Written by: Lori Bergman, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Have you ever been one of those people who jumped on the fad diet bandwagon because you wanted excess weight to come off fast? Maybe you heard that a friend of a friend lost a lot of weight on diet X, so you decided to give it a try. You might even have lost that weight. But a few weeks or months later, all that weight came back, and just for added measure, you gained a little more. It’s a frustrating vicious circle that millions of people fall into because we want the weight to come off and we want it to happen NOW.
Our world has become one where we seek instant gratification and we want the fast track with immediate results, especially as it pertains to weight loss. It’s not surprising that people choose the popular weight loss diet, as they provide the promise of exactly that: quick and easy. It doesn’t help matters that the science of nutrition is in a constant state of evolution, with different studies emerging that provide conflicting information from what we have been advised in the past. It’s hard to know what is current, what is healthy, and most of all, what will work.
The truth of the matter is that diets don’t work. That’s because the word “diet” implies a temporary change in our eating behaviour to lose weight and feel better. And we do feel better because there will be temporary success. But when that success fails to last longer than a few weeks or months, it can be very upsetting and lead to yo-yo dieting, which can further extend to disordered eating patterns. So how do we get rid of the excess weight without the frustration?
It begins with changing your mindset. When I was on my weight loss journey 14 years ago, just saying the words, “I need to go on a diet to lose weight,” gave me a pit in my stomach and a feeling of dread in my heart. I had never successfully kept the weight off any time I had tried, having lost and gained the same 20 or so pounds over many years, and I felt like I was setting myself up to fail once again.
So I decided to change my thought process and I put a positive spin on it. Rather than saying “I need to go on a diet,” I told myself I was ready to make some lifestyle changes. I was prepared to do what was necessary for permanent change so that I could end the cycle of losing and gaining once and for all.
There are several important tips and strategies to remember:
1. Quick-fix diets are temporary: Long-lasting weight loss happens when you take the time to make positive changes with your nutrition. Everyone has their relationship with food, and when it comes to making modifications, it takes time to substitute old habits for new ones. You need to practice them and build them into your day until they are performed unconsciously, like brushing your teeth every morning.
A healthy, safe, and sustainable weight loss plan is one that has you losing 0.5 – 2 lbs per week. This is much more sustainable and has a better chance of becoming a permanent lifestyle change, unlike fad diets, which have you losing much more in a very short amount of time, which is not teaching you how to eat healthier. Most of the time, they are severely calorie restricted, which prevents you from fuelling your body properly and can lead to fatigue, irritability, and foggy brain. The only thing very low-calorie diets will successfully do is wreak havoc on your body in terms of your hormones and metabolism.
2. Categorizing your food as “good” or “bad”: Diet mentality begins when we say to ourselves this food is “bad,” but that food is “good”. It’s a deep rabbit hole that we go down when we create food restraints, as this mindset can cause feelings of guilt or shame and become a precursor to disordered eating.
Sugar, artificial sweeteners, processed foods, and even eggs have all been vilified over the years and while there are health benefits to reducing our intake of them, having the occasional sweet, an omelette, or a packaged meal is not terrible. It is about balancing the better choices with the less-than-healthy choices so that we can make our nutrition work for us instead of against us. Unless you have an allergy to a particular food (such as someone with Celiac disease who is allergic to gluten) or if you have diabetes, all foods can be worked into your meal plans.
3. Follow the 80/20 rule: Typically, we start a diet and try to be 100% on point, all the time. The idea is that the diet will not work unless I commit to this with all my attention and focus. But then your spouse’s birthday party is coming up. Or your best friend’s wedding and suddenly you fear going because there will be a lot of food, and you worry that you are going to derail all the progress you have made. What should be an enjoyable social event suddenly becomes a source of stress. That is why I advocate the 80/20 rule.
When your food choices are healthy 80% of the time and the remaining 20% of the time you eat what you love, the world becomes your oyster. That simple 20% allows you to plan for any event that comes up and puts you back in control of your nutrition. You have been empowered with the knowledge that this is just one meal out of one week, you will eat and enjoy, and then you get right back on track the next day, no guilt or remorse.
4. Numbers are (somewhat) important: Ultimately, regardless of what anyone tells you, weight loss is a numbers game. In order to lose, you need to create a calorie deficit. One way to do that is to track your maintenance calories, which is your current food intake, absolutely everything you eat on a normal day, and you only need to do it for two or three days to get an idea of how much you are consuming. This will help determine what a calorie deficit will be for you.
If you currently eat 3,000 calories a day and you reduce your intake to 2,500 calories per day, you are in a calorie deficit and you will lose weight. If you remain consistent with the changes to your nutrition, and if you are consistent with implementing your new, healthier habits, the weight will come off and stay off.
5. Be kind to yourself: We tend to set high standards for our success. So when we falter, that’s when we can be our own worst enemy, punishing ourselves for a moment of weakness. Speak to yourself as you would a friend who came to you with the same problem. What would you say to them?
Making positive changes to our nutrition, creating new healthy habits and being consistent, all take time and effort. Berating yourself for being human could lead to giving up on your efforts altogether, simply because of one moment in time and all the work you put in will be for naught. It’s the equivalent of getting one flat tire and deciding to slash the other three.
Get back up, dust yourself off, and start again. Weight loss is rarely linear. You are going to have weeks where you will lose, weeks where you might go up, and weeks where nothing changes, and that’s because fluctuations are normal. Keep at it! Keep making those changes and stay as consistent as you can. Because at the end of the day, the scale is only one way to measure health and it isn’t even representative of how your body is reacting to your new way of eating. Your efforts will be rewarded
Lori Bergman, Executive Contributor Brainz MagazIne
Lori Bergman is the founder and President of Alithini Nutrition, a health and wellness company that works with clients to help them achieve their nutrition goals and become the healthiest version of themselves.
After having gone through years of yo-yo dieting herself, Lori became passionate about furthering her education in nutrition and learning how to balance a healthy lifestyle without extremes. She became Natural Health Practitioner, received a certification in Exercise Nutrition as a level 1 coach as well as receiving a certificate in Nutrition and Healthy Living with Cornell University.
She is an internationally published author of a cookbook, Kitchen Confident, and a mom of a teenager.
