Have you ever gone through the pain and frustration of losing a lot of excess body-weight in an effort to feel: healthier, more comfortable and more confident?
You did all the right things the media tells you to do…
You cut out sugar, stopped eating carbs after 6pm, cut yourself off socially and only ate ‘healthy’ food…
You went all in and for a short while, it worked.
The weight melted off and for what felt like a split second, you saw big changes in the mirror.
But something was wrong; you felt hollow and empty inside and felt the results didn’t quite match the extreme effort you put in. Then unfortunately the results you did see, didn’t last...
You started to rebel; the super restrictive lifestyle you were once following, suddenly made you crave foods you never thought existed. One week you were only eating Chicken, Broccoli and Almonds while drinking your Detox Juice, next minute you find yourself face deep in a large pizza and a tub of ice cream.
It doesn’t take long for the weight to start packing back on and your not only back to square one, your beyond that; as you can’t bare to look at another can of Tuna or Chicken Breast ever again, can’t stop yourself from binging every single weekend, as the scales start to blow out beyond your control.
You continue to look at old photos of yourself and ‘wish you could get back there’ or ‘fit into those clothes again’ but motivation is lacking, that fire you once possessed has since been extinguished.
This is the world of ‘extreme diets’ and ‘binge eating’ which plagues the ‘fitness industry’ and destroys many people's lives and self confidence.
Why Diets Don’t Work
At PPS, we believe in flexibility and sustainability. We tailor nutrition plans to suit our clients individual lifestyles and tastes. The diets we prescribe aren’t super restrictive, as we are mindful of the above consequences.
The reason Diet’s don’t work in the long-run are:
a) They are too restrictive.
You went too hard, too soon and burnt out. Cutting out everything you once loved about food and now you associate too many emotional triggers with food. As humans We want we can’t have; because we didn’t allow ourselves what we once enjoyed, we soon wanted it more than ever.
b) They are unsustainable.
The sad truth is that your results will only last as long as you continue to follow the methods that achieved them. As soon as you ditch your new habits in favor of your old ones, your results will go out the window with them, leaving you back where you started.
The reality is that you need to make your ‘diet’ a ‘lifestyle’ to see life-long results. This means you should only follow a ‘diet’ that you can see yourself following or the next 12-36 months+, not for 28-90 days.
We preach ‘eating for performance’ not ‘eating to diet’ and in this blog; we have a few tips to help you ‘beat the binge’ and break-free from the Yo-Yo dieting cycle, so you can see results that last in the gym and the mirror.
If you can’t Measure it, You Can’t Manage It
The first step to having control over your nutrition, is to have some form of measure over it. Being able to quantify the amount of food you are putting in to your body, gives you greater control and allows for more flexibility in your lifestyle. Rather than ‘only eating healthy’, you can then incorporate some of the naughty stuff in to your diet, whilst still knowing the amount of calories and macronutrients you consume each day.
This gives you piece of mind; knowing you are still eating the right amount of food to achieve your goals, but food you actually enjoy and can see yourself eating for the rest of your life.
Most of our clients use a food tracking app like ‘My Fitness Pal’ to track their nutrition and we simply act as their ‘Food Accountants’ - prescribing the Calories and Macronutrients - leaving them to monitor what they ‘spend’ their calories on.
Follow the 80/20 rule; eating healthy and traditional 80% of the week and ‘naughty’ or more flexible 20% of the week. This will give you the best of both worlds; health and enjoyment.
Our clients track and manage their nutrition for greater control
The 150 Calorie Rule
To help fight restriction and curb any cravings, we also preach the ‘150 calorie rule’.
The means we enforce that all of our clients allocate ‘150 calories a day to spend on whatever they want’.
This could be as harmless as a Skinny Cow or Peter’s Ice Cream, some lollies, chocolate or whatever they can think of!
As a guide this is only 10% of a measly 1500 calorie diet (the minimum anyone should be on). And over a week it means you can have an ice cream every day and still see results in the mirror. Rather than restricting yourself all week and eating two weeks worth of ice cream in a sitting when you finally crack.
It may not sound like much but it’s all about perspective. The opportunity to eat what you want every day, can go, a long way to fighting off any mental triggers or emotions associated with food - preventing binge eating or an unhealthy relationship associated with food.
It’s not too late
So if you have been in this situation or are currently fighting your way through a restrictive diet…
It’s not too late to turn things around. Start to take control and slowly incorporate more flexibility in your lifestyle by measuring your food. While allocating 20% of your weekly intake to foods you enjoy or 150 calories a day to whatever you want, you’ll soon start to feel less restrictive and cravings will subside.
It may seem daunting at first; as you come to terms with the fact that losing body-fat and improving your self-confidence, doesn’t mean excessive dieting and a super restrictive lifestyle. But once you become comfortable, the results will flow and this time they will actually stick around while you actually get to eat, converse with friends and live the life that you enjoy.
Book in for your Free Body Composition Analysis and Nutritional Screen by clicking the TAKE ACTION button below. Select the location that suits you best and reach out, to take advantage of this exclusive offer.