The Diet won't help you...
September 6, 2020
Trying to be "good" is what is causing you to be "bad"....
It is September, Labor Day weekend. Even in this weird pandemic shut down and shut in world, this means a return to routine. For better or for worse we are pushing forward; as if time would stand still and give us some choice anyway.
September ReNew You
September is the New Year.
Maybe not on a calendar, but in our bodies and minds. Since childhood September signaled the start of starting fresh, starting over and starting NEW. For adults
September still has that hold on us.
We are drawn back into the feeling of a clean slate, a second chance, and after a long (weird ass) summer; an opportunity to finally get our shit back together.
Which means, putting it bluntly,
we want to go on a diet.
I get it.
I’ve done it!
It makes sense, any time a life shift happens we feel inclined to add in some good habits or attempt to drop the bad. All for that! Big shifts, like the one most of us will once again go through navigating work/school/homeschool/ hybrid school are PERFECT times to reevaluate what is and what is NOT working in our lives.
But I have an experiment for you. This year; don’t diet.
I have a belief, one I’ve seen proven over and over… everyone can diet, and almost no one can maintain it after. I believe the DIET, what we go to as our FIX, our cure.
The shiny bright thing we will put in our life that will magically fix us and help us fit in our jeans is what is fucking us up in the first place. The diet is the problem.
Being “bad” isn’t your problem. It is trying to fix it with “being good”.
If you want to make a real change this September,
stop dieting.
Here is the thing, knowing better CAN mean doing better.
But it is rarely true with our health, nutrition and fitness.
(Everything I am saying here- literally everything- I’ve done too, not throwing shade out rather shining and big ass unapologetic spotlight on our collective bullshit).
We do the same thing, over and over and over and over and over and over. Expecting that THIS TIME will be the time that sticks. This time will be the time we STAY “skinny” after.
If I had 5 bucks for every time someone sat in my office and said “well every time I do keto/the 21 day fix/ low carb I lose at least 20 pounds, so I am going to do that again” I would be rich AF. If I had 5 bucks for everything I DID THAT I would be loaded! (well. Not keto or Beach body but y’all get the point).
Here is a universal truth: EVERY DIET WORKS.
All of them. Every single one.
The stupid ones, the hard ones, the easy ones, the ones with little containers, the ones with points, the ones without bread, the ones with only bread. All of them.
If you do them as instructed, which really is only reducing your calories, you will lose weight.
The after though???
That shit can be SCARY.
Cause wtf do you do after you haven’t had bread in 30 days???
You eat all the fucking bread.
Or all the Carbs. Or all the cake. All the anything.
Dieting- by default is easy.
Figuring out how to live after that and maintain it is HARD.
So what I am proposing is a pretty simple concept, and on paper it makes complete sense. If you do the same thing over and over and expect different results that is the definition of insanity, right? Lets knock that shit off together, collectively as women.
Let's aim to stop trying to just diet ourselves into oblivion and instead work on habits that would add in MORE into our lives.
I am about to blow your mind:
you can lose weight without “dieting”.
(if you all could have seen how hard I just hit that period right there. It was aggressive)
On Monday, before we swear of carbs, sugar, bread, bananas cause everyone knows they have so much sugar (insert huge eye roll) and swear to stay in ketosis, only eating meat green vegetables and pre-measured almond packs;
look yourself in the mirror and ask if that is REALLY what you want to do?
Do I really want to count calories and carbs? Is that going to make me feel proud and accomplished??
Is saying no to all forms of starch going to bring me joy?
Ill call myself out here; I coach Whole30- and the last 1 maybe 2 rounds I did, I didn’t need. I know what to do to feel good. I do not need to remove all corn starch in order to get there…
Which brings me to my next point.
Diets and protocols can teach us things.
I would be flat out lying if I said counting calories for years doesn’t make me aware of how much of something I am consuming. BUT- and it is a big one.
We also have these really cool things called PLATES. We can fill a third of them with veggies, another third or fourth with protein, do ALMOST ANYTHING on the rest and get killer results- without a food scale or app. Wild right??
Whole30; it taught me to cook more, to prioritize real food over protein bars, eat a ton of veggies… but again; doing it now isn’t going to serve me anymore. I learned what I needed to learn, it did its job, I don't to go back there. Thank you next.
We have to leave the past in the past, because; if they worked WE WOULDN'T TO DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! …… (aggressively hit period).
Ask yourself,
is what you are planning on doing something you have already done but feel the need to repeat again because you are back into old habits??
Then it’s a hard stop. You do not need a diet again.
Time to look at your habits!
How can you get to where you want to be without dieting?? It is pretty simple. I won't call it easy, it takes more work than dieting, but it is simple.
Check in with yourself before every meal and throughout the day.
Ask yourself;
do I really want this?
Is this serving me? My highest good?
Is it helping me show up as my best self?
The beautiful thing here-
your body knows.
We have SO MUCH WISDOM in our bones! We need to listen to it.
The other beautiful thing; sometimes the piece of cake, glass of wine with friends, chips and gauc ARE serving you!
Sometimes saying NO to those things would only make you feel worse-
leave you feeling deprived sending you right back into the overeating shame cycle (that is whole other post OR join my September group cause we will explore the shit out of this!). All foods can be part of “diet”. And; on the other end, sometimes it’s a no. That 3rd glass of wine isn’t doing anything but giving you a hangover, chips and dip sitting in front of your TV mindlessly eaten while watching Netflix are not elevating you in any form, and that cake has been sitting in your office fridge for 3 days… you do not want it.
Checking in with ourselves is a superpower we ALL have but rarely use. You do not need a diet. You need yourself.
Get in the habit of asking what you REALLY want, and honoring it. People automatically think that will lead them to a life of beige carbs, sugar and booze. Trust me, it won’t. Your body does not like to be treated like shit and if you ask it, it will tell you.
So can you lose 20 pounds in 20 days? YEP! Can you keep it off? Almost always- no. Is it healthy to do? Almost always, no.
Stop being REACTIVE with your health,
chasing your tail by always trying to “diet” away your nutritional sins of the summer (or in a few months the holidays).
Let yourself BE.
Find habits around your health that bring you joy and make you feel proud.
Eating veggies for breakfast hits SO MUCH DIFFERENT when you are doing it out of love and respect for your body as opposed to trying to lose 10 pounds. Again. One of those habits will stay because it feels really good, and the other will fall off quick because it is coming from a place of self-hate and fear.
Respect yourself enough to ask YOU what you really want and need. And then honor yourself enough to listen.
This September, stop trying to undo. Start trying to listen. Learn to do that and you will never need to undo again.
(and if you have a coach/trainer/person telling you that they can help you lose 20 pounds in 20 days tell them you can do even better, you can lose 150 pounds in 15 seconds- and run away from them…)
For information on a very UN-diet program check out my September ReNew You group