We are all familiar with starting a diet, we are full of hope, and goals and we set strong guidelines with ourselves. Where are these diets now? Forgotten, given up on, or making us unhappy. So why is it that NOBODY can seem to stick to and enjoy a diet? Let’s talk about the 4 main reasons why diets fail...
🌸 You’re being too strict with yourself in an unsustainable way
Diets make you hungry and tired. You are depriving yourself. You are cutting off all foods that you enjoy and that make you happy. Ask yourself honestly, can you really keep this up any longer than for a very short term? Can anyone? If they say they can, they are probably lying to you! Nobody can take all the joy out of eating, and stick to it.
🌸 Unrealistic expectations and time frames
Diets often have a short term mindset, rather than making small achievable changes, they often encourage you to leap into some huge changes all at once. If you are not reaching your goals quickly, or at all if they are not right for you, then you are going to lose motivation and ultimately will not be able to sustain your diet.
🌸 Don’t ‘demonise’ certain foods or food groups
If you’re trying to cut off a certain food group entirely, this is inevitably unsustainable, and also increases the ‘challenge’ of your diet, in terms of the meals you can eat and prepare etc. Not only is this going to be more stressful for you (which leads to increased cravings of ‘comfort’ foods), it is going to lead to your diet ‘failing’ much more easily, e.g. if you go out with friends and enjoy something more ‘naughty’, this would lead many to then give up with their diet. By labeling food as ‘naughty’ it enforces the idea that you are doing something bad, rather than just living your life. A sensible and more sustainable balance is to eat 80% for nutrition, and 20% for pleasure. Basically - make sure you are still enjoying food and not making eating a stressful experience!
🌸 Social pressures
You are out with your friends, or family, everyone is ordering foods they enjoy, and you want to as well, but you feel like you ‘can’t’. Maybe not everyone is supportive of your strict diet, they want to see you enjoy yourself. Not having a proper support system or not being able to fully enjoy yourself and relax when in social situations, is only going to make your diet more stressful and a little depressing! Don’t be that person that brings a Tupperware of food to a party either, because you don’t want to eat food that other people have prepared, because it doesn’t fit your diet.
These 4 core reasons why diets fail, all come back to this ‘all or nothing’ mindset that comes along with diets. For diets to be sustainable, they need to incorporate foods you enjoy; they need to be flexible for social situations; they need to still be sustaining and satisfying you; they need to allow ‘diversions’ so you don’t give up completely when you go a little off-track. You need to set reasonable and achievable goals and timeframes with yourself. You don’t need to start a life changing diet - It is all about the little changes coming together to create a lifestyle you love and enjoy that aligns with your goals and vision.
Happy non-dieting!✨🍰
