Resisting the siren song of the strict diet

I’m going to get straight to the heart of things today with a couple of truths:

  1. Weight loss, fat loss and physique changes will not ever make us feel good enough if we don’t hold that feeling within already.
  2.  feeling ‘good enough’ is not an outside-in job; it’s an inside-out one. 

It’s that time of year (roughly 12 weeks before summer) when businesses prey on our insecurities with their guaranteed outcomes and miracle, fast-fix plans, products and programs. 

It’s that time of year when all kinds of health, fitness, and weight loss programs are promoted by solo entrepreneurs, gyms, and big businesses alike.  

They capitalize on our pain points, on ‘hitting us where it hurts’ in order to get our business. 

Some of these offerings really are healthy, helpful and legitimate.  

Others are just really expensive band-aids that will stop working the second we stop following their plan or using their products.

You might find yourself considering taking significant action with either your diet or fitness (or both).  

You might have started on a plan or program already.

And if you have, or you’re considering taking action soon, here’s what I want to tell you–what I urge you to consider:

Make sure that your choices aren’t coming from a place of fear or wanting to fit in or wanting to prove something.  Make sure that your choices aren’t coming from a place of feeling ‘not good enough.’

Our choices, especially those that affect our health and well-being, need to come from a deeper, more central purpose—a gut-level place, that makes us bloom and grow, not grow knots in our stomachs and tense up, while we are trying so hard to meet a standard or objective that, in the end, really isn’t ours at all.

So when you’re considering your goals, your desires, your objectives, ask if they are really YOURS. 

Are the changes you’re considering or already making coming from an external pressure to conform, to meet a prescribed outcome, to do what everyone else is doing, to get approval and acceptance?

Or, are they really YOUR goals—motivated by something deep within, changes that satisfy a need to grow, change, to continue to evolve, to continue to become a better version of yourself?

Questions you might ask yourself at these moments, when you’re considering making a significant diet or fitness or lifestyle change:

  • Who do you want to be, at the end of the day?
  • How do you want to feel?
  • When no one else is around to tell you if you’re hitting the mark/doing it right/that you’re doing okay, what will you feel about yourself then?
  • About your choices?
  • About your actions?
  • About your body?
  • Your life?

Really, the ‘Big End Game’ we need to reach and strive for isn’t just to have 16-18% body fat, weigh a certain number on the scale, lift like a beast in the gym, look amazing in a bikini, and make everyone around us happy and like us, too.

It’s just not.

That ‘Big End Game,’ the one that really matters is to live a full, rich life that we’re proud of—that we feel deeply satisfied with.

If  your current goals, choices, objectives, wishes aren’t in line with your ‘Big End Game,’ we’ll call it your BEG, then it’s time to reevaluate those choices.

If you’re tempted to choose a diet or a fitness plan that’s motivated from a place of NGE (not good enough) or wanting more praise, acceptance, social approbation/approval, then it’s time to get quiet, get deep, and get more to the heart of WHY you feel that (intense) need to go on this diet or follow ‘x’ fitness program.

If that choice isin line with your deepest desires and values, if going through with that choice or just the thought of doing this thing for yourself make you feel a warm and energized deep in the pit of your stomach, then by all means GO FOR IT.

But if the thought of making this choice, or your motivation for pursuing this course of action causes your heart rate to spike, the pit of your stomach to tighten up, if you get a sense of “do-or-die” about taking this course of action, then hit the <pause> button.

In the wise words of one of my lovely clients, “Transformation can’t happen in a hostile environment.” 

Remember, your big WHY—your purpose, your anchor, and your BEG. 

And get really busy aligning your health, fitness and life choices with those things.

If you’re ready to give up on dieting and start finding sustainable health and fitness solutions for your busy life, let’s talk.  

Though my 1:1 online coaching program, I help people just like you learn to eat better, week by week, so they can reach their goals and not rebound. 

I help them to break through old, self-limiting beliefs and behaviors so they can harness the power of their mindset to keep them not only eating healthier, but feeling more powerful and successful in all areas of their life.

No, it’s not life coaching, but when we start understanding, then changingthe way we think, we empower ourselves to make needed changes in all areas of our lives.

There’s a ton of carryover from the diet and exercise work you do into the other areas of your life.  

When we eat better, get fitter and stronger, and start feeling both more confident and competent it changes how we show up in the world.  It changes us for the better, inside and out. And THAT is a goal worth working for.

Sound like the kind of program you’d benefit from taking part in?  

Or maybe you’re just curious about how it all works?

Let’s chat! 

We can schedule a time to hop on a *no obligation* call and talk about how you’re feeling these days, what your goals are and what first actions might be the most helpful for moving your forward.

Just shoot me a message to my biz email: [email protected] and I’ll get back to you ASAP so you can get busy making positive changes right away.

Wishing you the best in everything, always, 

Kate