| UNSPLASH |
| Instead of dieting exclusively to lose weight, health professionals encourage people to make lifestyle changes to reach a healthier place. |
Don’t get discouraged by your diet not working — a lot don’t.
The term “diet” often has negative connotations and isn’t followed for long. There is a plethora of diets out there like Keto, Paleo, Atkins, etc. All are highly restrictive in what they allow you to eat.
Callie Ford, a registered dietician at Novant Health, believes that highly restrictive diets are harder to follow and maintain for long periods of time.
“I am a firm believer that restriction will lead to overeating eventually,” she said. “Keto [and other diets] is not sustainable. You just cannot live the rest of your life in Ketosis. Yes, we want to start with weight loss, but often when we are focused so much on weight loss, we think there is a finish line.”
Rather than have an end goal weight or image which diets often do, consider implementing a lifestyle change instead.
“Something that I always tell my patients is to think of it as a lifestyle change, not a diet,” Ford said. “The big thing is focusing on all things in moderation, and really focusing on the whole foods approach. This is what I recommend and follow as well.”
For many, this is welcome news because there is no need to cut everything from your diet and still lose weight.
“Knowing that we can have that cookie or some of that ice cream if we want it,” Ford said, “then moving on from it. If we know that we are only eating a cookie or ice cream a small amount of the time and then other times eating those whole foods like, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, complex carbs, then we know we are going to have long term weight loss results.”
It promotes not only weight loss, but also a better lifestyle overall by incorporating more nutritious options to a diet while also being able to indulge in a guilty pleasure food from time to time.
“You don’t want to jump right in and do too much at one time,” Ford said. “I think this becomes overwhelming and you’ll throw your hands up. Of course, I’m biased, but I’d say start with meeting with a dietician. Someone that can truly evaluate your diet and pinpoint some of the challenges your diet has [preventing weight loss].”
These challenges could range from eating too much saturated fats, not eating enough vegetables, or eating too much at the wrong time late at night when your body is about to go into overnight fasting phase.
“Let’s say for example our biggest challenge is not eating breakfast,” Ford said. “That would be the number one thing I’d focus on with that patient. I would say, ‘OK, let’s come up with a few ideas to where we can start incorporating breakfast. Let’s start by eating breakfast two times a week and then go from there to get used to that routine, then bump it up to three, four and five times a week ‘til it is routine.”
It goes without saying that losing weight and getting fit can be tough. The main thing is to not get discouraged. Changing your mindset from “dieting” to lifestyle shifts will help. It starts with small steps.
“I think the number one thing I find myself repeating is just continue to put one foot in front of the other,” Ford said. “That is one thing I always [tell my patients]. Another thing I say a lot is that something is better than nothing. Those are two things I always say. If you go back to the breakfast example, eating an apple is better than eating nothing. Even with exercise, a little bit is better than nothing. It is the same thing with starting your lifestyle change. Drink one soda a day or whatever it looks like for the particular patient.”