I know that many of you have tried the carb cutting, calorie slashing, juicing, detoxing, veg souping, [insert other diet types here!], other restrictive diets and it’s time to change that once and for all. I firmly believe that you can live a heathy, balanced life through making some simple tweaks and changes – and doing so consistently.

But first of all, I think a great starting point is understanding why none of those diets have worked (in the long term) in the past.

Many of the principles I coach centre around the reasons why diets haven’t worked in the past.  We need to understand and unpack these to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself….

Following the Thrive in 5 ethos, I’ve broken it down to 5 main reasons diets haven’t worked (or only worked temporarily) in the past…

• Unrealistic expectations – we don’t give it long enough! 

When we start something new and we change our behaviours and start to work hard towards something, we want to see the rewards from our labour – and quite rightly too!  Sometimes we’ve done all the right things, but we just get impatient!!  And when we don’t see results or changes, we just give up. We think: ‘why bother if it’s not working, I’ll just try something different’.  But that is a challenge we aim to overcome – setting the right expectations from the start and understanding that change takes time can really help shift this mindset.

Coaching principles to overcome this – PATIENCE AND CONSISTENCY.

• All or nothing mentality – we expect perfection

This is a biggie.  I fell into the trap many times too and the issue here is thinking your actions have to be totally perfect in order to get results.  It means we think we can’t start a new ‘diet’ if we have commitments, we think ‘Oh I’ll just wait until after X event to start’ – which is bonkers really because life will ALWAYS happen.

Once you do actually start to make positive changes, a second implication of this all or nothing mindset is the temptation to give in if you CAN’T be perfect.  Again – it’s life getting in the way!  But it always will, so we need to be able to cope with that while still working towards our goals.

Life will never be ‘perfect’ – in any respect – so let’s not expect it to be!  Let’s learn how to happily and healthily live our lives while maintaining some balance and  control.

Coaching principle to overcome this – SOMETHING IS ALWYS BETTER THAN NOTHING.

• We try and change too much at once.

This can be overwhelming and even though you might need to make a number changes to achieve your goals, changing everything at once is likely to result in burn out.

Coaching principle to overcome this – SMALL CHANGES OVER TIME. 

• We attach too much importance to scale weight.

When we try hard to lose weight we want to see it reflected on the scales, but weight fluctuates for so many different reasons and it is not a direct measure of fat loss.

If you are doing the right thing and losing fat, it can take a while for this to be reflected on the scales….  The key is to keep going and focus on other things instead of weight alone.

So many (if not all) of my clients have experienced this and it can be really disheartening, but we have strategies to deal with it.  It’s hard to change perspective around this – I struggle with it too sometimes, but this is where coaching comes into its own….  Having someone to reassure you is key.  Having someone there to assess whether you are doing the right things is important too…. If you’re doing this by yourself, it’s very easy to convince yourself that whatever you’re doing isn’t working, when that’s probably not the case.  You just aren’t seeing it on the scales YET.

There are so many other benefits associated with healthier habits and they do get overlooked.  Focus on how you feel and make lifestyle changes because it’s an act of self care and respect, not because it’s some sort of weight loss drive.

Coaching principle to overcome this – FOCUS ON THE NON-SCALE VICTORIES.

• Lack of flexibility and support when things don’t go to plan

Despite best intentions, it’s highly unlikely you will be able to stick to a healthy eating plan 100% of the time.  Period. With or without a coach!  Occasions and events happen; celebrations, illnesses, injury, holidays, family emergencies, children, etc…. It’s about fully appreciating this and ensuring you do SOMETHING rather than NOTHING in these circumstances and that you aim for adherence to your plan for 85%+ of the time.  Consistency always wins!

If something happens which means you can’t hit your protein target, if you go out with friends for a reunion and drink too much and end up with a horrible hangover, if your child is ill so you can’t go to the supermarket, if you break your ankle so you can’t walk – there is always a way to edge closer to your goals.  And I am here to help support and guide you with that.

Coaching principle to overcome this – WORK TOGETHER AND OFFER SUPPORT AND ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS.

If any of this resonates with you and you’d like to ditch the diet culture for good, please feel free to contact me to find out more.  I’d love to help and support you.

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