So many people seem to get super stress about the fact that they are dieting. The people who do this are the people who decide to clean up their diet, follow some cookie cutter diet plan with stupidly low calories. They feel hungry and last a few days/weeks and then binge eat because they feel like shit! They then cut their calories more and enter a vicious cycle of binge eating.

First of all, let’s not call it a diet. If you really want to make a meaningful impact on body composition or weight it needs to be sustainable lifestyle changes. Crash diets are not sustainable and will always result in a relapse of bad habits. Making small changes to your current diet and creating a healthy sustainable lifestyle is going to be the most beneficial both physically and mentally. Crash diets will create a negative relationship with food. Why would you want this?! Food is fucking sick! Small changes can include having a side salad instead of a garlic bread, Have a black coffee instead of a calorie dense latte and chose fruit instead of a biscuit with your mid-afternoon cuppa.

Eating healthy does not mean not eating all the tasty foods, it’s about moderation. I am a big advocate of 80% whole foods with 20% processed naughtier foods. With all of my clients and myself, I give lifestyle calories (video/blog to come soon) which are a number of calories set aside each day for whatever they like. That could be a chocolate bar before bed or a frappe with friends from work. If you fuck up, accept it and get over it, it’s done!

Having some of the naughtier foods in moderation can help with adherence as well as mental health towards food. If you know you can have a treat meal or a refeed on the weekend you are less likely to want to have it during the week. Having these treat meals can mean you don’t miss out on social occasions or you turn up to a meal with friends preaching about your diet and how you can’t eat the tasty pizza because of your calorie restricted bullshit diet plan. We have all had those friends who are like, “I can’t come out, I’m on a diet.”. They sound like such a bore! Going out with friends should be a fun occasion, not a pressured stressful anxiety-ridden experience.

So to summarise, don’t follow a cookie cutter meal plan. Make small changes to your current diet and don’t go on a crash diet. Having the naughtier food in moderation can help with adherence and help build a positive relationship with food.

Keep Crushing it!

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