For any of us who have been stuck in the ‘diet cycle of doom’, being a serial dieter often leaves us wondering “why can’t I stick to anything?” , “Why didn’t it work for me when it worked for so and so?” It can be incredibly frustrating and we start to believe there is something wrong with us! Well the good news is that it’s not YOU! The diet industry is massive, geared towards making us all feel we need to lose weight and plays into all our insecurities. It tells us that we all need to be taking this new supplement or that new protein shake and causes confusion for everyone. It can be impossible to negotiate your way through all the fad diets, after all, each one promises to be the Holy Grail!

The truth is, you can have success in one form or another with any diet but it does not mean it’s HEALTHY, and the results are often very short lived, causing you to get right back into the cycle of yoyo dieting. Each time feeling more like a failure and like there is no hope for you. These diets are often extreme, especially for some, and cause us to rely on willpower. They imply that it’s your fault if you don’t have enough strength to stick to it. To white knuckle your way through life is a truly miserable affair. I know because I have done it! And it is NOT necessary! Never again.

Diets are designed with a one-size-fits-all approach in mind, but we are obviously all different. For example if I gave someone with a terrible diet full of processed junk foods a list of whole-foods and told them to eat only those, they would have trouble implementing it. Will it work for them? YES but will they stick to it forever? Highly unlikely. They would feel restricted and miserable, wondering if they have to live in hell forever! If I gave the same list of healthy foods to someone else who already eats most of them, they would find it much easier to stick to.

So how do we get healthier without starting yet another Monday diet? We introduce better and healthier habits slowly and consistently. Consistency is KEY. You are much less likely to fail if you focus on making your current diet better bit by bit, than if you try to change everything overnight. The all or nothing approach is one of the worst things ever to happen to somebody who wants to lose weight! It simply causes us to slip all the way back to the start if we eat one thing not on the list! Introducing habits over time teaches us patience, self-belief and how it feels to win at the healthy eating game. Small achievements add up to giant changes.

Not dieting is also quicker than dieting. If you have been dieting for years and never managed to stick to any of them, then you probably know that none of them ultimately did you any good. You are perhaps more overweight now than ever before. Implementing small, healthy changes over time sounds slow. We all want to lose weight and we want it NOW! However if you had spent all those years introducing those changes bit by bit, imagine how good your diet and life would look by now?

Another problem with diets is that they rarely deal with the emotional side of eating. If they do, its usually a bit of pop psychology pushed by someone who has never been fat and has no idea what you are going through. It is incredibly frustrating for those of us who are looking for help in every corner of every magazine.

What we eat is often a huge part of our culture. Who we eat with, how we celebrate and what we eat for special occasions is so important when considering how somebody can implement healthy changes. Most diets, because they take a blanket approach, never take into account cultural or even economic differences among us! How can that ever work? If you are reading this I am certain you have stocked your fridge before with expensive and strange ingredients countless times. Some of them you have absolutely no idea how to prepare! You are not alone.

At the end of the day, the best diet is the one that you can stick to forever! The one that fits YOU and YOUR lifestyle. It will look different for everyone, especially in the beginning as we all start from a different stage. If you are part of a diet cycle and at the end of your tether, I urge you to get out now! Just because a diet helps you lose weight does not mean it’s healthy. Perhaps it worked for a friend, it doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for you.

One of the worst things about diets is that for those of us who get stuck in the cycle, they are addictive. Dieting becomes a ‘lifestyle’. We become compulsive, serial dieters which internally makes of us feel like repeated failures. We put all that work in only to end up worse off and feeling seriously guilty and useless. Each time we fail, it shakes our self-belief and self worth to the core. We start to look for the next fad that promises us the world to leap on. We need a quick fix! The cycle gets repeated.

I have noticed something about many of the amazing women who I work with…over time they have incorporated little bits from lots of diets (low carb, no sugar, no fat for example) and by the time they come to me they feel guilty for eating almost anything. Someone said to me the other day that they feel a new freedom since they started working with me because doing so has given them ‘permission’ not to eat within their normal constraints. Food should be enjoyable! Life should not feel like a prison.

The good news is that there are always ways to be healthier and improve your diet without following rigid meal plans. Whether you are super healthy, overweight, preparing for a marathon or just looking to optimise your health. Make the best decision for you based on where you are right now. Start small, don’t rush and pick just one thing to change about your diet this week and start the journey the right way for you!

As always, drop me comment below, plus don’t forget to join my private Facebook Group if you haven’t done so already……and remember The Full-Bodied Evolution Members Club has a wealth of materials and a growing community of like-minded people to help you on your weight loss journey! Plus, you can always find me on both Instagram and Pinterest for more lifestyle food and fitness tips!

….and don’t forget to listen to The Full-Bodied Evolution Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!