Why is it that by just saying the "D" word, you know that "diet" brings immediate thoughts of failure to the minds of many men and women around the world? Could it be that we've all learned through trial and error that diets simply don't work? I know many of you are sitting with jaw dropped at the moment. After all, this is an article about dieting, isn't it? It is and it is not. Dieting is the kiss of death for many, while a new phase in your life or a lifestyle adjustment may be just the thing that will lead to success for you and your fitness and health goals.
For some, food is an addiction. Unfortunately, you absolutely can't quit eating all at once as a smoker can give up cigarettes. I am by no means implying that quitting cigarettes is easy, but if you are forced to do three times a day, how hard will it be? At that point you can enjoy them every time the urge is right? The same is true for food. You must eat to survive. You can't live without eating. This means that if food is a problem in your life, you need to find a healthier way of looking at food.
Isn't this where diet usually comes in handy? The short answer is no. This is where diets often fail. Diet does little to change the way we look at food. In fact, most diets only serve to tell us which foods are good, which foods are bad, and which foods (usually the foods we enjoy most) are strictly are prohibited. Anorexia begins by forcing people to feel deprived or punished. And no one likes to feel any of these things.
But what's worse is that when we slip on the straight and very narrow paths on which our diet puts us, we punish ourselves even more. This means that until we all live together and decide to rejoin and disregard the guilt all together, we will be at our every little wrongdoing. Going to drown in guilt.
You have to make lifestyle changes to get real success. It's the only way you'll be able to shed those unwanted pounds without experiencing the terrible guilt that so many dieters go through with every step of their diet. Set goals for yourself. Keep them aggressive but realistic when it comes to fitness, losing weight, and eating new healthy foods. Even if your goal is as simple as eating 5 vegetables a day, this is a great place to start.
Change the way you eat. Then change the way you look at food, and you will experience amazing changes in your attitude towards your health, your body and even your fitness level. As the first pound begins to drop, you'll start to experience more energy and less pain while exercising. This will help motivate you to do even more as time goes on.
Don't think that achieving long-term weight loss goals will be as easy as the first five or ten pounds. Consistency is extremely important when making these lifestyle changes. Take each day as it comes and start again the next day. This means that even if you completely "fall out of the car" today, you can start over tomorrow.
There are many ways to fail when it comes to dieting, and I know people who have failed at almost everything I can imagine. There is no way to fail, however, when you are making positive changes in your life that are yielding positive results.
You must be logged in to post a comment.