If we believe history there were 2 great successful diets: The Paleo diet, and the World war 2 diet (true, we have never been so healthy). Both were dramatically different in the types of food they used. Both relied on one thing for success, You couldn’t get hold of anything to eat. Paleo is about running around the savanna trying to catch something with a pointed stick before you died of starvation. World war 2 meant rationing.
If it helps there are 2 possible approaches to healthy eating ;
- you get inspired about a healthier future ( imagining better abs, less cancer, healthier pregnancies, lower blood sugar)
- You get so fed up with your present life style that you just have to change.
Both of these concepts feed into habit creation, and picking the right battles.
Let me give you the common story among successful weight managers. It happens to be the same for our top Crossfit performers. There is nothing spectacular! There is no running around the streets, collapsing on your knee and praising God screaming out your new found goals
” I’ll never be fat again…….” “ill never eat cake again”
Time and time again, religious revival campaigns have converted thousands, only for them to relapse days ( sometimes minutes) later. The more people tell you their extreme, detailed, diet plans , how much weight they intend to loose, the more absolute rubbish the ideas and the more appalling the results.
Results come from deciding on long term goals and plodding towards them. Result then come from building in habits, enjoying set backs, picking the right battles but keeping on the road. Ask any of our olympic lifters, crossfitters and gymnasts.
Dramatic, greedy , short term goals are deadly, stupid, destructive and of no value. You can as much meaningfully change your weight in 2 weeks as you can become a lawyer in a weekend (although I’m sure there is an online course somewhere that claims you can do that)