Tired of Dieting? [How To Break Up With Diets For Good]
Sick and tired of dieting? Constantly worried about gaining weight and not sure how to get out of the toxic diet mentality? Well, I’m glad we met! I’m here to help you break up with diets for good (without the crappy rebound) and feel good inside and out.
We may have never met in person, but there are a few things I know about you (this sounded way less creepy in my head). I know that you live in a world ruled by toxic diet culture and all the nonsense that goes with it. And I believe that you, just like me, want to be healthy without the constant struggle and guesswork.
Why I’m sick and tired of dieting
Diets are packed with rules… and we’ve all tried enough diets to know they don’t work. In fact, 96% of them fail in the long-term. So why are more people on a diet than ever?
Welcome to a brave new ‘wellness’ world where diets are dressed up and paraded as a ‘healthy lifestyle choice’ or ‘a way of eating’ (I call BS). This sly rebrand tricks you into thinking you’re doing the ‘right thing‘ for your body. But diets, like the Atkins Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet and Lemon Detox Diet to name a few I’ve tried over the years, were much less damaging when they said what they were on the tin (though still plenty harmful). Here are the 5 signs you’re on a diet in incognito mode.
The problem is, when you fail on a diet, you don’t blame the diet. You actually end up questioning your whole self-worth. You equate failing on a diet with meaning that you’re not worthy.
If we continue to blame ourselves for dieting, we’ll keep getting pulled into the allure of the newest diet trends, which are all, inevitably, unsustainable.
But life is too bloody short to fear carbs or ruin another holiday because you ‘feel fat’. Don’t ya think?
If you are as sick of dieting as I am, stick around here. No matter where you’re at in your food journey, I’m here to equip you with all the tools, tips and tricks that have helped me.
Dieting can lead to weight gain
What many people fail to recognise is the aftermath of diets. As the body has become accustomed to smaller amounts of sustenance, causing the metabolism to slow down, the already existing obsession with food is amplified and weight gain is more probable.
Statistically, dieting leads to weight gain, along with creating an obsession with food which can make it harder for you to just eat healthily. This is because when you finally eat the food you’ve been denying yourself, you may feel completely out of control due to all the restrictions and hunger.
I’ve tried everything to lose weight
If you follow me on Instagram, you would know that healthy eating hasn’t always been easy for me. I started dieting at the age of 11 and became OBSESSED with my weight.
The more I tried to ‘be good’ so I could weigh less, the harder it became to stick to whatever diet I was on at that time.
Over the years, I’ve tried every fad diet, meal plan and program under the sun, entangled in the toxic rollercoaster of food guilt, body hate, and self-shame. I was so sick of trying to lose weight, but couldn’t stop because my fear of gaining weight was all-consuming.
It felt like every Monday I was starting again from scratch. Instead of helping, dieting made me feel crazy around food!
Eventually, I stopped listening to all the so-called wellness gurus with their detoxes, activated bits-and-bobs and ‘healthy lifestyle plans’, and instead started listening to my body. I stopped counting points, calories, and weighing myself.
And my world started to change.
Today, I feel comfortable in my body and finally normal around food again.
One thing I learned is that it’s not worth sacrificing 95% of your life to weigh 5% less.
These days, I help wonderful humans break the ‘start a new diet every Monday’ trap via my app Back to Basics and Keep It Real program, which has helped thousands of individuals to learn how to feel normal around food and stop binge eating.
If you want to hear more about how I developed a healthy relationship with food and stopped binge eating for good, check out this blog post.
And if you’re not only tired of dieting but also utterly confused by all the conflicting health advice you get day in and day out, you’ll enjoy listening to my podcast No Wellness Wankery. My lovely co-host Jenna D’Apice and I teach you how to distinguish between wellness and wankery, and help you eliminate those pesky food rules, so you can be healthy without the diet nonsense.
How to stop yo yo dieting
When I first learned about intuitive eating, the whole concept seemed so awkward to me.
Back then my life was dominated by anxiety, body checking, skin picking, laxative use, attempts to purge, over-exercising, obsessive calorie counting, hiding food, binge eating and withdrawal from social life. I was so tired of dieting but didn’t know how to eat normally anymore. I was convinced that something was wrong with me and my willpower.
“Cool, I’ll become an intuitive eater and stop dieting for good – by eating what I want??”
“Umm…Ha. I know myself very well. If I give myself permission to eat what I crave, I’ll raid the entire pantry! I’ll have chocolate and burgers for breakfast!”
But here’s the thing:
Once I understood the principles of intuitive eating, the concept made so much sense to me – and it changed my life.
It clicked, and it’ll do the same for you (even if you’re sceptical right now, bc so was I). When you tune into your hunger and eat appropriately, your body will instinctively let you know when it is time to stop. When you learn to respond to signals of hunger, fullness, and appetite your body will be guiding you to make healthy, enjoyable choices.
No more counting calories or obsessing about food. Instead of eating your meals by the clock, tune into the messages from your body.
Safe to say, really digging into the concept of intuitive eating is going to be a total game-changer for you, just like it was for me. It’ll help you stop yo yo dieting once and for all.
To get started, head to this blog post. It’ll explain how intuitive eating works and equips you with the most important tool to get started: The Hunger Scale.
And if you want to learn more about being an intuitive eater, check out my FREE 5-day course, in which I teach you proven strategies to help you become an intuitive eater.
