Do you know the number on weight loss mistake dieters make? I'm talking about the very mistake that keeps dieters in a perpetual yo-yo cycle. I'll tell you what that is in a minute.
Consider this, someone who was to eating everything all her life realised that her relationship with food was unhealthy and decided to make changes. She cleared her kitchen of all the foods she considered to be bad and embarked on a strict diet.
The first week was good because her willpower was in high gear and her motivation was up. She was on a roll, and nothing was going to stop her.
She weighed herself every day, and she could see the number of the scale going down. She was happy with the result even though she secretly resented the punishment diet she was on.
The second week came by, and she was still on a diet, but her willpower has started to dwindle. She jumped on the scale on day 10 and noticed she had lost 10kg already.
She has lost 10kg in 10 days! She was delighted about the “progress” she had made.
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It Takes A Lot Of Energy To Make A Full Spin
However, things started going south from day 13. It had taken every ounce of her willpower to get here, and she was reaching her breaking point.
The breaking point came on day 17. She was tired of her punishment diet and decided to quit. “This thing is hard. I will try again another time”, she said to herself.
Changing everything about your nutrition habits all at once requires a lot of willpower and energy. It’s like rotating around a circle at full speed. This approach will leave you drained and diminish your willpower because willpower is a limited resource.
You Will End Up In The Wrong Place
Making a 360-degree turn will take you back to where you started from, and that is not where you want to go. You should be at the opposite end of where you started from by the time you're done with the change. You should not end up at point zero.
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The Best Approach
How do you move from where you are now to where you want to be? You break the long distance into small steps!
It's not easy to change ingrained habits. You've been eating a particular way all your life. Therefore, it's not possible to change everything at once. The best approach is to break things down into small steps and make one or two changes at a time. We make things hard for ourselves when we try to change everything at once. Break the distance into small steps and take it one step at a time.
It takes less energy and less willpower to take a step than it takes to make a full spin. Taking small steps is manageable. Yes, you may not be moving at the speed of the person who is spinning through the circle, but in the end, you'll make more progress than that person.
Make 1-2 Manageable Changes And Practice Them Daily For 3-4 Weeks
It'd be easier for you to reduce your food intake by 1/4 than reducing it by ¾. I know you want to reduce your food intake drastically, but you must understand that it wasn’t yesterday you started eating like this. You probably have been eating this way all your adult life.
You need to set yourself up for success by making small changes. Start by cutting down your main meals by ¼, and make another change when your system has adjusted to that.
Make Substitutes
Most things in life have alternatives, and as humans, we must learn to choose the best options. There's more than one way to cook your plantain and white rice, and bread is not the only carbohydrates option available. You can substitute oven roasted plantain for deep fried plantain, and you can get your carbohydrates from beans, sweet potato and plantain instead of bread and Indomie.
Substitute! Substitute! Substitute!
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Always Say NO To Crash Diets
Now that you know the number one weight loss mistake dieters make, you must be on guard so that you don’t fall for crash diets. Crash diets come in all forms and types, but they all have one thing in common: they eliminate most foods and are hard to sustain.
Yes, your weight will crash in just a few days of being on a crash diet. But you will gain all the weight back, with extra, as soon as you go off the diet.
Going on a crash diet is like making a 360-degree turn, it wastes your precious energy and takes you back to where you started from, and that is not where you want to go.
Make small changes that will lead you to your desired goal. That's sustainable, and it's the best approach.
Nice nice nice article.
We always want quick results and embark on crash diet.
We also need to find healthy substitutes for what we like.
Eg smoothie for sodas.
You’re right, Ayo. We need to find healthy substitutes for sodas, but we still need to be careful with liquid/semi-liquid calories because it’s easy to overdo it on them. Thanks for reading.
Lovely article. In my own case, I’m looking out for healthy options that will help me gain weight. Most people often forget that some people like me want to put on some healthy weight. Thanks for sharing, I learned one or two things.
http://www.zinnyfactor.com
I’m glad you liked the article, Zinny. Yes, you are correct, some people need to gain healthy weight. So if you’re in that category, I’d recommend that you look into strength training to gain lean muscle mass.