diets may help you lose some weight temporarily, lifestyle change is the key to long-term weight maintenance and health. Below we share with you five mindset changes that can help you to shift your lifestyle.
1) Ditch the Diet Mentality
While there are a ton of fad diets out there that can successfully help you lose weight in a short amount of time, research and experience consistently prove that 'going on diets' does not work long term. Restricting calories, removing entire food groups, and abstaining from the foods you love will inevitably set you up for a binge. Bingeing causes weight gain, and once we’ve come to the conclusion that we can’t stick to a particular diet, we invariably start searching for the next trend that promises better results. #ShinyObjects
Many of us go through this cycle over and over throughout the course of our lives because we’re looking for a quick fix. If you want to know how to stop dieting once and for all, the first thing you need to do is wrap your head around the fact that hardcore dieting doesn’t work long-term. Read the statistics.
Think back to your own experiences with dieting throughout your life, and give yourself permission to let go.
2) Commit to your health instead of your weight
We get so caught up with the numbers on our bathroom scale each morning and will put ourselves and our bodies through anything to get that number to decrease. We under-eat, we over-train, and we’re constantly at war with ourselves. It’s a vicious cycle many of us can’t get ourselves out of, but when you shift your mindset and focus on your health over your weight, the results will amaze you.
Nourishing your body with lean proteins, healthy fats, and tons of veggies, committing to 30 minutes of physical activity each day, prioritizing sleep, reducing stress, and hydrating your body are all key ingredients to weight loss. If you focus on those things instead of the number on your bathroom scale, I think you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to lose weight – and keep it off!
3) Stop Restricting
The moment your mind thinks it can’t have something – chocolate, cheese, bread, etc. – it starts to crave those foods, which oftentimes leads to a binge and subsequent feelings of disgust and self-loathing. When you remove the restrictions, you are less likely to obsess over the foods you find particularly tempting, and while you may still indulge in those items a little too much from time to time, you are much less like to go on a full-blown binge.
4) Adopt the 80/20 Rule When you allow yourself flexibility and remove restriction and rigidity, you are much more likely to keep up with your goals. Many people try to stick with their goals during the workweek, and then indulge on the weekends, but you can structure this whichever way works best for you. Remember that the idea isn’t to completely fall off the rails and have a full-blown celebration day. The 80/20 principle is more about removing restrictions so you’re less likely to binge.
5) Practice Mindful Eating
There are tons of great articles you can read about mindful eating, and while some take this practice very seriously, I tend to focus on 3 main principles:
Don’t wait until you’re starving to eat as this makes you more likely to make poor food choices and overeat. Remind yourself that hunger is not an emergency.
Remove distractions while eating so you can enjoy your meal and pay attention to how the food you’re consuming makes you feel
Stop eating before you’re stuffed and uncomfortable.
These are 5 simple steps to help you on your health journey. It's our recommendation to implement ONE of these each week (or two). Once you get the hang of it, feel free to add another. Keep it simple.
Comments