Crazy diets, mad regimes and frustration can topple any plan very quickly writes gym owner, personal trainer and bootcamp creator covering Maynooth, Kilcock, Celbridge and Leixlip John Lark
I nearly choked on my cornflakes there the other day when I glanced down at my wife’s magazine.
Kim Kardashian’s backside took up most of the front page (literally) and one celebrity was touting how she lost a tonne of weight eating three tins a day.
Comical it may seem but this is the world we live in. Fake. Aesthetically driven. Motivated by superficial appearance.
Selling Fear
Companies praying on fear. Selling RIDICULOUS ‘weight loss drink your food’ approaches which have about as much physiological basis as Dustin the Turkey’s claim to a seat in the Dail.
It seems though everyday there is a new diet book, approach, view or opinion thrust into our faces. The promises are huge. Drop a dress size in a week. Lose 7lbs in 7 days. Change your life forever.
Who knows? You may be ‘on’ a diet. And who can blame you? You want results – QUICK! These ‘diets’ promise you exactly that with their fluorescent book covers, powerful testimonials and ‘proven’ strategies for success.
(Our diet approach here? We don’t have one – YOU are unique)
You plunge in to them. You may even become a serial dietar (or is that ‘cereal’? dieter. I have to be careful, and no pun intended, on a well-known cereal producer’s ‘Drop a Dress Size by Eating Two Bowls of Dead Food Diet’)
What Next?
Atkins, The Zone, The Cabbage Soup, The Grapefruit – whatever next?
It can become a frustrating habit. One that yields good, bad, indifferent or no results for people. You may give up the ghost and plunge back into the habit of sugar binges and drinking 5 cups of coffee for the ‘pick me up’.
Our experience with serial dieters is that like the diet themselves, they are fussy.
When an individual says they are on a specific diet – they aren’t really. They are on a piece meal version. The individual may take the bits of it they like and ignore the rest. Take for instance the Atkins. We all know that this is renowned for its rib sticking breakfast of sausages and eggs.
The Devil is in the Detail
I would hazard a guess that most people would warm to this. However, the devil is in the detail. What about the inordinate amount of vegetables that are recommended alongside a certain formula of water to help with the detoxification process.
It is like me giving you a recipe for apple pie and you then making rhubarb crumble.
My point is simple. For any diet to succeed and in truth most, if not all will, you have to be compliant 95% of the time.
Here is my problem with diets. You end up chasing more than one rabbit at a time.
And more importantly you are missing the bigger picture – start by loving yourself FIRST. Yep – you. That beautiful body of yours. Love what you put in it, do to it and treat it. Screw the powders and potions.
A Question of Habits
Then it becomes a question of habits. We approach nutrition from a behavioural point of view by asking our clients to focus on one habit at a time.
Why this period of time? Well some of us have that burning intrinsic level of motivation to make a change immediately. For 7 days they can focus their efforts on making a change before these habits become long-lasting. For some it make take a little longer i.e. 21 days. In fact studies have shown that habits take around this time to be forged.
Like any habit, nutrition is no different. It takes time to forge habits such as shopping for fresh foods twice a week or bulk cooking and bringing in left-overs with you to work.
However, the difference between this approach and all the diet books is ultimately it is more fulfilling. Imagine tackling one habit a week for 10 weeks. In 10 weeks you would have completely overhauled your eating habits – for the long haul. That could mean the difference between shifting the weight and not.
Set Your Goal
Like all goals success brings more success and there is nothing more fulfilling than setting a goal and snowballing your achievements.
So, it goes without saying that if you are thinking of trying a diet check with a healthy doctor first then ensure you make yourself accountable and can measure your results with it. However, if you know that you have a terribly sweet tooth or just find it hard to eat right on the run then a diet book will not help. Behavioural changes with forging new habits will.
John Lark is a Fat Loss Specialist – Download ‘5 Fat Loss Tips’ at www.spherefitness studio.com or call 01-5052131
