Today I want to touch on an important topic that seems to be buzzing all through my social media pages. The dreaded “get your summer body diet!” Ugh *insert serious eye roll* I have seen articles boasting the successes of drinking apple cider vinegar every morning, ketosis, the military diet, beach body diet, it works! (No it doesn’t). I swear there is a pill, shake, wrap, quick fix solution for everything. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but weight loss isn’t a “quick fix” it’s not a “3 day miricle detox diet” or my favorite “loose 10lbs your first week!”. No. No. No. No. NO!
We will discuss BMI, BMR, and calories in another installment but healthy weight loss is 1-2lbs a week, 1lb = 3500 calories that have to be burned off to loose just 1lb.
The biggest reason diets fail is because people set the bar wayyyyy to high and set unrealistic goals. A goal of “I’m going to run 5 miles a day” isn’t a great beginner goal, because after the first few days they get tired, give up and are back to square 1 all over again. Make a realistic obtainable short term goal this is a goal that can be achieved within 1 year, for example “I will only have fast food once a week” or “I will do 30 minutes of exercise 3 days a week” or “I will only get a fancy coffee drink on Sunday, and drink regular black coffee (or with half and half if you are me) the rest of the week” those are easily obtainable goals that even a beginner can accomplish and feel good about accomplishing. Weight loss and good health are all about baby steps and climbing the ladder to success.
Once you have your short term goals figured out, set yourself a long term goal which is something that is accomplished in the long term, not next week or even this year. For example “I will loose 20lbs this year (short term) and I will maintain and keep it off by eating healthy and exercising regularly (long term goal)”
Diets also tend to fail because people get into this mindset of “oh I can’t eat anything good anymore” eating healthy is not a punishment! We as Americans are addicted to food that is seriously not meant to be eaten! As I said in “how it all began” I used to eat a lot of fast food, then I started eating clean and the first few weeks I really really wanted to hit up the drive through because “I deserve it” but I maintained my willpower to achieve my short term goals and after 2 months I no longer wanted that kind of food. Trust me, after a few weeks of eating what humans were made to eat fast food won’t taste good, it won’t taste right anymore. Keep the faith and believe in yourself above all things, you deserve more than eating out of a paper bag.
Slip ups are bound to happen, we are all human and we all make mistakes. Another reason diets fail is because one little dietary misstep or a skipped gym day leads to “I’m just a failure, I can’t do anything right, I might as well give up” don’t give up!!!! Tomorrow is a brand new day and a day to get back on track, never give up just because of one bad day or even a bad weekend. You can do anything you set your mind to. I promise over time things will get easier.
Believe in yourself, love yourself, and don’t give up! Remember, it’s not a diet it’s a lifestyle change.
Love
The meal prep princess
The Meal Prep Princess 