You have tried it all— South Beach, Atkins, Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Low-Carb, High-Fat, Low-Fat, Intermittent Fasting…and the list goes on.
You’ve done challenges, joined groups, went to meetings, met with a registered dietician and nutritionist, read every blog-post, listen to podcasts… You have made many concerted efforts and some of them were even successful for a while. But slowly old habits crept back in and you found yourself falling back into the same patterns and same routines (or lack thereof) and you ended up gaining every ounce back…and usually, a few bonus pounds.
If weight loss were about knowledge—if it was about knowing the difference between what is “the right food” or “the right way to eat” we would all have figured it out by now via Google. Quite frankly if I were to write a book about nutrition and weight loss it wouldn’t even fill one page. to be one page. It’s a simple as this;
Don’t eat anything that doesn’t rot.
Only eat when you’re physically hungry.
Stop eating when you’re no longer physically hungry.
Simple is NOT to be confused with “Easy”!
Think about it for a minute—why do we relentlessly seek the answer when the answer is so simple? We do this because we don’t like the real answer! We want it to be repackaged with a glimmer of hope that we can eat what we want, when we want and magically attain the results we are seeking whilst doing so.
When said results don’t appear the way we hope or expect them to or on our timeline, we get discouraged, annoyed and things start to unravel.
Another phenomenon to contend with is what I call the “skinny high”. The skinny high is intoxicating and addictive, but just like any other drug, once the high wears off you crash…HARD.
If you have ever been drunk on compliments, and positive attention for dramatic body transformation, you know this phenomenon all too well.
Everything is peachy while you are basking in the limelight, doused in confidence and clothed in a svelte new wardrobe. Sadly, this streak of awesome is short lived. When the comments diminish, and you realize that this transformation didn’t change your failing marriage or warrant the promotion you had hoped for, cupcakes and pizza start to call your name.
Welcome to the rollercoaster ride of fluctuating bodyweight. Oprah is one of many VIP passengers on this tumultuous ride.
The root cause of most of our struggles with food is more tedious and monotonous. The key components to sustained weight loss are support, accountability, patience and the willingness to be a little uncomfortable.
