When it comes to losing weight, there are countless options to choose from when it comes to eating. Some of the options are:
Keto
Paleo
Weight Watchers
Low carb
High fat/low carb
Counting macros
Gluten-Free
Dairy-Free
Whole 30
Vegetarian
Mediterranean diet
And that is only the start of all the ways that you can eat to lose weight.
Those diets will help you lose weight if you follow them, but you have to follow the diet precisely, which means having none of your favorite foods.
That was the problem; when I had 100 lbs to lose, there was no way I could stop eating ice cream! It didn’t teach me how not to want the ice cream.
The other thing is that you have to continue to follow that diet for the rest of your life, I don’t know about you, but that was where the 2nd problem occurred.
I was great at using all my willpower to follow the diet, and many times I got down to my goal weight, I hit goal weight at Weight Watchers twice. What happened next was, once I hit my goal weight, my mind then went to “I can’t or don’t want to eat this way forever.”
Another thought I had was (this was something that was always in the back of my mind) “all I have to do is follow the diet, and then when I get to my goal weight, I can go back to eating my favorite foods again.” You know the result of that thinking, I gained the weight back!
So when a diet doesn’t work for us, we go straight to blaming the diet, thinking we just have not found the right diet to follow. We then go looking for yet another “better” diet.
We end up hopping from one diet to another, not realizing the issue is not that we don’t know what or how much to eat; the problem is that we are unaware of all the underlying reasons why we end up quitting and then go back to overeating.
Yes, those diets tell you what to eat, what not to eat and how often, and some even have an app with recipes and shopping lists. They are giving you all of this because they are trying to make it as easy as possible to stick with it to get great weight loss results. We love it when we have someone else giving us the solution!
But, when you have a stressful day at work and come home and find yourself raiding the fridge, the diet plan won’t help you. It only focuses on the food and does not say to you, “Hey-it’s not food you need; what you need is to deal with your thoughts and feelings about the situation that happened today.”
So yes, a diet works for the person who just needs to be told what, when, and how much to eat and then they lose the weight and keep it off.
It will not work for the person who has struggled for a long time, who has done all the diets, and nothing has worked, and that is because food is not the problem.
When my clients work with me, they find it so surprising that they are not a failure for not being able to stick with a diet. They realize that to lose weight and keep it off, they have to become aware of what is sabotaging them.
The right way to lose weight that you can follow for the rest of your life has to go beyond the food. It will teach you how to live your life without needing food or even alcohol to get through and to make it better.
I want to share one tool with you to help you get started with losing weight, and it is doing thought downloads every day.
I want you to sit alone in a quiet space without any distractions. This time is dedicated to you writing down all your thoughts, the sentences in your mind that come up when you are thinking about losing weight, and your life.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself (there is no right or wrong answer):
What are my thoughts/beliefs about myself and my body?
What in my life am I doing really well with, and what am I not doing well with?
What do I think losing weight will give me?
Do I believe that losing weight and keeping it off is possible?
What does beauty look like to me?
How have I shown up in my life, and what do I think about all the failed attempts? What did I learn from that?
How have I show up in my life and succeeded? What did I learn from that?
These are only a few to get you started. It is important to get all this out of your head on paper because your answers will explain why you continue to struggle with losing weight.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get started with losing weight in a way that goes beyond the food, that is the solution to long term weight loss, then click here to book a free call. On the call, we will find out what is holding you back, and we will then set up a plan so that you can get started in losing weight in a sustainable way.
You are worth it!
Karen
RN, Certified Weight, Emotional Eating and Confidence Coach
P. S. Join my Facebook group here, where I am there to support you and teach the tools to help you lose weight for the last time.
