For most people “Diets” are too difficult. The healthy
recipe book or diet plan is great for about a week, then compliance drops off
and the excitement of trying something new wears off because you haven’t lost
10 lbs in a week.
Gradually the “Diet” goes out the window and old eating
habits creep back in.
For some people, the traditional method of following a
strict diet for a few weeks, or the points systems or calorie-counting that
have been relied on for so long do work, but for most, they don’t quite get the
results you’re after.
Enter Habit Based
Nutrition.
The reason people fail at dieting is because their new
actions go against ingrained habits. It’s your behaviour and habits that need
to be addressed rather than a strict plan telling you what you can or can’t
eat.
You don’t need to be told what you can or can’t eat as this
is the failing point in most diets, and most people know what they should and
shouldn’t be eating. You need to be able to enjoy the foods you like, but still
eat in a way that works for your body
and delivers the results you want.
By addressing your daily habits, you can make small, healthy
changes easily; gradually improving your diet over time so it changes for good,
not until “the end of your diet”. Every couple of weeks you should introduce a
new habit that you can scale up or down to suit your current level – if it’s
too hard, make it easier. If it’s too easy, make it more challenging.
By introducing one achievable habit at a time, you’ll build
up step by step to a healthier lifestyle.
Progress should be tracked in a number of ways, not just
with weight on the scales (which is useful, but not ideal); photos,
measurements, compliance and any other specific markers you feel will be
helpful are essential in keeping you motivated.
DAILY reminders will help you stay on track; and learning why you’re doing what you’re doing will
help you understand and commit to your habit changes more easily.
Remembering
why you’re making the changes (what your goals are) will also keep you
motivated.
One of the main reasons slimming clubs work is because
you’re making yourself accountable. Tell someone what you’re doing, why you’re
doing it, and ask for their support (it doesn’t have to be a facebook
announcement to the world, but someone you trust who will hold you accountable
and give you a hard time if you slack off – like a trainer or coach).
The aim
is not to embarrass you when you fail, but to motivate you to try harder and
boost your pride and confidence when you succeed.
Now you can do all of this yourself, but there’s so much
nutritional “information” out there that it can be difficult to work out what
you need to do next, or even where to begin!
As a Precision Nutrition certified coach, I can now offer
you access to ProCoach, a habit-based nutrition coaching program that will help
you to easily integrate healthy eating into your lifestyle.
It covers all of the above – teaching you new habits in a
structured way to ensure you start at the beginning and build up slowly, one
success after the other. While there’s no right or wrong way, certain
foundations need to be laid before you can build on them, so getting the right
habits under control first will prevent you from falling off the wagon by
trying something you’re not ready for.
This is an entirely new approach to dieting for most people,
(in fact, for the first couple of weeks we don’t even talk about food!) but
it’s effective and it works. By helping you think about and focus on your goals,
it will help you make better choices that will ultimately lead to your desired
result.
If you’d like more information on ProCoach, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com/nutrition-coaching
where you can watch a video of people who’ve done the program, and contact me
with any questions you might have.
If your current efforts aren’t working for you, it’s time to
try something new!
Visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com
for more information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, Bootcamp, and
other classes.
And
follow us on Facebook and Twitter (do it now……) for extra tips, advice and
motivation.
