Chances are that if you landed on this article either you are considering or are already on a diet. If so is it working for you? Are you seeing the results you want? Many people try program after program, pills and even starvation but none of it ever sticks and any weight loss they do achieve is temporary at best. Does that sound familiar? If so read on.
There are hundreds of so called "gurus" and "experts" telling you to do this or that so how are you supposed to separate fact from fiction? How do you know what's right for you? The simple answer is every diet plan works some of the time. The unfortunate truth is that the problem is not the diet, it is you. It is technically possible to lose weight using any of the methodologies on the market today but your results are contingent upon what you bring to the table. To help you get the most out of your efforts, here are five things to consider as you chart your way to weight loss success.
5 Reasons Diets don’t Work
If you have goals, they aren't specific enough.
Setting goals is the key to any successful endeavor but it is especially important when it comes to your health and fitness. If you look in the mirror and say, "I want to lose some weight!" that is a start but by itself that is not enough. If you are serious about shedding pounds you first need to know what you are up against. Yes, that means getting on the dreaded scale. What size dress or pants are you wearing today? What is your ideal size? Do you struggle to walk up the stairs, does your back often hurt? Once you have your starting point then you can set goals for yourself like, "I want to lose forty pounds", "I want to be in a size 6" or "I want to have more energy throughout the day". If you have a specific target to shoot for your results will improve exponentially.
Your goals are unrealistic.
While goals must be specific they also must be realistic. Successful people will tell you that placing a feasible timeline on their goals made a significant difference in their performance. For example, a healthy weight loss goal for the average person is no more than 1-2 lbs per week. Admittedly that sounds like a paltry amount but it adds up diets often fail because people expect the impossible. We are all guilty of it at some point in our lives, we want results now not down the road but that is a trap sure to spell failure. If you want to lose thirty pounds in a week, you will be sorely disappointed and your motivation to continue the program will swirl down the drain. Remember that it took you a while to add the pounds so doesn't it make sense that it will take time to slim down? Set your goals and aim high but then go back over them and make sure that you are not fooling yourself. Ask yourself, "is this something that I can actually accomplish?"
Counting calories.
Sure counting calories is a pain but if you are serious about making your diet work it's a good idea to know what you are eating on a daily basis. Many people are ashamed of how much they eat so they don't want to track it or worse yet they fudge the numbers (no pun intended). However, the simple act of recording every single thing you eat and drink for one week will move you towards your weight loss goals faster than you ever thought possible. Use shame and guilt to your advantage. These are not negatives, they are signals. Your brain is telling you that its time for a change. Make sure you get everything, even coffees, energy drinks, and sodas. Most importantly don't cheat. You can't change what you don't acknowledge.
You over do it.
Often people jump into a program with gusto and push themselves to the max but then after a week or two they can't take it anymore and backslide. Why does this happen? Well, if you are used to eating say 4000 calories a day and all of the sudden you cut your calories to 1000 your body doesn't really know what to do, it's expecting those extra calories, it's been using them to fuel your body for quite some time so now it must adjust and grab energy from elsewhere. You might experience fatigue or other maladies while your body gets its bearings and subsequently eating more actually makes you feel better. This seems to defeat the purpose of the diet in the first place and you are back where you started. Another mistake is when people try to starve themselves. The problem with this is that your body needs fuel to survive, if you cut off its access to what it needs you can only go so long before you have to binge. Society is moving so fast and everyone wants their results yesterday but when it comes to your health, slow and steady wins the race. While this is an unpopular thing to say, it is absolutely true. Take it slow, track what you are eating weekly and start adjusting your calories down gradually, allow your body to get used to the change instead of shocking your system and you will succeed.
Your reasons for dieting in the first place aren't compelling enough.
Human behavior is driven by two factors. We seek pleasure and we avoid pain. In relationship to our weight loss goals, we either want the pleasure of a more attractive body or we want to eliminate the pain of ridicule, lethargy and health problems. The most effective way to make your diet stick is to get clear about your motivation. Ask yourself what is more important the pain or the pleasure? Many times we may tell ourselves that it would be nice to fit into that dress by spring but is that really a compelling enough reason? And then of course what happens after spring, will you keep it up? By contrast what if you determined your current weight, body fat percentage etc, and realized how unhealthy you really are. Your reasoning for the diet has a lot more force to it because there is more at stake. Which would get you into that gym faster; wanting to look sexier in a dress or avoiding an untimely death? The point here is that if you want to increase the effectiveness of any diet the reasons behind it should make it something that you must do instead of something you should do. If healthy eating is a absolute instead of a "maybe" or a "should" you will stick to it for the long run.
Comments
Post a Comment