How to Shake Off The Diet Mentality

Has this ever happened to you?

You know, that moment when you realize it’s time to do something about your fitness.

It may happen when you’re looking in the mirror or standing on the scale.

Your first thought is to go on a ‘diet’ but as quickly as that enters your mind, the ghosts of a hundred diets past return…along with all the frustration.

Then you wonder, why bother?

The weight will come back, as it always has. Then you’ll be back in front of the mirror as discouraged as ever.

The answer is not to go on another diet.

The answer is to change your lifestyle.

How Do We Change Our Lifestyle?

We have to lose the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. We need to embrace simple, small changes that will add up to big improvements in our health fitness over time.

These are your main avenues for change:

What You Eat

Let’s face it, some of the foods we eat aren’t the healthiest. Some are downright terrible (sugar-laden soda, for example). While others become bad for us due to the volume in which we consume them (the snacks you eat while watching TV, for example).

The solution to cleaning up your daily diet is NOT to go back on a ‘diet’. In fact, I never want you to go on a ‘diet’ again (Yes! you heard me right!). Instead I want you to make permanent healthy changes to your eating habits and stick with them 80% of the time. You might not be able to sustain an 80% “clean eating” track record today, but you can work towards it with baby steps and get a little bit better every day.

Here are some practical examples:

✓ Choose salad over chips or fries
✓ Eat fresh produce with every meal (Yep. Even breakfast)
✓ Limit desserts to one per week
✓ Cut out mindless snacking (get snack foods out of the house)
✓ Drink water, not soda (use sparkling water if plain water bores you)

At lifeSport Fitness, we don’t expect perfection from those we coach. We all have slip ups, BUT — there’s no “diet” to go back on. We just get back up on the “clean eating” wagon and move forward. We think the 80/20 lifestyle approach allows you to have some planned indulgences but still eat healthfully most of the time.

How You Move

Exercise is a huge component to a healthy lifestyle, and quite frankly many Silicon Valley residents are not getting enough of it. How often does an entire week go by without you ever lacing up your tennis shoes? Don’t disregard the importance and power of a good workout.

Your new healthy lifestyle means moving more or exercising on most days of the week. This may seem tough, but there are ways to sneak in extra movement in your day.

Here are simple ways to move more:

✓ Walk to talk with a friend at work instead of texting or emailing

✓ Do some squats or push ups on the kitchen counter while you have something in the microwave

✓ Play at the park with the kids

✓ Walk in the neighborhood after dinner

✓ Do some stretches every morning

While none of the above are meant as substitutes for a solid exercise routine, they are great ways to become more active and to improve your lifestyle.

Your lifestyle is the balance of all the choices that you make regarding your body. Swing the balance in your favor—make a majority of your choices health conscious.

Feeling stuck or overwhelmed? Need a little help figuring out how to implement the first few steps in changing your lifestyle? Hit us up for a FREE 15 minute phone consultation. We’d be happy to help get you pointed in the right direction with some lifestyle hacks you can try at home!

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