Here’s Why Most People Can’t Stay on a Diet for More Than a Few Weeks and How we can help overcome that.
Every diet starts with lots of enthusiasm, excitement, and unwavering will. Sadly, this doesn’t last long! We’ve all known or faced such a scenario where sticking to a diet becomes a daily struggle and somewhere along the way we lose that zeal to reach our goal.
Why do we begin the year or the diet solid only to lose steam after a few weeks? Why can’t you stay consistent on a diet for long?
If you are one of those people looking for these answers, this article is for you.
I know what to do to lose weight, but…
You are probably saying to yourself – another year has passed, and…
- I still look the same
- I lost no weight
- My energy is lacking
- I hate the way I look in photos
- I feel out of control around food
We don’t want 2022 to be another year that comes and goes without you experiencing any changes… again.
Your fitness and health matter, and so do your happiness and confidence.
We have all been told that to lose weight:
“You just have to eat right and exercise.”
But only if it were that easy.
Knowing the exact thing to do is not the same as actually doing it.
It’s like someone saying, why can’t all aspiring musicians produce a hit? All they need is a “killer” chorus with a good beat and melody.
It’s because it is easier to say something than to actually do it.
Since we all know the exact thing to do, why do many people still have issues with their weight?
And why are many people not happy with their appearance?
If losing weight were as easy as “just staying on a diet,” then why have you not done it already?
To be honest, there are no secrets to weight loss. It all boils down to these three things:
- Eating “right”
- Moving your body with both daily activity and exercise
- And repeating number 1 and number 2
But it’s doing this consistently that is so complex, correct?
If you really want to be consistent, you need to understand why it’s so difficult for you to remain consistent.
There are three reasons why staying consistent on a diet can be challenging:
Reason #1: The plan is unsustainable
Stay away from fad diets, especially those that have no transition back to a balanced lifestyle. You will never stick to a grapefruit, shake, or egg diet for a very long time. And you cannot continue to follow a restrictive, calorically insufficient diet for long.
Even our most successful weight loss program, Ideal Protein, has a beginning, a transition off the diet, and then a lifestyle plan that teaches you to live (and maintain your weight) off a diet.
While your diet needs to be healthy, it’s also essential that it is practical and sustainable.
What do we mean by this?
Does your diet pass the five-year test?
Before going on any diet, you need to ask yourself,
“Do I see myself still eating like this five years from now?”
If your answer is No, the diet you are considering is unsustainable and you won’t be able to stick with it for long.
If the workout or diet plan is not sustainable, it’s bound to fail from the beginning.
That’s the reason why you should look for a diet or exercise plan that will be easier to follow.
You cannot expect to stay on an unsustainable diet plan…
But still, a lot of people keep embarking on crazy diets.
At Ideal Protein Omaha by LaVie, we don’t recommend unsustainable restrictive diets because we know that it needs to be effective and sustainable for a diet to work. That’s why we focus on diets that help our clients lose weight quickly but have a customized maintenance phase; otherwise, it’s never going to last.
A diet should not be about eliminating the foods you love and never reintroducing them again. Foods do make us happy.
And we want you to be fit and happy – not fit and unhappy.
And that’s why we always tell our clients not to go crazy at the gym. There’s no need to do so.
Most people don’t realize there is no way to exercise yourself out of a poor diet. Believe it or not, 80 percent of weight loss has to do with diet. It’s not about how many calories you expend on the exercise machines, and this might be shocking to you, but high-intensity workouts are ineffective for fat burning.
It’s about why, what, and how we eat.
And that’s the fact. This phenomenon is why you see many people hit the gym, rigorously exercise for hours daily, and still won’t lose weight.
Although working out does help, you cannot out-bike, out-run, and out-sweat a lousy diet.
Shedding weight is simple – and even easy when you fix what, how, and why you eat.
Reason #2: You don’t change your relationship with food
This step is crucial.
If you are merely scanning this article, you need to stop here and read between the lines.
The issue is that:
A lot of people embark on what we call a “food diet.”
- In January, they are only eating A
- February, they are only eating B
- And the next month, they are on diet C
Many people like this go from one “food diet” to the next.
In fact, we have all done it. We choose a diet and stick to all the rules for a while… until our willpower wanes.
If you are only changing “what” you eat, you will never see any significant changes for the long term.
It’s essential to change the way you relate to food. It would help if you change how you react to and think about food. You have to develop the behaviors, habits, and mindset required to drop weight and keep it off. Otherwise, you will continue to go from one diet to the other. And you won’t be able to stay committed to any diet.
Most of us embark on a diet plan, “willing” to remain strong for as much as possible… until we cannot keep up with it anymore. Our motivation dies down along the way, and we revert to our old habits.
Willpower alone is just unsustainable!
That’s the reason many people gain back the way they’ve already lost some time. They don’t have the right mindset, behaviors, and habits necessary to maintain weight.
They begin strong and try hard for some months until they can’t continue anymore.
Yes, there are many useful tools for Motivating yourself to lose weight. But, when you’re trying to “motivate” yourself through a diet, it becomes more and more difficult as time passes.
So how do you make staying on a diet easier?
Here’s how we achieve this at LaVie.
We change how you relate to food.
We also help you develop the right habits, behaviors, and mindset to lose and keep weight off.
Unlike many programs, diets, and “experts” who only focus on the food you are eating, we also focus on the reasons you eat.
Although “what you eat” also matters, we believe it’s easier to change “what” you eat when you know “why” you eat.
That’s the reason why our clients find it easier to stay on our diet plan. And that’s what enables them to lose and maintain weight easily.
You are never going to shed weight long-term until you change your relationship with food.
Reason # 3: You lack daily support and daily personal accountability
It’s easy to break promises you make to yourself. Nobody will know whether or not you keep them, anyway.
Without daily support and accountability, you will always find it challenging to stick with your diet. Challenging – because it’s easy to justify our “bad” choices when losing weight.
This is where BioIntelligent Wellness comes in. Daily accountability and support are what sets our program apart from many others out there.
We don’t just tell you what to do to lose weight; we also ensure that you actually do it every day.
It’s hard to reach any goal without accountability. This is why accountability is at the core of BioIntelligent Wellness and how our clients have been able to achieve those amazing results.
When you think you are going off track, we will be there to support you.
We will also be there to help when you hit a roadblock or plateau.
Having a person to support you every day helps a great deal.
What is accountability, actually?
Let’s assume it is your first day in college…
And your new chemistry professor walks in, carrying a big textbook.
She looks at everyone in the class, drops the book on the table, and says…
“You have only three months to study. You are going to have a test after three months. Best of luck.” She then goes out of the classroom.
How many people do you think will pass? Few students, because the chemistry professor set everyone up for failure.
Okay, what if the chemistry professor:
- Conducts class every day
- Has specific office hours
- Allows you to ask questions
- Assist you through the tricky parts
- Helps and guides you through each step of the way
How many people do you think will pass? A lot of students, right?
As you can see:
The difference between many students passing and many failing is the amount of accountability, support, and guidance they receive.
This scenario is also true when it comes to losing weight.
Most people are told something like this,
“Here is a diet for losing weight. Now follow it. Best of luck!”
It’s no surprise why most diets have low success rates, and this is the main reason those on traditional programs rarely achieve their goal.
Most of us begin our diet strong and even shed some weight initially, but we unavoidably lose motivation along the way or hit a roadblock and then stop.
We are bound to fail right from the start! Just like the chemistry professor whose “teaching” style sets up the students to fail.
Are you still wondering why you can’t stay on a diet? Keep reading!
Okay, how can we set ourselves up for weight loss success?
We provide continuous support and guidance for our clients each step of the way, and that’s why we have such an impressive success rate.
Apart from letting you know what to do to lose weight, we also ensure that you are doing it every day, helping you through any obstacle that stands in the way. Then, once you hit your goal, our focus shifts to helping you establish a balanced lifestyle and teaching you to maintain your weight effortlessly.
We achieve our results because we:
- Offer continuous support, accountability, and professional guidance.
- Recommend a diet and exercise plan that you can stick to based on the realities of your life.
- Assign you a coach who knows how to achieve the results you desire and how to help you through anything that gets in the way.
- Support you when you are going off track and through the unavoidable roadblocks.
- Help you set well-defined, realistic goals.
- Teach you little by little – we do not overload you with all the information on the first day.
- Help you develop the proper habits, mindset, and behaviors needed to drop weight and maintain it. And…
- Provide you with unceasing support and accountability from a real person day in and day out. And your coach is just a call/text away to overcome the stumbling blocks.
It’s hard to achieve success without support and accountability. If losing weight were as easy as knowing what to do, won’t you have done it already?
Bear in mind that – there’s a big difference between knowing what to do and doing it. Together,
Those are the three reasons why consistency is tough
We want you to succeed in your weight loss journey because we believe that when your fitness and health improve, every other thing in your life improves. How you feel about yourself affects all aspects of your life.
We don’t want this year to be another year that passes without you achieving your weight loss goals.
We will not only help you lose weight and get the body you desire, but we will also help you develop the habits, mindset, and behaviors that will help you maintain the weight long-term!
If you can’t stay on a diet, please reach out to Omaha’s weight loss coach!