How You Can Overcome the Diet Frustration
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Do you have a hard time making healthy dietary and lifestyle changes stick? Have you ever felt frustrated with your diet?
I’m going to dive into how to overcome the diet frustration and restriction once and for all. Let me just go with the unpopular opinion here…DIETS SUCK and you do NOT need another one! I know, this may be the unpopular opinion here but I am being honest!!
STOP THE FOOD POLICE!
YES, the food police. Stop it right now. Tell me if you feel like the food police. You police every darn thing that goes into your mouth and if it’s not on your “diet” you get completely frustrated with yourself.
The food police are those unreasonable rules in your head, created by dieting and diet culture, that cause you to feel guilty. These rules are housed deep in your brain and pop up on a daily basis to govern your food decisions. It’s time to stop those policing thoughts and emotions.
What policing looks like
It’s like we have this little internal judge that has developed through years of dieting and exposure to mainstream media, on television, or from friends and family. The food police set the rules by which your eating behaviors are judged, such as:
- No eating after 8 p.m.
- You already had a cookie last night; you can’t have another today.
- I know your stomach is growling, but it’s not time to eat yet; you have to wait another 3 hours.
- You’ve already hit your macros for the day, you can’t eat anymore
- You can’t have that donut; it has way too many carbs.
- You ate way too much at dinner – better make sure you go to the gym to burn it off.
- You’ve eaten so well this week – you deserve that dessert.
It’s about time someone gets fired. It’s time to fire the food police and end the diet frustration for good.
Let’s explore your history with dieting
Let’s explore your history with dieting first. How much of your life has been going on and off of a diet only to get frustrated over and over again?
Ask yourself this:
- How much time and money has been spent?
- Did any diet actually give you what you wanted?
- Any impact on self-esteem?
- How did you feel on the diet?
- How did you feel around food?
- How often did nutrition facts come before enjoyment?
- Any impact on social life or relationships?
- How many times were you FRUSTRATED?
Why would you choose to continue to do the same thing over and over, yet expect different results? How much of your life do you want to spend obsessing over food, dieting and being frustrated?
Let’s fire those police. Shall we?
Here’s how to get rid of the food police and overcome the diet frustration.
1. STOP DIETING:
Seriously, the last thing you need is another diet and the restriction and frustration that comes along with it. How many times have you gone on a diet and felt like you were about to go insane? I know I can say that I have quite a few times. NO MORE! I do NOT diet. I got tired of the frustration and the policing.
Stop focusing on losing weight and counting every pound. You need to focus on a bigger picture every day like general health and well being.
2. STOP JUDGING:
This is a lot similar to policing. “If I eat that, then I have to work out more.” “I’ll have to work out more in order to eat the cake at the party today.” “I’m going to go over my calories if I eat that!”
STOP judging all the things! Instead of judging whether or not you can or can’t eat a certain food, take a few minutes to think about how you FEEL. Instead of tracking calories and fat grams, write down how you feel before and after eating. This can include your hunger and fullness levels, mood, cravings, energy level, body sensations and any judgments you note.
Trust me, your body will tell you whether or not it agrees with what you eat without judgment. you’ll know by how you feel, and I don’t mean the feeling of guilt.
3. ALLOW YOURSELF TO LET GO:
This is probably the most important one. It’s okay to let go of the diet. Let go of those restricting words like: “must,” “perfect,” “should,” “shouldn’t,” “bad” or “awful.” Instead use words like “may,” “can” and “is OK,” as in, “I can eat whenever I’m hungry” or, “It’s OK to have dessert two nights in a row.”
This is not about letting go and going head first into a full bag of Oreos. It’s knowing what your body needs and giving it just that. We weren’t meant to be frustrated and restricted with diets all the time. THAT can be just as unhealthy as carrying extra weight.
How frustrating is it being the POLICE?
I think the first thing you can do, is to Accept yourself for who you are first.
I know, I’ve been where you might be right now. Every time I looked at my “fat”. I hated it. I wanted to destroy it. And that anger serves, it does. But what it doesn’t do is help you. It doesn’t allow you to be happy. And even when you lose the weight, you won’t be happy.
Take it from someone who’s been there. The frustration is always lingering.
So what did I discover?
I had to fall in love with myself first. Plain and simple yet easier said than done, trust me I know all too well. Seriously though, if you don’t love yourself BEFORE you go on a diet, you won’t be all that fond of YOU afterward. It’s the wrong attitude to have.
you have to stop policing, stop dieting and STOP the frustration. Relax, take a breath and work on YOU. Really dig deep and work on WHY you feel the need to diet. It may not even be necessary if you look at things from a place of self-love.
I can tell you I had to overcome the frustration of what I was EXPECTING and how fast I was expecting it. I had to let go of the restriction and NOURISH myself with love. THIS was a huge step I had to work on and still have to work on each and every day because I have been so stuck on the diet mentality. It is certainly worth it to take that step back and work on YOU!
I teach this way of self-love in my Balance 360 Course and have seen many of my clients WIN over the frustration of dieting!!
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