If you read my post about “My Diet Journey” you know that in the past few years I have been dieting several times. I tried different diets, and yoyo dieted many times. I counted calories, starved myself, and binged because I was feeling deprived. Starving myself did not only made me gain even more weight once I stopped, but it also messed up my metabolism, and my sex drive. I never thought that diet could be so damaging to my body because all I was doing was following the federal government guidelines which was “eat less, and exercise more.”
Every time I failed at one diet I was starting another one thinking that it will be different this time. I did not realize that I could not expect different results by doing the same thing all over again. I also did not understand that no matter what diet I was doing they were all the same because it required me to starve myself. I was losing weight at first until my body could not handle the little amount of nutrient I was getting, and I ended up bingeing to compensate, so I was gaining all the weight back, and more. You probably know how frustrating it can be to lose weight, and be happy with the results to only gain everything back.
I started the SANE program in March after another starvation diet, so I have been gaining weight since I started eating more. I thought that I was doing something wrong, and that maybe I was eating too much which caused me to gain weight, but in fact it is just a normal response from my body that is adjusting to the new amount of food I am eating. It is very frustrating to see my body changing, to see that my clothes are tighter, and to see my six-pack disappearing under a layer of fat. In the past, I would have decided that to eat less, so I could lose the weight I gained, and I would have probably weighed myself every morning to only be disappointed by the number I was seeing. This time I know that all I have to do is to listen to my body by eating when I am hungry, eat more vegetables, more nutrient-dense protein, and some whole-food fats. I know that my body will understand that I am not going to starve again, and that it has all the nutrient it needs, so it can let go of the extra fat I have that is no longer needed for my survival as I eat the right amount of food, and nutrients now.
I am sure that if you are reading this post is because you too have felt like a failure before. Maybe you tried a diet you lost weight, but you were not able to keep it off. You probably thought that you failed because you gained the weight back. The problem is not coming from you, but from the diet. You cannot expect to starve yourself all your life. You cannot deprived yourself all your life to maintain a certain number on the scale. You won’t be happy. You will be cranky because you are deprived, you will be tired because you are starving yourself, and you won’t be able to live your life to the fullest because you will be constantly on a diet. You will probably end up eating all the food you have been craving, and all your efforts will be ruined because you will end up gaining more weight than you lost.
I am going to save you time, and effort by telling you what I learned from my mistakes. Don’t start a new diet, but change your lifestyle. Do something that is sustainable, and that you enjoy. Don’t do a physical activity if you hate it, but find something that you enjoy, and keeps you moving in the same time. Don’t starve yourself, but enjoy plenty of nutrient-dense food. Don’t restrict an entire food group, but choose the best quality for each of them. I used to limit carbohydrate, but not I eat plenty of vegetables (yes, vegetables are carbs). I used to limit fat, but now I choose whole-food fats.
We can all lose weight! Starve yourself, and you will lose weight. The problem is to keep the weight off. A diet won’t help you do that because it is not sustainable. Keeping the same habit won’t help you do that either because this is what got you where you are right now. The solution is to eat plenty of nutrient-dense food, and find a physical activity that you enjoy. This is what will help you lose fat, and keep it off.
