We know that people struggle with their diets. We hear regularly about how they’ve been trying something new but then stopped. Or about how they did something that worked but then gave it up.
So here’s a rundown of five of the most common reasons we see people starting and stopping different ways of eating:
1️⃣ – You believe the results of a 6, 8, 12 week diet regime enable you to go back to eating as you did before. This is incorrect. For continual weight management, you can never go back to what you were doing before, ever. What you were doing before led you to where you are now, so logically, going back to that will bring you back to this exact place again.
2️⃣ – You are continually looking for a big event to happen. When weight loss slows down, which it ALWAYS will, you haven’t yet developed the skills for, or been taught about, calorie maintenance and it’s importance in continual weight management. It’s key to long term success. Losing weight is not a linear process and there will be peaks and troughs along the way.
3️⃣ – You are running someone else’s plan. Being forced to eat foods you hate and in such strict measures, it becomes boring and restrictive. When this is paired with point 2, it’s no wonder that people stop.
4️⃣ – You aren’t being provided with education and long term coping strategies. If you are just doing as you’re told without being taught the skills to back it up, where do you think you’ll end up? You need to develop new habits that enable you to change the traits that got you where you are in the first place.
5️⃣ – You struggle to buy into the long journey, which lifestyle change is all about. Ask yourself if you are truly ready for change? Ask yourself why you think you need to make changes? What will happen if you continue on the path you are on?
Only when you are truly ready to make changes, can lifestyle change be cemented long term.