4 Things to Do Instead of Fad Dieting for Results
LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | STITCHER
Fad Diets can be tempting! But as we all know, these diets can be detrimental to both our physical and mental health.
In this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I'm going to discuss strategies for overcoming the urge to join the latest fad diet so you can finally get the results you desire and have a long-lasting healthy relationship with food and your body.
What I discuss:
Ditch the all or nothing mindset and instead of focus on developing a balanced mindset.
Focus on eating the RIGHT foods, NOT eating LESS food.
Focus on creating a lifestyle, not temporary habits.
Focus on how consistent you are being, not how perfect you are being.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Episode 301: 10 Reasons to Skip Falling for Fad Diets This New Year
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Movement With Julie Workout App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/sales-page-577257291672448024184
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Free e-book: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
Macro Counting Made Simple: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-6bda1ca8?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_pub_influencer-6bda1ca8_dp_DgsIam9salgfi
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let’s go.
Another episode on the Embrace your podcast. So today's episode, we're going to be talking all about how to really not let your temptation for starting another fad diet take over. And we're really going to dive into like how you can beat that temptation for fad diets and how to really never have that temptation again. Sounds amazing, but personally, I have not dabbled into fad diets for over a decade now, and I believe I've learned some things along the way. And I know most of you guys know that fad diets are terrible for our mental and physical health that can really pull us into these vicious cycles of yo yo dieting. And while most of us know this, we still continue to fall into this fad diet trap year after year. And this is genuinely because marketing and influencers are getting really smart in terms of their marketing, and they're getting really good at convincing us that we need them in order to see results. And so that's why in this episode I'm really going to be talking about ways to overcome that need to jump on the next fad diet so that you can finally see the results that you want and you can have a healthy and thriving relationship with food and your body once and for all. But before we dive in, I wanted to share this review. It comes from many in Rush Rocks. She gave a five star review and said, Thank you. Thank you so much for this podcast. I love your positive attitude and I love all the concise information that you provide. The episode of Why you Don't need to do tons of cardio is truly life changing. Cardio is not my favorite, and I personally would rather focus on resistance training. This episode gave me the freedom to do what I enjoy, so thank you. Well, I am so grateful. I honestly, I am just so happy that that episode spoke to you. And if you don't enjoy something, then why do it? And that is personally like my just motto in life is really just eating the things that you love and moving the way that you love and and spending time with people that you love and really trying to just maximize your life in general and only focusing on those things. Of course, in the day to day you're going to have mundane tasks that are not fun. But overall, I want you to find joy and excitement, especially when it comes to the movement that you're doing on a daily and weekly basis as well as the foods that you're eating. I want you to enjoy it. That is truly, I believe, a gift from the Lord of just the foods that we get to experience. And the movement that we get to have is is truly just such a blessing. And so I'm grateful that that episode helped to you if you haven't already left already an interview on the podcast, you already know what I'm going to ask you. I'm going to ask you to scooch over to either Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and if you could rate and review the podcast, that would mean the absolute world to me. It just helps us reach more women. And that's the ultimate goal, is to help empower, educate and encourage women on this podcast. So thank you. Thank you, Thank you.
Let's dive into the four things that you need to do instead. The next time that you may be tempted to fall for fad diet.
Number one, you've got to ditch this all or nothing mindset and instead really focusing on developing a healthy mindset. This all or nothing mindset is a common trap that I believe so many of us fall into when we're trying to change our body composition. We all know what that mindset entails, like believing that we must be perfect in order to see results, or that, you know, any deviation from our goals or our plan means that we're a failure or we failed. And and really, this leads to feelings of frustration, disappointment, discouragement. And it can ultimately sabotage our efforts to achieve that healthier body. Right. We just toss in the towel, we give up completely. We go and overindulge. We don't move our body for days or weeks. And then we try to get back on track and say, all right, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it perfectly. And we try to go all in and and then we can't be perfect. So we give up again. And it's this whole thing, this toxic loop and this mentality makes it literally impossible for you to just stay consistent. We need to realize that we don't need to be perfect. The people who maintain their bodies long term, they're not perfect daily. They are consistent. They don't focus on perfection. They focus on being consistent by doing the best that they can with what they have to give each day, right when they eat the piece of cake or they have the cookie, or they indulge in too many margaritas, whatever it is, they just get back on track. They get back on track with regular scheduled programing for the day, like they don't feel guilty to the point where they give up completely. They don't say, Oh my gosh, well, I already messed up. I should just eat the entire cake. Or they don't beat themselves up. They don't try to deprive themselves and make up for days and days. They literally, you know, eat the cake, drink the margarita, and then go on with their day like that. That is what I see when I've worked with thousands of women over the last decade. And I'm telling you, the women that are successful are the women that learn things in moderation, like they learn how to enjoy things in moderation. For example, we had pizza that last weekend. We had like this pizza that I normally, you know, don't eat tons and tons of like Domino's or regular, you know, greasy pizza. It's delicious. I just don't normally eat it. But it was for someone's birthday celebration and and I ate two pieces. And when I ate two pieces, I was full and I was I was done. I was done. Like I didn't I didn't say, you know, oh, my gosh, I'm so bad. I'm just going to might as well just eat the whole entire pizza and eat five pieces and then deprive myself for the rest of the week. Instead, I stopped at the two pieces. We actually did have cake afterwards, and I was like, I'm going to frickin enjoy this Oreo blizzard cake from Dairy Queen. It was so freaking good. And I ate. I didn't even eat my whole piece of cake. Like, I was like, I'm going to enjoy this. And and, you know, I could have eaten the whole cake. But at that time, I had two pieces of pizza and then I had the cake and I had about three fourths of the cake. And then I was like, Hey, like, I'm good. I'm good. And the thing is, because even though that's not a food that I don't normally eat, if it were to come up, you know, later that week I was celebrating another birthday and they wanted the same exact thing. They wanted pizza and BLITT and an Oreo blizzard cake. I would know that I could have it again. And I think that that is the difference between this all or nothing mindset. I think when we say like, oh, you know, for the next two or three months, I'm just going to I'm going to completely cut sugar out. And it's like, man, okay, It's like, why would you do that to yourself only? Only because I know that that's not sustainable long term. So what is it going to look like in order? You know, after the three months? Are you genuinely never going to eat sugar again? I'm not against like, being mindful. Of course, you know, if you want to pick the the more nourishing food in terms of nutrients of whatever it is on a regular basis, of course, like I want you to feel your best, but don't have this all or nothing mindset where you're like, I won't have, you know, more than ten grams of sugar a day for the rest of my life. And it's like, really, like, let's be realistic here. I'd much rather you just have this this moderation mindset where you're able to enjoy the food in moderation and know that because you can have it again in moderation. It's not this oh my gosh, I don't know when I'm when or if I'm ever going to have this food again. So we're just eating, eating, eating, any eating. And this is also, you know, I think this is also come with me just educating myself about food and feeling empowered about food. And I've done that through the tool of macro counting. I've done it through teaching myself how much not what to eat, but how much I personally need based on where I'm at, what my goals are at. And you just have to remember this. Like you don't need to deprive yourself from anything you genuinely don't like. You can have a balanced intake on a day to day basis. You can enjoy foods, whether it's pizza and cookies or it's vegetables and grilled chicken like it. And that's going to change from week to week, day to day. And I just think that it's so important that you really rip the Band-Aid off of this like fad diet, toxic mindset and educate yourself about food. Which leads me to my next point focus on eating proper foods like the right foods, not eating less of food. Like if you're feeling tempted to go on a diet and you feel like you need to deprive yourself, instead focus more on like nourishing yourself. And I don't want you to get into this mindset like, Oh, because I had pizza last night and I'm going to have grilled chicken and vegetables. Now stop with this like mindset. But I will say personally, I feel my absolute best when I'm having that balanced approach. And so instead of completely cutting out your carbs, let's say, for example, you had that, you know, pizza and blizzard ice cream the night before, don't the next day say, well, I'm just going to completely cut out carbs today, instead focusing on giving yourself the proper amount of cards that your body needs. Focus on nourishing your body with with foods that blessed that make you feel your best, focus on nourishing your body with the proper foods instead of depriving yourself of foods. Because this will not only allow you to have this this moderation mindset and be successful in it, but it will also lead to a better relationship with food and your body when you deprive yourself of certain foods. We all know that this can and will lead to feelings of restriction and deprivation, which ultimately will lead you down the path of overeating and overindulging. And then we enter this vicious cycle of, Oh my gosh, am. Overeating. I'm overindulging, and so I'm going to undressed and undernourished. And, you know, that is that's yo yo dieting. Instead, I want you to try to focus on eating a balanced diet. And that includes, you know, a variety of nutrient dense foods, but as well as less nutrient dense foods, a.k.a. the foods that you genuinely love. Like. Come on, be real. Like, it's not uncommon for us to want chocolate on a daily basis. Like, that's just a common thing. And I personally have just learned that when I have chocolate on a regular basis, when I allow myself to have sweet treats and I incorporate that into my daily intake on a regular basis, the next time you know, I have the opportunity to have something outside of my normal sweet tooth treat, a.k.a. a blizzard Oreo cake, I'm not going to go crazy because I know that I have a sweet treat every night. And and so it's beautiful. That's the most beautiful part about like educating yourself and really nourishing yourself is that you will feel a difference. And that's the number one thing that I hear from women once they really get into learning how to properly nourish their body and utilizing the tool of macro accounting, I can't tell you how many times I've heard. Like, I'll always ask like, what's your biggest takeaway? And people say how I feel. Like I didn't realize that I could have this much energy. I didn't realize that I could, you know, feel good and still eat my favorite foods in moderation. It just was never a thing before. I educated myself about how to properly nourish myself. And so you have to remember that when you really start, you know, utilizing the tool of macro counting and start focusing on eating the proper amount instead of eating less food or less of a certain food group, that everything really falls into place and you'll you'll be able to have a more positive relationship with food, which really translates to a more positive relationship with your body. So if you want to learn more about that, I do have a course. It's called Macro Cutting Me Simple. I will link it in the show notes below, but essentially it's just a course that teaches you how to properly nourish your body. And our goal is for you to not feel like you have to rely on a coach for the rest of your life. And so, I mean, we show you step by step how we did it. Like it's not a secret. It's not like, Oh, let me hide the calculations so that you have to rely on us. No, we literally show you exactly what we did and why we did it, so that you can feel empowered to continue that process in the future, not have to rely on a coach. So we essentially just give you all the tools that you need to really make macro accounting a lifestyle. Which leads me to number three, focus on creating a lifestyle, not temporary habits. When it comes to trying to change your body, it's important to focus on creating a lifestyle rather than temporary habits. And this is the one thing that most people get wrong, is they're trying, you know, when they're trying to build the body that they want, they really don't create a lifestyle. And then they wonder why they've been in this weight loss mode for literally an entire decade, if not more decades. Like I've said, you know, 10 million times in this podcast, Fad diets and Quick Fix solutions may provide temporary results, but they're not sustainable long term. The results that you see from quick fixes will be gone just as quickly, if not quicker, than you got them. And when you can't keep up with your fat diet after a few weeks or a few months, the weight will come back and then you'll enter the cycle of yo yo dieting. Yo, yo dieting is literally one of the worst things that you can do, not only for your mindset, but for your body, for your metabolism, for your health, for your motivation. Like it is just so discouraging. And like I was mentioning earlier, you know, if you go into this mindset of like, oh, I'm just going to try and get, you know, less than ten grams of sugar for the rest of my life, it's like, okay, that's not really. Of course, you can be mindful. I'm not telling you, you know, to eat copious amounts of sugar every single day because you're just not going to feel your best. But I'm also saying, like, don't put this restriction on yourself, because when you do, you're going to realize it's not sustainable. And like when you do go on that vacation or when you do have that anniversary celebration or, you know, whatever it is, you fill in the blank, you'll realize like, dang, you know, you'll go over your ten grams of sugar just going off of this example, and then you'll beat yourself up. Because you said, I told myself I would never have more than ten grams of sugar for the rest of my life. And that's when you really start to beat yourself up. And it's not productive mentally. And this is why we have to create a lifestyle. We need to only commit to habits that we can truly see ourselves doing in five, ten, 15 years from now. If this doesn't seem like something maintainable or realistic to stick to long term, then we need to just put up the pass card. And when we and when we say this, I'm not saying that it has to be perfect every single day, but what I am saying is that you have to create habits that are going to be simple for you to stick to for the majority of the time. Like, for example, I have literally been counting my macros for the last ten years. Have I counted every single macronutrient, every single day during those ten years? Heck no. When I go on a trip, for example, I'm going to be in Florida next week. I'm going to be seeing my 93 year old grandmother and seeing family that I don't see often. You think I'm really going to be tracking every single morsel it's putting into my that I'm putting into my mouth? Absolutely not. But I do know that I'll be mindful. I do know that I'll try and prioritize my water intake. I do know that I'm going to try my hardest. I know it's not going to be perfect, but I'm trying my hardest to at least get enough protein. And so I feel my best when I when I fuel myself with enough protein. And then when I get home, I'm going to go back to what I normally do, which is counting my overall protein. And this season of life, it's counting my overall protein and counting my overall ensuring that I'm hitting around my caloric intake so I can feel my best and also prioritizing water and fiber intake. But that's it's second nature for me now, right? I have personally been doing this. It's become a habit in my life and it's become a disciplined thing that I do. And that does not mean, again, that I'm not counting every single morsel. I'm in a season of life right now where I'm not even counting all three macronutrients. I'm counting my protein overall calories, because that is what's most sustainable and that's what's most enjoyable in this season of my life. There will be seasons in the future where I do count all three macronutrients again. But the season that I'm in right now, that's not that season and that's okay. I actually talk about this in a different episode. I will link it in the show notes below, but it's the five different approaches to macro accounting, and I think you'll find this super beneficial because I think sometimes if we hear the term macro accounting, we think that it's black and white and it's not. There are so many approaches to macro accounting depending on what season of life are in. And I think it's really just eye opening and it's good for us to learn about that. I know for me, like when I really learned that there are, you know, so many different approaches within the scope and within the tool of macro accounting. I just felt like, Dang, that's so awesome. Like, it's awesome that I can still nourish my body and I can still properly feel my body without, you know, having to count all three macronutrients in every single season of my life because I just know that that's not sustainable. And I'm constantly on this journey of asking myself, is this something sustainable? Is this something that's enjoyable that I'm doing on a day to day basis? And over time that's evolved and it's awesome. So please remember that when you are creating a lifestyle, you're not just focusing also on just losing weight. You are focusing on your overall health and wellbeing, which arguably in my opinion is more important. This means not just focusing on the scale. In fact, if the scale is a trigger for you, throw it out. There are so many other ways to monitor your progress and looking at other indicators of health, such as your energy levels, your hormone balance, your vitamin levels, your happiness levels. At the end of the day, those things are way more important. And number four, focus on how consistent your being, not how perfect your being. When we're working towards really changing our body, it can be easy to focus on perfection and getting everything just right. But the truth is perfection is an unattainable standard that can lead to feelings of frustration and disappointment. So instead of focusing on perfection, it's more important to focus on consistency. And here's why. First of all, consistency is key when it comes to making changes in your body. Your body responds to consistent, sustained effort, not sporadic bursts of perfection. Let me repeat that again. Your body responds to consistent, sustained effort, not sporadic bursts of perfection. And this is why I always say focus on being imperfectly consistent instead of trying to attain perfection, but doing it inconsistently. Because when you focus on being consistent, you are more likely to make steady progress over time and see changes in the body too. To see the changes that you want in your body, even if you aren't doing it perfectly every single day. And plus, consistency is way more sustainable than perfection. Perfection is an impossible standard that requires you to literally be perfect all the time, which is not only unrealistic, but let's be real. It's freaking exhausting. On the other hand, consistency is achievable and it can be maintained over time. And when you focus on consistency, you're more likely to make sustainable changes to your body that can be maintained and sustain long term, which is exactly what we're looking for. More importantly, though, focusing on consistency will help you to be more forgiving of your, quote, mistakes. We all make mistakes. We mess up. That's normal. And so when you focus on consistency, you're more likely to see a mistake as just that. It's a mistake. It's not a failure. And this mindset can really help you bounce back from setbacks more easily and help you to stay motivated and disciplined towards working towards your goals. And most importantly, focusing on consistency over perfection will really lead to a better mental health and wellbeing like this concern. Don't. Pressure to be perfect can really lead to feelings of stress, anxiety and depression. And when you focus on consistency, you're less likely to feel overwhelmed and stressed and more likely to have a positive attitude towards your progress. So there you have it. Those are the four things that you should focus on instead of fad diets. So the next time that you are tempted to hop on this fad diet bandwagon, I want you to focus on these four things. Number one. Ditch the all or nothing mindset and instead focus on developing a balanced mindset.
Number two, focus on eating the right, the proper foods, not eating less of food in general.
Number three, focus on creating a lifestyle, not temporary habits.
And number four, focus on how consistent you are being, not how perfect you are being.
If you want more motivation to stay away from fad diets this year, I do have an episode on that episode 301 ten Reasons to Skip Falling for Fad Diets this New Year. I have linked it in the show notes below so that you can easily go Listen to that next. Plus, if you want to learn more like I mentioned about my Macrocounting made simple online academy so that you can really learn how to properly fuel your body and open yourself up to a whole new relationship with not only food but your body. It's really a beautiful thing when you realize that you never have to face diet again, which is honestly probably my most favorite part about it. You can learn more by going to macro accounting made simple dot com, or you can click it in the show notes below. I will. I will link that there as well.
That is all that I have for today's episode. I hope that this gave you some encouragement. I hope that it reminded you that we are in 2023 and 2023 is not the year of falling for fad diets. We are done with fad diets for good in the trash can, no more, and we are here for sustainable change. We are looking to create sustainable change in our life. And that's what I want for you. That's what I want for me. I know that it is attainable because I have personally been doing it for the last decade of my life.
So again, if you found this helpful, please share it with a friend shared out on social media. You can also Demi I would love to hear your aha moments, your thoughts. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so dang much. I mean it and I'll talk to you in minutes.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, A Ledbetter. Yes, It's with an A in the middle for that daily posts about real talk. Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode.
Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.