starting a diet is intimidating and overwhelming. you feel like you have to make an entire re-vamp of your life just to lose weight.
i have great news... you don't! weight loss and maintaining that loss is not a sprint...it's a lifelong marathon. so any program or tea or pill that's promising your whole life to change or to lose 30 lbs quick...it's probably full of shit.
cause you may lose that weight in that moment or for that week or month that you are able to follow whatever strict diet or afford whatever crazy program you need to... but what about after that? what about the weeks, months, and years that follow the intense diet you followed to a T?
you go back to your old diet habits. probably not all at once, but after a couple of months you're most likely eating like you were before you had your strict diet wondering why you're gaining weight again.
this can start a diet cycle that many people suffer through for their entire life. a cycle of yo-yo dieting, of restriction and binge eating, and of losing and gaining the same weight over and over again.
but there is a different way to diet! and it's a WAY better option than eating no carbs or cutting out every food that you enjoy for forever.
and the difficult part is... it looks different for everyone. which no one wants to hear. people want to be told what to do and that it's worked for all these people and it will definitely work for you too. if you want someone to tell you what to eat... go find yourself an actual dietitian or nutritionist. they are literally trained in figuring out diet plans for people and are the only people who should be giving you rock solid recommendations for food.
beyond finding a nutritionist... YOU have to figure out what works for YOU. and it takes time and effort and consistency but it's so worth it.
this isn't a "how to" blog so i will write on this more later... but the basic start is really figuring out how much you are actually eating...and then how much you actually should be eating and then working your way to that until you hit your goals.
but the important part is to not eliminate all your foods that you enjoy and to try to incorporate more nutrient dense ("whole") foods.
what does that look like???
-it looks like making conscious food choices and eating mindfully (not hand in a bag of snacks while watching tv)
-it looks like still having food and drinks that you enjoy (yes you can still have beer and wine... just not multiple glasses every single night)
- it looks like a long term lifestyle change instead of a crash diet that you can only do for a few weeks before you fizzle out
avoid diets that force you to:
-only eat a few set meals/proteins/veggies/etc and that's it
-cut out an entire macronutirent (carbs, fats, or protein)
- cut out a whole food group (diary, meat, sweets, etc) for forever (i'm not including whole30 in this, because this is specifically only a short term diet)
what's the harm of crash dieting?
you will not hit your goals... and if you do you won't maintain it.
it creates a terrible cycle of restricting foods and then binge eating on those foods. (not great for weight loss)
it will hurt your metabolism in the long term. if you are constantly yo-yo dieting your body and your metabolism will adapt to that and it is not beneficial for weight loss.
you are more at risk for a myriad of different diseases (heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc)
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eat foods that you enjoy mindfully, drink hella water, and eat some veggies and you'll be on your way. do not think of dieting as a quick fix, think of it as a long term health journey.
in the next week or two i am going to have a blog out on HOW to figure out what a sustainable diet is for yourself!
until then... do you have any questions about sustainable dieting and crash dieting? let me know in the comments or send me a message on instagram or facebook!