Year after year, people all over the world vow to start their year off on a healthier note. They resolve to make better food choices, exercise every single day, and more often than not, are willing to try any diet in order to watch the pounds shed right off.
But, at the same time, year after year, these same people find themselves unable to follow through with their health goals. And you know what? It’s not their fault!
Life can be so hectic you often put yourself on the backburner. Work, family, friends and other obligations seem to come before yourself and your wellbeing. You’re unhappy with how you’re feeling, looking and living, yet it never seems like you have the time to turn things around.
And even when you do, how many times have you checked out a diet plan, liked what you saw, and dove in head first? Only to then realize you’re 3 weeks in and 1) You look nothing like the happy, glowing “after model”, and 2) You have no idea if what you’re doing is even working.
These diets are restricting, so much so that they can make you feel worse about yourself than you did before. They’re confusing. They’re discouraging.
This happens all the time. But, there’s a way to get out of this spiralling rut, and we think we can help.
1. You’re trying to change everything at once
Nobody can do it all. Just like wanting to knock everything off your to-do list in the only 24 hours a day gives us, it’s sometimes just not possible. Not only is it not possible, it’s not effective. When you’re rushing to get it all done, it’s almost like you shouldn’t have even bothered in the first place, because things are messier than they were to begin with.
Real change and progress takes time. By focusing on one aspect of your wellness journey at a time, before long you’ll notice all of those little aspects coming together and creating real, lasting change.
Don’t overwhelm yourself by setting the bar unrealistically high, it won’t serve you in the long run.
2. You feel alone
Without a sense of community throughout the process, it’s easy to start to feel a sense of isolation and loneliness. Nobody understands your journey, nobody is there to turn to with questions or an outlet to vent in, share recipes or workouts with. Nobody is by your side, cheering you on.
Sure, your family and friends can encourage you… But do they really get it?
Joining a wellness movement with a community around it will not only be beneficial to your progress, but also your mental health through such a huge transformation, and hey, there’s no harm in creating lifelong friends along the way.
3. You don’t see results fast enough
It can be discouraging when you’ve been working your butt off for weeks, yet you still aren’t seeing the results you want.
But don’t quit.
Real results take time, and if you’re on the right track with the right plan, you’ll see them sooner and sooner.
Great things don’t happen overnight, so be sure to remind yourself of that next time you’re pouting in the mirror thinking you haven’t accomplished anything. Count your little milestones, because they matter more than you think!
4. You don’t understand what you’re even doing
Following along with a brand new diet can be intimidating enough, but when there’s words and terms thrown in the mix that you don’t even understand, it can be just about enough to make you want to quit.
When you find a diet you want to invest your time and energy in, you want to make sure that you’re provided with all of the learning that goes alongside it.
If you have no idea why you’re doing something or why you should eat this and not that, the information won’t stick in the long run. You’re simply following what you’re told rather than finding out why you’re doing it.
Plus, it feels great to learn new things about your body and health and get educated throughout your transformation.
5. It’s based on a crash and burn method
Crash and burn doesn’t only apply to action packed car chase scenes in movies or crumbling empires around the world, it can certainly apply to your diet as well.
If you find yourself moving through the motions of your wellness journey at a speed you can’t even keep up with, having you shed pounds rapidly and work out multiple times a day, we’re sorry to say but… you’re likely going to crash and burn.
The human body is indeed an incredible thing, but even incredible things can only handle so much.
You have to be kind to your body, listen to what it needs and wants, and ensure it’s fuelled to keep you going so you avoid reenacting a scene out of Fast and Furious.
6. You give into temptations
When you’re not equipped with alternatives in your diet, and feel restricted to only one style of eating, it’s more likely that you’ll give into temptation.
And so starts the cycle of shame.
But it doesn’t have to!
You should be aware of the alternatives you can choose when it comes to meal planning, meal prepping, and just overall lifestyle in your diet. Having this knowledge will allow you to have some variation in your choices, keeping things exciting and fresh each day. Boredom is a terrible way to go through a diet, especially if you intend on sticking with it.
7. You really don’t know much about nutrition
Let’s face it, a lot of people are in this boat. You don’t know much about nutrition, so you join along on a wellness journey of someone who does in hopes that they’ll just lead the way for you. However, we’ve found that when you don’t know why it is you’re fuelling your body with certain foods and nutrients, you won’t care to continue when you’re on your own.
You can’t live your life depending on someone else to do it all for you, so it is hugely beneficial to get to know the nutrition facts yourself.
This makes grocery shopping easier, meal planning easier, eating out easier, cooking and baking easier, and the list goes on.
Knowing your nutrition facts will help you stay on track and stick with it.
8. It’s only about food, not your lifestyle
Life is more than food. Yet, life’s events certainly tend to revolve a lot around food. More often than not, diets fail to prepare you for what to do when you’re at a cocktail party, Thanksgiving dinner, or out at a restaurant? You’re instantly lost with little hope in sight, so you’ll probably end up eating a panic piece of pizza.
When a diet plan fails to guide you through how to intertwine your diet into your lifestyle, you forget how important it is to do so.
A good diet will help you design your plan in a way that can fit into any lifestyle, any event, any occasion. A wellness journey is meant to be one you stick with through all stages of life, and just life the journey of life itself, it’s forever evolving.
For as many reasons as there are that diets fail, please remember that there are just as many reasons as to why diets succeed.
Find a plan that works for you, educates you, helps you understand your body and what it needs to carry you through life, hosts a community of people on the same journey as you, and you’ll be much more likely to come out on top (but the bottom of the scale).
If you’re looking to redefine your health in 2021 and find a healthy lifestyle that makes you feel energized and free, then make sure to sign up for our 3 video series below to discover how you can make the new year, your best year.