With so many diet plan options, it can feel overwhelming to weed through them and figure out which one will work. This often leads to pick one that guarantees epic quick results or that worked for your friend Sally. Before you jump into your next attempt at dieting, I implore you to keep reading to learn how you can finally achieve long-lasting results by focusing on your mindset to create consistent habits.
First, let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room and why you are so frustrated in the first place – the diet industry!
The diet industry is mind-boggling when you learn how it works. Typical diet plans set out a list of rules you have to follow, creating their secret sauce to weight loss. If you can adhere to those rules, then you’ll see results; and if you can’t adhere to those rules, you feel like there’s something wrong with you. Whether it’s Optavia, Keto, or even Weight Watchers, if the diet plan “works” it’s because it’s helping you achieve one thing – putting you into a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than you need based on your current activity level to maintain your weight. Weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance is about energy balance.
I’m sure you’ve heard “calories in and calories out,” but let’s break this down ⬇️
- Consuming < calories than your body needs to maintain based on your activity = lose weight
- Consuming > calories than your body needs to maintain based on your activity = gain weight
- Consuming around the amount of calories your body needs to maintain based on your activity = maintain your current weight.
And yes, this is the equation for how energy balance works, although it’s more complex than this simple equation may sound.
The energy balance equation of “calories in/calories out” oversimplifies all the complexity of the variables that can impact weight loss and the impact of your consistency to maintain those variables. Providing you with a plan you can’t maintain long-term and not helping you learn how to be consistent is how these diet companies fail you. And herein is the biggest problem with these diet programs: they skip the essential piece in the weight loss puzzle – how to focus on your mindset to support you to be consistent.
99% of the time, your mindset and beliefs keep you from achieving and maintaining weight loss. It’s that little voice in your head, telling you you’re lazy, unmotivated, or broken. It’s when you feel like saying F-it for the rest of the weekend after a night of overindulging on pizza and beer, thinking you ruined all your progress. It’s when you have to drive your kids to 6 activities in 3 different towns on the same day and you tell yourself there is literally nothing you can do to stay on plan that day. I get it since I went through all of this myself as I started on my weight loss journey, and I’ve seen it time and time again as I’ve supported hundreds of women working through this. But it wasn’t until I worked through my mindset that I finally found a way to build consistent habits that led to losing and now maintaining 75 lb of weight loss.
That’s why mindset is the first place I start when working with all my clients and why all my group programs focus here first before diving into anything related to habits, nutrition, or fitness. We must start on mindset before diving into any specific plans or “protocols” because, at the end of the day, the plan or protocol means nothing if you haven’t developed the skills to be consistent with them, and that’s where the mindset work comes in.
So, if consistency is the key to maintaining results, wouldn’t you want to pick a nutritional approach you plan to keep doing for the rest of your life? Yes, that’s right, the rest of your life! To maintain the weight loss, you need to be able to keep doing the things that support the weight loss over and over each day for the rest of your life. Suppose the approach you took to achieve the results is not something you can continue to maintain. In that case, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment.
So the next time you say, “Keto is the only thing that worked for me!”, ask yourself why you aren’t still doing it. If it had worked, you’d still be doing it and maintaining. You have to find an approach you plan to keep using forever! So, as you evaluate or learn about new nutritional approaches, ask yourself, “Is this something I would like to keep doing for the rest of my life?” And trust me, willpower is fleeting, so if the answer isn’t an enthusiastic “Yes!” skip it.
Consistency over perfection is a mantra I repeat to myself and my clients. When that all-or-nothing mentality kicks in, it can look like deciding to skip the workout altogether instead of dropping some sets. Or it can look like when you decide to overindulge for the entire weekend because you screwed up on Friday night, so you tell yourself you may as well just keep overindulging for the rest of the weekend. This is like getting one flat tire and then deciding to puncture a hole in the other three since you might as well! It makes no sense, but this can easily happen when we think more black and white or all-or-nothing with our approach to our habits.
Ok, so you’re stuck in an all-or-nothing mentality; where DO you start?
The first place is evaluating how you speak to yourself. The words we use and how we talk to ourselves can shape our self-perception, influence our behavior, and help us achieve our goals. Constantly using negative or self-critical language leads to a negative self-image. But when we use positive and affirming language, it can boost our self-confidence and self-worth. Positive self-talk can actually influence our behavior. The way we talk to ourselves can affect our behavior. Positive self-talk can motivate you to take action, set and achieve goals, and overcome challenges. Negative self-talk, on the other hand, can hold you back and lead to self-sabotage. The words you use when describing your goals and aspirations can profoundly affect your ability to achieve them. Clear, specific, and positive language can help you clarify your objectives and stay motivated to work towards them.
This is why I have all clients first ask, “Who do they want to be?” and in their answer, we want to see positive language. “I want to be a role model for my kids on healthy habits” rather than “I want to stop being an example of bad habits for my kids”. Do you see the difference in how each version sounds in terms of how we speak to ourselves? When we’re less overly critical, we create an environment for continuous self-improvement.
Positive self-talk can also be a great tool for managing stress. When faced with challenging situations, using calming and reassuring words can help reduce anxiety and enhance your ability to cope effectively. The way you talk to yourself during adversity can influence your resilience. Using words that promote resilience, such as “I can handle this” or “I can learn from this experience,” can help you bounce back from setbacks and challenges.
The words you use and how you describe yourself shape your self-perception, influence your behavior, impact your emotional well-being, and play a significant role in your personal growth and success. It’s clear the words you use matter and that’s the first place I would start evaluating before starting any new diet plan. So before starting your next diet, consider focusing on the words you are using first related to your habits. This is the start to moving past that all-or-nothing mentality that’s probably holding you back from seeing long-term results.
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Remember: this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
