Try This Tuesday: Don't Diet

Here’s something to ponder:

“Every traumatic dieter knows that losing weight is easy: all you have to do is suffer. It’s keeping the weight off that’s difficult”* (Dr. Yani Freedhoff)

Why?

Because when most people go on a diet, it’s simply unsustainable. They don’t want to “suffer” their entire lives! Sure, most people are happy to do something more drastic for a short amount of time – especially if they are seeing results. BUT – if it’s not something they are prepared do FOR their entire lives (and remain happy) then it’s not going to stick. And if it doesn’t stick, you’re going to gain weight (back) or become unhealthy again.

“Think of weight as a chronic condition and your lifestyle as its treatment. As with any chronic condition; if you stop treatment, the condition comes back”* (Dr. Yani Freedhoff)

Ok – so you might wonder: if the advice is not to diet, but you still want to lose weight and be healthy – what are you left with to do?

The long and short of it is this: You’re still going to need to make changes like ditching most processed foods, increasing the amount of vegetables you eat, examining your portion sizes, including movement, etc. However, it should be achieved steadily and thoughtfully, on a timeline that is realistic, and should be personalized with your own individual preferences, lifestyle and habits in mind. When done this way, both health goals and sustainability are achieved.

Work hard at developing an overall healthy lifestyle that you can enjoy and sustain. Then, you’ll never have to diet again.

Dr. Freedhoff says it well:

“If you’re going about things PROPERLY, by the time you finish losing the weight, you’ll be fantastic at all of the behaviors you’ll need to keep it off.

Sure your losses will probably occur more slowly than with your more extreme efforts. But when you finish losing, all you’ll have to do is keep on living the way you’re living, and the weight simply can’t come back”*

If you’d like some help developing the behaviors and habits that will create and shape your best, healthiest lifestyle, please reach out. I’d love to help.

*These tidbits of great advice come from a fantastic book called “The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work” by (Canadian!) Dr. Yoni Freedhoff. It’s advice that I personally preach all the time in my practice.

Visit Dr. Freedhoff's website at www.weightymatters.ca