STOP Dieting!
Yes, you read that correctly. I said, STOP dieting.
Name any diet in the book; I’ve done it! Whether that be ketosis, the vegan diet, low protein diets, etc., I’ve pretty much have done it all, and I have come to the conclusion that diet’s simply don’t work. Meh, well, maybe they work if you need to slim down into a dress for next week quickly. If that’s the goal, then I totally understand if you want to cut out carbs completely until you get to that date. However, as a long-term weight-loss solution, diets don’t work unless you keep working.
Don’t worry- I’m not one of those highly favored individuals that have been touched by the holy finger-tips of God’s favor when it comes to my body. I can lose weight easily, sure, but I definitely can gain the weight back just as easily. Fitness is not seasonal for me, nor should it be for you. It’s an everlasting journey - and that journey should be one that you enjoy.
So, what’s the problem with diets? Let’s take a look at the definition itself…
Diets - A special course of food to which one restricts oneself to lose weight or gain weight.
The problem with temporary restrictions is that once we feel that we look as big as we want to look or as small as we want to look, we tend to slip in and out of our old habits. For example, I went on a 6-month vegan diet cold-turkey! I decided one day I wanted to cut out dairy and all meat products to shape up. Now don’t get me wrong, it worked... I was super skinny, almost too skinny (goodbye apple bottom jeans). I knew that I had accomplished and over-accomplished that goal.
One day during my vegan diet, I went to a baby shower. I was tempted to eat meat as soon as I stepped foot in the backyard because of the savory smell and sizzling sounds of the taco-men cooking up some delicious street tacos. Oh, and did I mention that they were FREE?! I thought about it for a second, and eventually, I had one taco — Because one doesn’t hurt. That one very easily became four, or …six? I don’t remember the count exactly but what I can tell you is that after that day, I was back to eating meat, cheese, milk, and all of that more frequently than infrequently. Boy - did my body pay for it!
When you rush a group of food in your body that it hasn’t had in a while, your whole ecosystem is thrown off. Your body may clutch and grip onto those new calories as if it were hanging over the edge of a cliff! I easily gained all the weight that I lost back over some time. From my experience, the results of a diet only last as long as the diet habits last.
Here is some friendly advice from a diet professional - make a few lifestyle changes instead.
Intermittent Fasting - Intermittent fasting works great because you limit the number of calories your body takes in during a single day by creating time blocks that you can eat. This gives your body time to digest old food instead of always digesting new food, which essentially is great for your digestion system.
Slowly cut back on your delicious vices - I am a huge fan of cookies, cakes, and brownies. I blame my mom for this, to be honest. We all have a huge sweet-tooth. So, something that may be helpful for people similar to me in this fashion is just cutting back a little on the things you really enjoy but aren’t good for you. To start, if you have a really bad sweet tooth like me, try to only eat sweets when you accomplish something big at work, or once every weekend to reward yourself for making it through a week. If you’re eating or drinking something every day that has negative long-term effects on your health, you owe it to your current self and your future self to slowly cut these things out. Think about drug addicts that are going through with-drawls; they can’t quit drugs cold turkey without it having a drastic impact on their bodies. They have to have a little, and a little less, and soon enough, they don’t need any at all. The same goes with chocolate or salty snacks - we all have our own addictions to manage.
Exercise more - I’ve made the decision that anything that I eat over my daily amount of calorie intake MUST be burned off with no exceptions, as well as any sweets I have during the weekend. Remember, it takes about 1 hour of cardio on average to burn off around 500 calories, so if that soda is 250 calories or those cookies are 500 calories, you’ll have to put a little more work in. Try to add one 1 hour workout to your weekly regimen to balance a few things out. Should you burn around 500 extra calories each week, you can feel free to enjoy that extra snack or not, depending on what your goals are (to maintain or to lose weight).
Hire a personal trainer/nutritionist - It’s always best practice to receive professional advice from the professionals. If weight-loss or weight-gain has been a fluctuating battle for you, then I recommend seeking out help as everyone’s body type is different, and no individual is exactly alike. — Stay tuned for my services!
Remember, life is an everlasting journey, and so should your eating habits be. Crash diets simply don’t work in the long-run. So perhaps it’s time to strategize!
