Yesterday’s blog post "Go On, Ask Me Anything" challenged you to ask me anything and I’d answer in the next blog post, which is this one. One question stood out and I imagine would be interesting to many, so thanks dear reader for asking. The question was “What are the top 3 tips you would give someone caught on the diet roller coaster and looking to get off?” Great question. And here is my answer.
Here are the top 3 tips for getting off the diet roller coaster.
1. Stop Dieting
What? How can I stop dieting if I still want to lose weight?
Diets, meaning deprivation and restriction, don’t work for the long term. Sure, you might cut calories and lose some weight, but then what happens? You never learn how to eat for real life, good health, and self-respect. When you are in deprivation and restriction mode, just think what you are telling yourself. (“I’m not good enough”)
2. Understand your Emotional and Environmental Triggers (and eat real food)
Noticing and evaluating your triggers, both environmental and emotional will help you better understand why you do what you do - overeat, overdrink, binge, eat sweets, etc. Emotional eating is real and includes for example eating when sad, upset, worried, feeling stressed, lonely, angry, afraid, hurt, disappointed, and the list goes on. Feelings could also be on the more positive side such as celebratory, anticipatory, feeling happy and excited. Some of us are not even aware of our feelings and how they might be related to our food choices. Start to notice.
Environmental triggers can be a place, a room, an object, a time of day, a situation, or a person or group of people. Examine your environmental triggers to better understand why you make the choices you do.
As you do the work of noticing (perhaps start a journal), bring in whole foods, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and get rid of processed foods. Eliminate processed sugar and add real fruit you will rid yourself of sugar cravings. Get your body into balance with whole seasonal food. But do this inner work too.
3. Love and Respect Yourself
I know this one might sound harsh, but no one who really loves and respects themselves will deprive themselves, cheat on themselves, and binge eat on themselves. So this one takes a lot of self love work. Many of us don’t want to go here because we don’t know how, or it is too painful, or we don't “have time” or prioritize it. It’s just easier to go on a diet and cut calories. But until we can really love and respect ourselves, the diet rollercoaster will continue.
Of course there's also getting enough sleep, being active, staying hydrated, mindful eating, and taking care of your needs. But with these 3 tips above, these other pieces will come easily.
If you want help with getting off the diet roller coaster, let me know. I’ve been there and have counseled hundreds if not thousands of people over the past 15 years about “not dieting” to lose weight. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.