Why diets don’t work
For whatever reason, we first gain weight and then we start our first diet (hello, Weight Watchers 😵💫).
Impossible to sustain, we eventually say f*ck it and give up, flooding our brains with dopamine in one way or another. 🍷🍫🍩🍕🍟
We relax into unhelpful ways of eating and say we can’t do this weight loss thing right now.
And we keep going with the f*ck it eating until we feel enough discomfort in our minds and bodies to start the whole thing again, whether it’s next Monday or next year.
We begin another diet that promises quick results and we pray it’s going to be the thing that works. We feel so miserable we think we'll definitely be able to white-knuckle it this time. 😬
But when our willpower runs out, our bodies cleverly rebel against the restriction.
We surrender to our loud cravings not just because we're BLOODY HUNGRY and UNDERFED but because we have unmet needs which we haven’t learnt how to deal with in other ways — we don’t care about being thin when we’re not getting to live the life we want or when our emotions (or desire) are too uncomfortable to handle.
And the whole cycle begins again... 😩
I know you know but...
✋🏻 The diets don’t work, they just make us think we have a problem with food and if only we could control our food intake, we’d be fine.
✋🏻 The quick fixes and fads don’t work, they just make us think we can’t trust our bodies and that we need an external solution, disconnecting us from our physical cues, intuition and kindness.
✋🏻 The instant gratification doesn’t work, it just makes us have overwhelming cravings and hunger... the mind chatter drives us crazy.
What works is genuinely changing your mindset and learning how to replace unwanted eating habits with more desirable ones -- understanding that it's a habit-building process that's required, not a diet.
✅ Learning how to not obey your cravings (without needing willpower) so that you create new neural pathways that become the natural way you think about things... 🍫🥂
✅ Learning how to delay gratification for your longterm happiness. And noticing how your resilience, pride and confidence builds when you do that.
✅ Learning how to not diet or think like a dieter who’s either being good or bad, on or off.
✅ Learning how to let go of trying to be a robotic “perfect” human who can’t tolerate or embrace imperfect human behaviour.
✅ Learning how to stop quitting when results don't meet your expectations or when you've said f*ck-it. Carrying on towards better health, freedom, and confidence, no matter what's slowing you down.
This is the fastest way to your peace. Because these quick fixes and external solutions are almost impossible to sustain which means you'll be back to where you started eventually and the whole thing will take up even more of your time. 🫠
This weight issue that you want to fix doesn't have to be a problem forever, you just need to approach things differently and fix the problems that eating/drinking has been solving for you.
It all could be a lot simpler and easier than you think it's going to be and you can finally FEEL FREE of this issue that's bothered you for so long and taken up too much of your valuable time and headspace.
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