The dangers of diet mode

We’ve all been guilty of following a specific diet program that deprives us of the foods we really enjoy in an attempt to get fit and healthy. These types of diets that promise rapid fat loss are usually ones that promote calorie restriction and advocate eating a limited set of foods that will get us the results we’re after. More often than not, your latest “wonder”  diet was recommended by a friend, or you found it on Google or your favourite fitness celeb was promoting it. So like me once upon a time, you decide to give it a go. You’re all motivated, you go and get all the food recommend and eat nothing but that. You’re determined to follow it down to the last gram and after a few weeks (or months if it’s one of the better plans out there), you’re seeing great results. You’ve lost weight and everyone is noticing – hooray!

All the praise you receive makes you feel like you can reward yourself. And so you do!  After all, you’ve been missing out on all the things you love to eat and you’re feeling good, so why not. So, you reintroduce your favourite foods and gradually forget about following your specific diet plan. Sadly it’s not long before you notice you’ve gained weight and no longer feel great about yourself. It’s literally like getting on a merry go round and not knowing what to do to get off.

Thankfully there is hope! I too was guilty of being in diet mode – in fact, I spent years following diet after diet only to realise I kept getting bigger and bigger!  That’s right, I kept getting bigger and bigger and it was NO fun at all.

So let me tell you straight, the more “diet plans” you go on, the WORSE you’re going to feel when you finish your diet!  So please, please, please don’t embark on another diet unless you have a specific plan, for a specific timeframe and you are making sure that your calories are not in any way restricted as you could end up doing more damage to your metabolism than you realise.

It wasn’t until I actually learnt why I was putting certain foods into my body and what those foods were doing to my body, that I understood how to make better choices. By learning about food and the role it plays within your body, you can empower yourself to make conscious decisions daily to eat healthy nutritious food that doesn’t weigh you down!

Learning about protein, fats and carbs and how much you need of each is crucial to your long-term health and fitness success. Learn what foods are best to eat often and which are better to eat less often. By learning about “why” you should be eating something (rather than just eating it because your diet plan told you to), you’ll be changing your mindset to focus on nourishment.

So if you’re someone who finds themselves in ‘diet mode’ time and time again, watching the number on the scales go down and then up and then down and then up again, make a conscious decision to break the cycle. Rather than putting time into researching your next diet, put time into researching how to eat healthy for life.  My 7 rules for success are a great place start!

It will literally change your life, it changed mine!