This time of year can bring out the best and worst in us when it comes to our health! If you are anything like I used to be then you are already starting to plan for how ‘good’ you are going to be come January and how amazing the results are going to be. You are so motivated to ‘start over’ in January and ‘next year is going to be different’. Perhaps you are excited about starting a particular new diet or fitness regime, maybe your current diet is working well, if you could just white knuckle it though Christmas! Does any of this sound like you?

So many people who come to me have been in this cycle for so long that in the beginning it is hard to get out of the diet mindset. And that’s OK! After-all, it is all around us in the media ALL the time! If this is you and you want to try something different this year then a good place to start is to raise your awareness of what this new diet will actually entail. This way you can decide whether or not it really is the smoking gun you are hoping for. If not, then don’t be disappointed! You have learned something that WON’T work for you and your lifestyle and you will more easily find something that WILL!

Here are some questions to help you to decide whether this new diet really will make a new you:

• Does it cut out any of your favourite foods?
• Does it involve periods of time when you are going without food that makes you nervous?
• Does it involve expensive ingredients that you don’t even like?
• Does it require endless hours of meal prep?
• Do you have to spend your whole day eating diet foods?
• Are you doing it because YOU want to or because ‘It worked for your friend’?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the above then the new diet you are thinking of starting probably isn’t for YOU! Why? Because the food can be different, the approach can be different and the results can be different for a time, but ultimately the same problems that slipped you up on every other diet are still going to make you struggle in the end! This has nothing to do with YOUR motivation and ability. Diets set us up to fail. They are a band aid solution to a problem and don’t address the cause!

The good news is it is absolutely possible to achieve your health goals next year without dieting! You don’t have to overhaul your whole life in order to have total transformation! What if, instead of a diet you tried something different? What if you dedicated your energy to discovering what really works for you? What if you could create a complete lifestyle that fitted in with your own life, goals, beliefs, values and family time?

Well you absolutely CAN do this and it doesn’t have to be a difficult and guilt-ridden journey either. Phew!

Here are some of the stages I work through with my clients in order to create their healthy blueprint:

• Use the past: No matter how many diets have failed you in the past, we can use them to our advantage! Each one had an important lesson for you! Make a list and think back to what did and didn’t work for you with each one and why? Remember too that you will probably find that what worked for you once 10 years ago might not work for you now because maybe you’ve had kids since, your life is busier and your priorities are different. That’s ok! This is just us, gathering information at this stage.
• Figure out where you are: This is the most important stage of the process because if we know exactly where we stand then we can work around it. Take inventory of which habits you have at the moment that you think are not supportive to your goals and which ones are! It isn’t all bad! It is just as important to account for the behaviours that make you happy as it is for the ones that make you feel bad!
• At this stage you will probably be getting a clear picture of what will and won’t work for you. What you are willing to change and what you are not! And that’s OK too! We need ALL the information in order to create our first healthy steps!
• Time: Create a clear picture of what you expect to happen and when, then challenge it until it is as realistic as can be. So many people have unrealistic expectations (which is normal) , but it is important to figure out your physical goals and create a realistic timeline. Are you going to measure dress size, energy levels, habit change or fitness levels?
• Draw up a specific and realistic game plan. This takes time and is not set in stone! The whole point of empowering yourself with your own health is to be able to tweak and change the plan as you go! Life is not the same every day and your plan needs to be adaptable! It has to go with you and grow with you! This is one of the reasons diets will fail you! They aren’t flexible enough and they are not bespoke! They don’t know you! YOU do and therefore YOU have all the power!

At the end of the day it is completely possible to create a healthy lifestyle that works for you and that you LOVE. One that you can succeed at consistently rather than one that fails you consistently. Take the information you KNOW about yourself and use it to your advantage. If diets have not worked for you in the past then try a new way. Instead of using all your mental and emotional energy on something that won’t work for you, use it to empower you and make you feel amazing! Why not invest your time and energy into something that WILL work for you?

Get that pen and paper and start to create your own healthy blueprint!

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!