Letting Go of Diet Mentality
Let’s talk about diets. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different options for diets you could try that all claim they are the “best” and that they will help you lose weight. The diet industry is a $72 billion dollar industry, and according to a recent survey, more than half of American women are on some kind of diet, trying to lose weight. Most people assume that they will do a diet until they reach their goal, and then they will stop the diet and resume a more “normal” way of eating. And herein lies the problem.
In our society, it’s become normal to assume that if a person wants to lose weight, or needs to for some health reason, they should go on a diet. Often, diets and exercise are tied together as the magic combination that makes the whole thing work. But if you ask many people how to lose weight, most of them will say you have to “go on a diet”. And that generally entails adhering to a set of rules and restrictions about what, when, and how a person eats. Having that structure can make people feel comfortable at first, but later can lead to some problems.
How it usually works: you try a new diet, you lose some weight at first, but the restrictions and rules of the diet are hard to maintain, so eventually you drop them. Once the diet is stopped, the weight comes back, sometimes more than before, and you feel miserable. Then a while later, you hear about another type of diet that a lot of people are having success with, you try it, have some success, it gets hard, you “break the rules”, and gain the weight back. And each time this cycle happens, your metabolism gets damaged. That damage, makes it harder to lose weight the next time. This is what we call yo-yo dieting, because your weight goes up and down, and up and down. It’s insanely frustrating!
I’ve done it too. Low-carb, paleo, low-calorie, super low-calorie with a daily hormone injection (what was I thinking?!), intermittent fasting, an insanely complicated diet to heal the metabolism, and countless others that were for gut-healing and food-intolerance reasons. What I learned from doing all of these diets is that no one diet is going to be “the one”. I also learned that having so many rules and restrictions is really hard to maintain. I’m a pretty disciplined person, so I could keep them up for a while and do OK, but eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. There was always an “end date”. And if I lost weight on that diet, I always gained it back when I stoped.
Diet mentality is the mindset that we have when we think that diets are the answer. The thoughts of “I can’t have ______” or “I have to restrict x, because I’m overweight” or “I shouldn’t eat this late” or “I can’t eat until x time even though I am hungry” are all part of diet mentality. Focusing on what we “can’t have” leads to a scarcity mentality. The restrictions and rules will cause you to want to rebel against them, it’s human nature! These thoughts are damaging, stressful, and often lead to a binge at some point. It creates a very unhealthy cycle.
So, what’s the alternative? Figure out what foods give you the best energy and eat them often. Add more beneficial, nutrient-dense foods to your meals instead of focusing on getting rid of certain foods or food groups. Focus on what you get to eat, rather than on what you “shouldn’t” eat. When we place more emphasis on the beneficial foods, the ones that help us feel good, the ones that make us energetic, naturally you will start choosing those foods more often. The lack of rules will make it easier for you to continue choosing the foods that make you feel best. And when this happens, eating healthfully will become a natural part of who you are and what you do. You will start to create healthy habits around food, and they will just happen, because they are habits. Habits are things you can keep doing for life. And when you have a way of eating that you can do for life, you won’t have that crazy yo-yo effect anymore and your body will be able to settle down and relax. A relaxed and safe body will regulate better and you’ll naturally look and feel your best.
If diet mentality is something you experience on a regular basis and you’d like to learn how to transform your body without a new form of restriction, click here to book a free Discovery Session with me!