You know the drill. I’m guessing you know it better than you wish you did.
You’re starting a new diet plan with all kinds of gusto. Your food is prepped and ready, your attitude is on point, and you’re going to make it happen this time. Really.
At least the day starts out that way…
But then nighttime hits. The kids go to bed. Nobody’s looking. And somehow, there you are opening the cabinets…
Before you know it, the one chip turned into an entire bag. You blew it, all your efforts are for naught, so you may as well keep on eating. You’ll start again tomorrow, right?
And then it all happens again the next day.
Sticking to your eating can be a pretty sticky subject. Why do all those good intentions fail? What’s the problem?
Everyone knows that most diets turn out to be epic fails. But what is the real reason behind their terrible track records? Is there anything you can do to stop the diet-overeat-repeat cycle from keeping you stuck forever?
I’ve narrowed it down to 4 reasons why you can’t seem to “stick to” any diet. (And believe it or not, none of them have anything to do with food!)
I explain the top 4 the reasons you can’t stick to a diet (and what you can do about them!) in this video here:
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They might surprise you…but if you allow yourself to see the reasons why diets fail, you can do something different. Take another path. And THIS time…get the results you really want.
Let’s jump right in!
Reason #1: The Power of “Forbidden Foods.” Let’s say that you were hanging out with your best friend, and she says to you, “Hey, don’t look now, but that person in the white dress to your right is…”
Before she even finishes, what is the first thing you do? Look to the right. Just because you were told NOT to. That’s just how your brain works.
“Forbidden foods” hold the same kind of intrigue. When there’s something that you convince yourself that you can’t have, it becomes the ONLY thing you think about.
What’s happening here? Your brain starts to believe that you won’t feed it properly or that the forbidden foods won’t be there, and it’ll also tell you that you better eat as much that forbidden food as you can before it disappears.
So when you tell yourself NO, your brain doesn’t hear the negative, and has you focus MORE on the foods that you tell yourself you shouldn’t have.
Reason #2: Restrictions Put You Into Survival Mode. Most eating plans advocate controlling your food, one way or another. Maybe it’s cutting out certain foods, cutting calories, tracking points, plotting and planning…
Even if those rules seem like healthy choices and they seem to make logical sense, your brain might perceive any NO as a threat to your survival and try to get you to eat more.
So as irony would have it, the more you try to control your food, the less control you have over actually getting the results you want.
Reason #3: You’ve Lost Touch With Your Body. Your body need food to survive, to thrive, and to feel nourished and it’s important you maintain a connection with your body instead of always resorting to your head and mind when thinking about your food choices.
Back when I was stuck on the diet roller coaster, I didn’t know it at first…but my head had full jurisdiction over my relationship with food.
You see, my goal was lasting weight loss. But the desire behind that plan was more than a magic number on the scale. I also wanted ease with my body and peace with my food. And putting restrictions on every bite I ate was actually triggering my brain to believe that I had to eat more. Crazy, right?
There’s a sort of catch-22 when you’ve been on the diet roller coaster for too long…It tends to numb your body’s natural signals, favoring the survival-based triggers of your brain. And that keeps you stuck in a cycle of dieting, overeating, and repeating.
Reason #4: Fear of Gaining…or NOT Losing. Sometimes, when things don’t flow with ease in your life, the root cause is fear. Believe or not, having a healthy and balanced body can be dependent on your fear and how you act because of it.
When it comes to your relationship with your body and your food, fear plays a bigger part than you might think.
It’s fear of gaining weight…or fear of NOT losing weight. That fear leads to control (a restrictive diet), which leads to rebellion (falling off the wagon and binging). And then the cycle starts ALL over again…
So what are some of the ways that you can use this information to change your approach to food, shift your focus, and make peace with the “diet” once and for all?
Tip #1: Lift restrictions on food. What’s the best way to get past the forbidden foods trap? Here it is: simply make ALL foods allowed. Really.
I know how that sounds. But I’m not saying that it’s an invitation to an all-you-can-eat all day long buffet, either.
What it does mean is that when you take the mystique out of something you see it with fresh eyes. And less fear.
What’s more is that when you stop trying to control every bite that you eat, your brain doesn’t switch the “famine” switch on. That means that a binge reaction is a lot less likely.
Tip #2: Take yourself out of survival mode and reconnect with your body. When you get out of your head and into your body, you free yourself from survival mode. Now is the time to ask your body what it needs to feel nourished, supported, and loved again.
When finally reconnected with myself, my body’s natural cues began to return. From there, I found myself naturally drawn to the foods that I needed the most. And that sense of balance and bliss in my mind, body, and spirit became my new normal.
Tip #3: Be honest about any and all fears. Honestly, I know now that fear kept me in a diet-binge-repeat cycle for ears on end. I was terrified to let go of control, and I pushed back that fear for as long as I could.
But when I decided to shelf the fear and address ALL the components of my problem, everything changed. I let go of control. I began to support my body rather than fight it.
This step alone made all of the others fall into place with ease.
So many times, I see women who are convinced that they just need the perfect diet. They believe that food alone is the problem, and controlling it is the solution. But unfortunately, when you make food the sole focus, it becomes the sole obsession.
So many times, we think control is the answer. When in reality it’s the cause of the chaos.
But if you can bring awareness to your fears, reconnect to your body, and understand that food is NOT the enemy, everything will change.
You’ll find yourself less stressed, more at ease, and able to nourish and support your body based on YOUR needs. Not on a plan that someone else chose for you. That is the best “diet” of all.
There you have it! The top 4 reasons why you can’t stick to a diet, and the ways that you can turn it around.
Now, you can make these steps happen for yourself. But you don’t have to do it alone!
If all of this seems like too much to take on by yourself, don’t worry–I’ve got your back! I have a special gift for you that you can acce
And if you liked this post, leave me a comment! Let me know if you had any insights or a-has, and share it with a friend who might need to see it.
I’m here for you, and I want to be sure you have all the support you need to have more power with your food, your body, and your life! So please leave a comment and let me know how I can support you in finding Food Freedom Forever!