Do diets work? The diet industry is the most successful unsuccessful industry in the world. The sheer fact that diets routinely fail is what makes them profitable.
Introduction
Diets work.
Yes, I did just say that.
Then again, to quote legendary strength coach Dan John: “Everything works for about 6 weeks."
This post is the result of a conversation I had in my office with another resident of the building. We got to talking about a popular slimming business and my reservations with their methodology. Then she said, “But people lose weight on their plan.”
And she’s right, they do… as long as they keep counting their sins etc. Then they stop counting and gain the weight back with interest.
A Better Way
My argument is that the keys to losing weight & keeping it off is in a change of mindset.
You see, I don’t really spend much conscious time thinking about food. I’ve consigned my food decisions to my subconscious, which simply repeats the programmes I have placed there. The reason this works is that there’s no willpower involved.
Let me put it another way. I eat whatever I like. It’s just that what I like supports my goals.
I like eating liver. I like eating vegetables. I like drinking 3 to 4 litres of water a day.
Chocolate cake doesn’t present me with a dilemma, because as much as I like chocolate cake (or at least I did), I have absolutely no desire to eat chocolate cake most of the time. I don’t feel the least bit of regret in turning down someone's very generous offer of such baked goods. At no level do I feel like I’m missing out.
This is the difference between my approach and that of the diet industry. I’m allowed to eat whatever I like. My clients are allowed to eat what they like.
It’s just that we decide what we like based on our goals & we programme our self-conscious mind to make the daily decisions without our conscious input. Easy!
Summary
The biggest thing that holds people back is their mindset. When you believe that you can't eat differently or that you're somehow missing out by not eating certain foods, you're doomed to fail.
Do diets work? Not in the long term because the mindset is wrong.
Rather than diet, make better choices for life and accept that these choices are for life.
If you're not deciding what you eat, who (or what) is deciding for you?
