Looking back at my late 20s and early 30s I feel I was dieting most of the time. I never actually realised I needed to move away from the dieting mindset to help me be happy again.
And so were people around me. All the time. The women around would always look for the next best diet, they would only exercise to burn off extra calories or get ready for summer holidays.
No wonder I dieted most of my 20s and 30s.
I pretty much only did what I saw others doing. This behaviour was pretty normal to me.
Carbs are bad, if I had chocolate I’d pretty much ruined my progress. And I would start again on Monday or in January. Such a vicious cycle.
What changed?
After having my daughter almost 8 years ago things just got worse. I carried on looking for a quick 30 fix diet. But nothing worked. I couldn’t lose the weight as quick as I did in the past. Let alone keep it off. And then it hit me….
I realised none of the diets worked long term. Every time I lost weight, I’d always put it back on. The yo – yo dieting cycle was never ending. The only way to move away from the dieting mindset was to do something different.
The turning moment came when we went to park, my daughter was probably 2 years old, and she run away from me, wanting me to chase her. I had zero energy to do that. I felt sluggish and unmotivated to do anything. And that was pretty much the pivotal moment for me. I need to be healthy and fit so I can run with her, chase her playing tag, climbing the monkey bars and playing frisbee. I realised what I really want from my life. Why is it important to me. This was a really difficult exercise for me to do.
My purpose was no longer just lose weight for me. My values became Health, Family & Happiness.
These are my values. Do you know what yours are?
To help you move forward, you need to identify you WHY. Your values, your purpose and your goals.
HERE are 3 areas to consider
1.Identify your REAL WHY.
Why do you want to change now? Why is it important to you? How would it make you feel if you achieved your goal?
Why is it different this time, to the previous occasions?
How would your life change if you made positive changes into your life?
How would you feel if you made those changes?
I want you to sit down and really think about this. Write down how do you feel now and how do you want to feel.
2. The ‘WHAT’
Once you identify your WHY, you need to look at the WHAT.
What do you want to change?
What habits do you want to change?
What habits are currently holding you back? What habits are no longer serving you?
What habits are making you unhappy?
What habits do you want to replace with the new healthy habits to help you with your WHY?
3. The ‘HOW’
How are you going to get there?
How will you move away from where you are now?
How can you improve your nutrition habits?
How can you improve your activity level habits?
How can you improve your mindfulness habits?
How can you improve your workouts routine?
Base your answers for your WHAT & HOW around these 4 pillars to help you with your goals.
- Nutrition
- Workouts – Fitness
- Non – exercise activity
- Mindfulness.
These for pillars will help you understand where you are now and how you can move forward. Not just for 6 weeks, but for the rest of your life.
If your WHY is deep enough it’s easier to align your actions with your goals and your WHY. Even on the days you don’t feel like it.
This way you can create a routine to suit your current schedule and one you can sustain and enjoy.
The weight loss will become the bypass product of your routine and you soon realise you can be happy exercising and eating healthy instead of being miserable dieting.
Yes, you will have days when it feels like, ‘What’s the point?’ But overcoming those days and showing up for yourself on these days, is what make the difference between doing it for short them comfort or for the long-term benefits to improve the quality of your life.
Here are 3 tips how you can achieve better results
1. Adjust your expectations.
Remove the deadline by which you need to hit certain number on the scale. You will start hating the journey and will be disappointed every time the scale won’t tell you want you want to hear.
It didn’t take you 6 weeks to get where you are now, so understand it will take your longer to achieve your goal.
2. Move away from ALL OR NOTHING.
Start thinking ALL OR SOMETHING. There is always something you can do, even though it won’t be perfect show up for yourself and be consistent. Progress is more important than perfection.
3. Longevity of your actions
This about the food you eat to nourish you body to understand what & how you need to eat to lose body fat and keep it off as well as the type of workouts you need to help you feel better, stronger and fitter.
Give this a go. Once you understand where you are now and where you want to be, it’s to close the gap between the two places.
Do you want to stop dieting and not sure where to start?
I would be really interested to find out how did you find this exercise so please let me know.
If you know you want to move away from dieting but you aren’t sure where to start, make sure you book free call with me to help you get started. I will be happy to chat to you.