Diets Don’t Work: All the Facts

On average, women in America will spend 30 years of their lives dieting. That is a tremendous amount of time, energy and lots of money to spend on something when diets don’t work.

You heard me: diets don’t work.

Like all living things, our bodies crave homeostasis, a maintained state of equilibrium, and our minds do too. So when you crash diet, you may lose a bunch of weight, but as soon as you stop the diet and lift the mental restrictions you’ve placed on how you think about food and portion size, you start to see the number on the scale creep back up.

If you’ve already found that diets don’t work, cut yourself some slack! Most diets are not designed to address our mindset, and since mindset is the key to lasting transformation, diets are doomed to fail from the beginning.   

In today’s blog, I’m going to give you a rundown on how you can reframe what it means to feel healthy and create a new and lasting way to reach your big health and fitness goals.

Read on to ditch those fad diets and get all the deets.

No Filling, Just Fixin’

Plain and simple: the foundation of all weight loss is making a lifestyle change.

How many times have you heard that phrase, huh? I get it; I know it sounds ideal, like a glossy magazine version of weight loss, “eat this pre-made meal and you too can be surfing in the sunshine, skinny and happy.”

Rarely do diets explain the hard work that goes into changing your lifestyle.

But if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to commit to rewiring your relationship to food and your body, and that sh!* can be hard! Totally worth it, but hard work nonetheless. If you want to change, you have to be willing to do stuff that is uncomfortable.

Most people don’t want to be uncomfortable, but that is exactly where change occurs.

The Best Way To Learn

There is a concept in psychology called The Learning Zone Model. It was developed by Tom Senninger, and it illustrates how we can create optimal learning environments. Imagine a circle with three rings, similar to a dart board. In the center circle, the bullseye, is your Comfort Zone. This contains everything you already know and understand.

Obviously, we all like it there, but when you want to learn a new skill or make a true lasting change, it always takes place just outside of your Comfort Zone, in the next circle out. This is the Learning Zone, where all growth takes place.

Some people also call this ring Discomfort. It’s beyond what you know as safe. It’s the unknown, but, as we have discussed before, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When you adopt a Beginner’s Mindset, you can turn the unknown into opportunity by embracing your curiosity and exploring.

So if you want to change how you treat your body, maybe this means seeking out BoPo inspirations, organizations and events. Or perhaps you start a daily practice of affirmations to shift the way to speak about your curves, your butt, your tummy. Or it’s adopting my #1 body appreciation exercise found here. It could even mean creating a consistent schedule for exercise that helps you feel strong and more connected to your physical form.

Changing the Root

Remember, healthy is not a number, so it’s time to redefine what that word means to you.  

If you need to make changes around food, it may be time to examine the root of your unhealthy eating habits. Are you craving something intangible and replacing its void in your life with calories? Is there trauma you need to work through with a counselor? Or do you simply need to begin a new way of eating? Try eliminating certain trouble groups like sugar, dairy, gluten, or alcohol until you find the combination that best suits your body’s needs. Slowly fold in one healthy habit at a time, so it can be fully integrated into your body and mind.

And don’t forget that you can have fun with it! Have a get-together to try out new foods, swap recipes, or meal prep. I love a good dance party when I’m cooking for the week ahead. Or check out a different type of exercise with your girlfriends (aerial yoga, anyone?). Just because it takes time and effort does not mean you have be bored or frustrated. 🙂

As you push into the Learning Zone, and move through discomfort, you gradually expand your Comfort Zone. As you adopt new healthy habits and gain more knowledge, that big scary, new thing start to feel totally normal.  

The final and outermost ring is our Panic Zone, “wherein learning is impossible, as it is blocked by a sense of fear.” This is where trauma occurs, and your authentic flight or fight instinct kicks in. It means you’ve pushed to far, too fast. That is why it is essential to set the foundation of changing slowly, with consistency and personalization.

Crash Course in Reframing

I have a great book recommendation for you called Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life by Alan Deutschman.  The premise of the book is, “Could you change when change matters most?” Alan explains that while we have the key to unlocking drastic improvements in our lives, we rarely make the changes necessary to facilitate them.

Part of success is reframing the reasons for change. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of weight loss — the food you can no longer mindlessly binge on, the time it may take to lose as much weight as you want, etc. — focus on “a new vision of the ‘joy of living’”. Start visualizing what is on the other side of your journey.  

My stepfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and though he was reluctant, we worked together to make big changes to his diet.  He removed dairy, gluten, and processed sugar. But most importantly, he focused on his WHY, the vision he had for a healthier life, and it made such a difference in his life. His cholesterol is lower than ever, he’s no longer pre-diabetic, and best of all, his levels are so low that he’s not considered at risk anymore. ????

And this new lifestyle has become his new norm and Comfort Zone, so much so that he can tell how his body reacts if he doesn’t stay on track. While diets don’t work, his LIFESTYLE change certainly does!

So where do you need to begin reframing your thoughts around weight loss and what it means to be and feel healthy? Let me know in the comments below, so I can support your lifestyle changes. 

 

LOVE + lasting change,