The new year is just weeks away. Have you thought about your new year resolution? Before you set your goal, please for the love of God use your brain.
I know I sound harsh but, you have no idea how many times I have heard the following:
“I am on the no sugar diet”
“I am doing the Keto diet”
“I am doing intermittent fasting”
I cringe as I sit here thinking about those sessions with clients. The No Sugar diet is absolutely impossible because there is natural sugar in your fruit. Fruit is packed with vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants that your body needs. The USDA recommends 1-2 cups of fruit a day for adults depending on your age, gender, activity level, and size. Check out this table to get an idea of what counts as a serving of fruit.
The Keto diet was extremely popular this year with many of my clients. Yes, you absolutely will lose weight but you will not maintain it. Don’t even think about it as a “jump start” for weight loss either. The Keto diet is terrible for your body as a weight loss tool. Your body needs carbohydrates. The brain runs solely off of carbs. Any diet that cuts a food group out should give you pause. The dreaded “Keto sickness” that I hear clients brag about. Why on earth would you eat a diet that makes you sick? This is your body’s way of telling you that you are screwing it up! If you want to get picky about your carbs, focus on complex carbs and limit your simple carbs.
Don’t even get me started with fasting. If anyone consumes 800 calories a day well duh…you are going to lose weight and screw up your metabolism while in the process. You can’t do this diet long term, so once you are done starving yourself you will most likely gain all the weight you lost back and some more.
If I hear one more person tell me they are “detoxing” I might actually lose it. Nothing besides water can be considered a detox, unless you are giving yourself actual diarrhea. Please note, that by self inducing diarrhea with these “detox diets” it is completely awful for your body. Your digestive system is set up to break down your food. It has a complete natural balance of good bacteria and it works together with the anatomy of your system to digest food. When you self induce diarrhea you are disturbing that balance, starving, and dehydrating yourself.
I know losing weight is hard. I know it takes forever to see the scale budge, especially for us ladies. I also know that seeing the scale move just 1 pound or 2 pounds a week is less than exciting however; this is what is considered healthy. Did you know 3,500 calories equals a pound, and did you know that you don’t just gain a pound in a day? The average size person has to run a 10 minute mile to burn just 100 calories. Please stop expecting to drop 5-10 lbs after one workout or one healthy meal. Stay patient and kind to yourself. Slowly ease into changing your diet and exercise routine. If you change everything all at once you will fall off the wagon. Remember portion control! Check out the ChooseMyPlate website. This site will help you create well balanced meals and snacks. This way of eating is backed by actual science!
I cannot stress enough that you will need to stay patient with yourself. Celebrate all your small successes no matter how small they may seem and try to have fun in the process. You are changing your life for the better and that is exciting!
