Ditch the Diet: 10 non-dieting tips to help you lose weight!

Did you know that 95% of diets fail? What a bummer of a statistic that is!

And even though we know the stats, when it comes to the promise of losing weight, quick and easy – we’re ready to throw money into the wind to get the perfect “quick fix” solution. Isn’t that madness?

The hunger years

When I was a teenager I used to pray to God to give me the strength to starve myself. No word of a lie, I used to wish so badly I could be anorexic. Instead I had a voracious appetite that would drive me to eat so much food that I would feel ill and then make myself vomit.  Eventually the self-induced vomiting ended but I still went well into adulthood believing that the only way I could lose weight was to starve myself by being on a diet, and that would be the only way to stay and get skinny.

Let me ask you a question…

How do you feel about dieting? I want you to think about this for minute…
What feelings surface when I ask you about dieting?

Does the word diet fill you with joy and pleasure? Do you start salivating at the thought of steamed broccoli and boiled chicken or meal replacement shake….Mmmm yum! Or does it make you cringe inside? Does it make you run for the hills grabbing every piece of cake you can find? Do you think of abundance when you think of dieting or starvation? For many, starvation and fear are the feelings that surface.

So we stick to our boring, bland tiny portions or go to the extremes I went to and beat ourselves up for finally giving in to the cake or the cookies. We berate ourselves thinking “I have no will power, I am a failure.” Then we continue to fill our faces until the next quick fix diet comes along…again. And so carries on the vicious cycle.

Mainstream media will tell us we need to calorie count and burn more calories than we eat. But the more you burn and the less you eat; the more you are literally starving!

That is why 95% of diets fail.

Diets are a vicious game of will power. How long it will it be until you fall off the diet wagon and eat everything in site because you are STARVING?

Did Grandma wear a Fitbit? Did she portion out her food? Did she eat low fat and calorie count? Hell no! Before the 70’s the obesity rate was so low they never even kept track of it!

So what were we doing right back then?

The majority of us were in a healthy weight range because we ate real food. We cooked, we had community, we grew our food, there wasn’t as much sugar, we ate good fat, we worked physically hard, we had less/no TV, we danced, we had no hormones in our food, the chemical load was far less, life was simple and less stressful, we had more enjoyment from real things in life instead of “material stuff”. It’s time to ditch the diet and look at other things in our life that can make it easy to lose weight!

10 non-dieting tips to maintain a healthy weight

1. Stop eating processed food: make a point of eating whole unprocessed foods at least %80 of the time.
2. Take the time to cook: quit giving yourself the option for quick, easy meals and commit to cooking at least 5 days out of the week.
3. Change your mindset: If you think eating healthy is painful or that you are depriving yourself of pleasurable foods you won’t last long! You MUST focus on the positive of eating healthy!
4. Move naturally: make a point of moving as much as you can during the day garden, walk, hike, swim, clean, play, shovel, rake etc.
5. Sleep: quality sleep is hugely underrated and lack of sleep can cause cravings for highly palatable foods. Try to get 7-9 hours every night!
6. Spend time with friends: One landmark study showed that lack of social connection is a greater detriment to health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. Eat your greens and exercise, yes, but don’t forget to connect.
7. Keep it out of the house: if you want to keep it of your body, keep it of the house. If there is ice cream in the house I will eat it, PERIOD! We are wired to eat highly palatable foods so don’t tempt yourself and keep it out of the house.
8. Love your body: having negative thoughts will NOT get you anywhere. Always focus on the good things about yourself.
9. Prioritize your health over material “stuff”: I would rather live in a small house, feel amazing and have my health then live in a big house and feel and look like crap!
10. Be happy:  Sugar gives you short term pleasure which can become a serious addiction. Replace that “fake” pleasure with genuine happiness!