Why Diets Don't Work

Why Diets Don’t Work

Let me tell you something surprising about that ‘perfect diet’ that you follow, or the one that you are going to “start next week”: It’s a sabotage-fest waiting to happen.

Those foods you’ve labeled “bad”? The ones that throw you into the depths of shame when you barely glance in their direction?

Don’t blame them for your multiple injuries from “falling off the wagon”. They aren’t sabotaging your weight loss efforts. It’s the rules and restrictions you’re putting on YOURSELF that are the real problem.

It doesn’t matter what you’re using to control what goes in your mouth – a rigid food list made by some glossy guru, cutting carbs (don’t touch that banana!), Weight Watchers, or some rudimentary Excel spreadsheet you created in a guilty haze after burrowing to the bottom of a Doritos bag.

I bet you’re subscribing to it because you THINK those rules and keeping on top of every last ingredient and crumb will prevent you from gaining weight and going bat shit crazy…

When you see mini-eggs in every possible location in the city.

When you spot the cute red velvet cupcakes at your friend’s shower.

When work sucked. And there’s a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer that’s waiting for you at home.

Hell, I know I did.

Once upon an awful time, I was on the Zone diet. Have you tried that one? Food wasn’t food. Food was a block. To me, an almond wasn’t just an almond. Three almonds were one block. Four? Out of the friggin’ question.

Here’s even a picture from one of my old dieting journals (this was pre-MyFitnessPal kids) to capture the true insanity of it for you:

Hooray for ⅔ tsp of margarine! So filling, nutritious and satisfying.

I thought I was totally in control, but the reality was that food terrified me. This was just one example. I spent years trying SO many different modes of controlling my food intake.

And if I hadn’t wasted 5 gazillion hours thinking about all that shit and writing down everything that touched my lips, I probably could have invented a legit Back to the Future flying skateboard by now.

The reality is:

We try so hard to be “good” because we think if don’t draw these lines in the sand, we won’t be able to stop once we cave. We’ll go totally AWOL, eat everything in sight, and be relegated to our stretchy lulu’s for the unforeseeable future.

But by being so strict and hard on ourselves, and living in fear of this “forbidden fruit”, we’re actually giving food power over US. We’re relinquishing control.

And this is why being a control freak is bad news for your relationship with food.

Because when you don’t trust yourself around it, you let yourself become a slave to it. You can’t stop thinking about. And all those goodies you’ve put “off limits”? You’ll want that much more. (Like when you passed up seeing Roxette live in concert. Or is that just me?)

If you really want to avoid the diet-sabotage cycle, you’ve got to grant yourself permission to just chilllllll.

Ditch the diet. Don’t make such a big deal out of every bite.

Stop following the rules, and start breaking them.

I can teach you how…

Pretty soon, I’m going to be opening the doors to my kickass 8-week online coaching program where I’ll teach you step-by-step how to manage your weight effortlessly…by letting go, trusting yourself, and learning to eat what you really want.

And if that sounds too good to be true, I’ll show you that it’s really not.

Make sure you’re signed up for my updates if you’re hungry to learn more. I’ll be dishing all the dirty details over the next few weeks.