Ditch The New Year's Weight Loss Resolution And Try This Instead
- Brainz Magazine
- Dec 22, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 7, 2022
Written by: Racquel Wallen, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It’s that time of year again where you make that promise to yourself to finally be healthy and be successful on whatever new diet it is you have in mind.
But before you make that resolution, stop and ask yourself, “if I’ve tried all of these diets and ways to be healthy in the past and they didn’t work, what makes me think this new one will?” There is a reason why diets have a 95% failure rate and why most people who experience short-term weight loss initially from the program they tried, gain the weight back 1-5 years down the line.
Diets simply don't work. And by dieting I mean any program or product that promotes intentional weight loss (e.g. keto, intermittent fasting, detox teas, juice cleanses, meal plans, sweat belts, etc.)
The reason the failure rate of dieting is so high, is because they are so restrictive. Diets create these categories with foods that have you placing moral value around them. Certain foods are “good” others are “bad”. You can’t have that chocolate chip cookie because it’s too high in sugar and it will ruin your diet, right? When we talk about health, we have to include mental health as well.
Over time, with years of constant dieting, you find your mind consumed with thoughts of calories, numbers, tracking, stress if you go over your calories…and then by the end of the day or week, you end up binging on the foods that you’re truly craving anyways. You hide your body away at the beach, you avoid wearing certain clothes, you don’t speak up and set boundaries for yourself because you have been tying your confidence to your appearance.
In reality, all foods can fit in your life and can be seen as something neutral and you can learn to accept your body as it is in its present state. You don’t have to wait to get a certain number on the scale to then finally be happy and confident, you can do that right now.
All of these years of restricting yourself from having the foods that you want, has created a scarcity mindset. By that I mean you are placing foods off limits and increasing your chances of binging because you are not allowing yourself to have them. Typically I see this with someone who is waiting for Monday to start their diet, so they binge on all the foods they can’t have the weekend before the diet starts.
And living in this state of scarcity is something that may be causing you to be on a binge/restrict cycle with your food and that’s just not healthy.
So what is the actual, true sustainable way to health?
It’s listening to your body through intuitive eating!
Intuitive eating is getting rid of the dieting mentality and giving yourself permission to eat all foods and eat when your body is hungry and stop when you are full. This does not mean just eating whatever, whenever, it’s about understanding what your body needs at that moment in time and eating mindfully. Chances are your body isn’t going to feel great after eating chips and cake and pizza all day everyday, so it’s all about including everything in balance.
So your day of eating could look like this:
Breakfast: Eggs, oatmeal, a smoothie
Lunch: Tuna salad sandwich with chips on the side
Dinner: Chicken alfredo pasta with spinach and a handful of cookies for dessert
*this is just for educational purposes only, please do not use this as a meal plan
This day of eating includes your fruits and veg but also the foods that you actually want to eat and that is what intuitive eating is all about!
So here are 3 tips on how you can start to intuitively eat:
Lose the food rules. Start to unlearn the food rules you have been taught and give yourself permission to include all things in your diet (with the exception of foods that you are allergic to or have a sensitivity to). Questioning where you learned these food rules from and how valid they are is a great way to do this.
Take the focus off of weight. Intuitive eating is not another diet plan, it is a framework on how to start to tune into what your body needs. In order to do that, you need to take the focus off of weight loss. You can’t deny your body the fuel that it needs by restricting while also trying to listen to it.
Practice mindful eating. Before you make yourself a meal, stop and really think about what you actually want and what would make you feel good and make that. During and after the meal check in with your body and see how full you are. If you are comfortably full, give yourself permission to stop eating. You don’t have to clear your plate.
It’s time to leave the misery of dieting behind and tap into yourself! And if you are looking for some more help and support with intuitive eating, feel free to book a call with me here to find out how you can start to listen to your body and ditch the diets for good in just 90 days or less!
Racquel Wallen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Racquel is a body kind, Anti-Diet Coach who is passionate about solving people's body shame and food guilt and helps them destroy the belief that their self-worth comes from their body. She comes from a background of disordered eating herself and has overcome the toxic habits and thoughts she once had and now coaches others through doing the same. She educates her clients on intuitive eating principles, how to find movement they love, and dealing with negative self talk. She likes to think of it as helping people come home to their bodies again. She is proud to say that she is one of the few Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) women existing in the health/fitness industry who also takes an anti-diet approach.
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