Haha. Click bait. Got you there!
The real answer is NO DIET. Are you shocked? Maybe excited? It’s good news.
Here’s are some of the reasons you should stop dieting and feeling like you need to exercise for 4 hours a day because honestly, long term, it won’t work.
Here’s some of the reasons you should stop dieting and feeling like you need to exercise for 4 hours a day because honestly, long term, it won’t work.
Don’t Crash Diet
The bottom line – these diets don’t work. Whether it’s a shake, a bar, a meal plan that you pay a subscription for or keto. These diets are unsustainable, they are expensive and they are set up to make you fail. If they actually worked, the diet industry would fall apart with no customers so they work on the idea that you keep coming back for the next new trend. If you’re ever being sold a diet or diet product, trust me – Don’t buy it. Don’t do it. Ever. It’s not worth it.
Don’t Over Exercise
It’s no secret that exercise can help you lose weight. It will. But you don’t need to sweat it out in the gym for hours and hours on end. The Australian Physical Activity Guidelines state that you should be aiming to accumulate each week 150 to 300 minutes (2 ½ to 5 hours) of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes (1 ¼ to 2 ½ hours) of vigorous intensity physical(1). That’s a minimum of a brisk 30 min walk for 5 days a week. Obviously the more the better but you don’t need to spend hours doing exercise you hate to lose weight.
Mental Health
We all know that diets make you feel garbage. Diets feed you negativity if you’re not doing good enough, you’re not working hard enough, you’re a failure, you’re unworthy unless you lose weight, you have to look like this celebrity in this picture that has been photoshopped from head to toe to be hot and so on. This kind of constant thinking is not good for our mental health. We want to be healthy, fit AND happy because ultimately that is a true picture of health. All this negativity and comparison can lead us down a dark path toward mental illness so let’s nip this in the bud now and do something good for our mental health and start doing some positive thinking and loving on yourself.
But how can I lose weight or be healthy if I’m not ‘dieting’?
Eat the Recommended Servings of each Food Group
This will naturally help you to have a healthy balanced diet and will also give you the best chance of meeting your macronutrient and micronutrient (fancy words for the things your body needs to function and keep you alive and healthy) requirements which are important for general health and chronic disease prevention. The number of serves of each food group varies across different ages and genders and it is worth looking at the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating to find the correct recommendations for you. However, in general, you want to be aiming for at least 5 serves of vegies (1 serve = 75g) and 2 serves of fruit and have a variety of grain, dairy and meat/meat alternative foods.
Keep Processed “Junk” Foods out of the House
Just before you roll your eyes, we aren’t food Nazi’s. Enjoy some chocolate, chips or wine every now and again when you are really craving it but create that extra step where you have to go out to the shops to get it. This will help avoid mindless eating of high calorie processed foods just because they are available to you in the house.
Eat Home Cooked Meals
In our opinion, cooking is one of the greatest skills you can learn to help you reach your goals. Knowing how to cook meals means you don’t have to rely on processed or takeaway foods and you have complete control of what foods go into the meals you eat. If you aren’t sure how to cook healthy meals, you can always come to our cooking classes
Don’t Overeat
This one is simple, pay attention to your fullness signals. I know it’s easy to say but can be difficult to do. Our suggestion is to, eat slowly and as soon as you feel full, stop eating and let the food settle. It can also be helpful to serve yourself less food than usual and go back for seconds after waiting a few minutes if you still aren’t full. We can also help you with this using our behavioural modification approaches.
Know When to Get Help
It can be hard to do it alone, especially if you’re feeling like you don’t know where to start. If nothing is working or you feel like you’ve tried everything and you’re still not happy with where you are, see a dietitian. They will be able to give you a more personalised and tailored approach to help you meet your goals and stick to them.
(1) Physical activity and exercise guidelines for all Australians | Australian Government Department of Health
