Can you tell me what to eat to lose weight?
This question is one that arises almost every time I talk to someone about their health and wellness goals. I can tell you what to eat till I'm blue in the face, but it is probably not going to do much for you in the long run. I can make you meal plans, I can suggest recipes, calorie deficits, exercise routines, but this route almost never works. It is my job as your health coach to help YOU figure out what YOU want to eat, when YOU want to eat, how much YOU want to eat. When YOU make the decisions and the goals, it starts with YOU and not me. This weight loss journey is YOURS and not mine. Food and eating is one small piece of the puzzle towards living a healthier, happier lifestyle. Here are some of the questions that as I was going through my training made me feel motivated:
* What activities were you doing when you were at your healthiest?
* When you felt the best about yourself, what were you eating?
* What is it that you do in your day that makes you forget about time?
* When you wake up and think about your day what are you most excited to accomplish?
These questions are so much more beneficial than what should i be eating!
When you figure out what makes you happy and fulfilled the weight will start falling off.
Diets are short term cures, but habit changes are long term successes!
So this is how most stories go: You wake up and decide you need a lifestyle change. You are 20 pounds overweight you're starting to realise that you are getting older and that you need to start taking better care of yourself. So you get all excited and google DIETS. Your Google search leads you to several "diets" to pick from and you find the one that sounds the most doable for you. You sign up, give them all of your health information and enter your credit card to pay for 8 weeks of "diet" information, but the first week is FREE (WOW what a deal, you feel like you just opened a Christmas present early) You head to the grocery with your new suggested shopping list in hand. You spend boo-koo dollars on your NEW lifestyle. You get home, squeeze your new groceries (10 avocados, that half will be turning smooshy in 3 days, ginger, turmeric, apple cider vinegar, some weird yellow vegetable that you have never seen in your life before...) into your fridge or pantry. You make your first "diet" recipe that night. You are getting a little frustrated with the recipe because it is new to you and you haven't really worked with these ingredients and it is taking you a lot longer to prep and make your meal. You finally finish the task at hand and you sit to eat dinner. If you have kids at home, and you are a lucky one, they might eat half of your new meal, then head to the pantry and grab a bowl of cereal . You finish all of yours (and maybe some of the kids because you feel guilty that they want to throw all of your hard work into the trash) but you feel awesome that you have taken the first step towards this new and improved you! So week one goes by, you have followed the instructions for your new diet to a T! You're feeling good and then Saturday hits. You say "oh I have done so good all week, I am going to treat myself to one cookie", then Saturday night shows up, "oh it's only one drink or one beer or one glass of wine, and again I have done so good all week one glass won't hurt". Now you are three-four drinks in, a half of box of Cheese-Its down and now you need a little something sweet to counter balance all that salt so you reach for one more cookie right before bed. Does any of this sound familiar yet? So you wake up Sunday morning not feeling your best, because that 4th drink put you over the edge oh and your belly and fingers are swollen from the drinking and the salt so now your not feeling too hot about yourself so you head to the fridge to numb the pain with greasy food to get you over the hump. So Sunday evening rolls around and you say "wow I feel bad about last night and yesterday so I am going to start again fresh on Monday". You do awesome Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is so-so, Thursday comes and your starting to give up. The grind of following the eating plan is starting to get old, the cooking is wearing on you, you are falling off the wagon slowly by grabbing little snacks here and there that are not on the plan. Then the weekend hits again, funny how that happens. You bomb Saturday again and this time you tell yourself you're done with the "diet." You are not happy with how you are living and eating and this is just not for you. There is too much to think about, too much to abide by, too many rules and limits... IT IS JUST NOT FOR YOU! So now you quit! You have lost your money that you invested, you have guilt for not following through with the plan, and you are back to where you started. You say to yourself " this is just who I am" " I tried, but this diet just wasn't for me" " I lost 5 pounds so I know I can do it, but I just can't make myself get there." All of these are normal feelings, but they are not feelings that you have to have. When you dig down deep and find what makes you tick, what puts a smile on your face, what excites you the weight loss will come. You will WANT to make healthier changes, you will WANT to try harder. You will NOT want to quit or give up because you will feel so good about where you are and what you have accomplished that giving up just won't be an option. It takes time, but the process is so rewarding that you won't mind the time and before you know it you will be happier, healthier, your weight will be down and you will be enjoying life a little more (or hopefully a lot more) than you were before.... and best of all you will be more likely to stick with it because YOU have decided these are the changes YOU are willing to make for yourself, they are not changes that someone else or some "diet" made for you.