Why “Dieting Harder” is Not the Solution
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Do you feel like you are trying so hard to stay on track, but for some reason you just can’t?
It feels like no matter how hard you try, you still eat that tub of ice cream, or you skip your workouts, or you drink that half a bottle of wine at night.
You don’t know why you keep doing it when you know you none of those things aren’t going to help you reach your goals.
In your mind, you keep thinking “Okay, this week, I”m going to diet harder. I just need more motivation and more willpower and whatever I do, I’m just going to diet harder.”
Girl, let me tell you this…
That is NOT the solution and in this episode I am going to explain why + what you need to do instead.
Okay, if you loved this episode, then I know you will also love…
Episode 140: 3 Important Questions to Ask Yourself Regularly
We focus way too much on the health, happiness, and wellbeing of others, and rarely – if EVER – do we focus on our OWN health, happiness, and wellbeing.
That’s why in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I encourage you to check in with yourself about how you feel and how you’re living your life.
I give you three important questions for you to ask yourself regularly to help you do so!
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, Hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip 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!
Do you feel like you're trying so hard to stay on track, but for some reason, you just can't? It feels like no matter how hard you try, you still eat that tub of ice cream. You still skip the workouts or drink the half a bottle of wine at night. You don't know why you keep doing it when you know that none of these things are actually going to bring you closer towards your goals. In your mind, you keep thinking, "Okay, this week I'm just going to diet harder." Or, "I need more motivation or more willpower or whatever I do, I'm just going to do it harder. I'm just going to go at my workouts harder." Girl, I'm telling you that this is not the solution. And in this episode, I'm going to explain why, plus what you need to do instead.
But before I dive into this bonus episode, I wanted to share this review which comes from A.N. Johnson 0504. They give a five-star review and said, help me learn to love myself again. I have been following this podcast and Julie since the beginning of the pandemic. I was the most unhealthy I have ever been and truly disliked myself. Julie has not only taught me the skills and knowledge as to how to better fuel my body and move my body but has also taught me how to love myself again. I can't thank her enough and I will be a lifelong listener, she really makes you feel as though you're speaking to a friend. There's zero judgment and 100% realness with her. Love this podcast. Thank you so much. This review is amazing. I'm so grateful that you found me since the beginning of the pandemic. I can't even believe that that is over two years ago now. It's so crazy to think about, but I appreciate all of your guys' reviews.
If you could scooch over to Apple Podcast and leave a rating and review, that would be greatly appreciated. And honestly, that is the one ask I have of you. If you have found any sort of benefit from this podcast in any way, shape, or form, I would love to know. Our team would love to know so that we can celebrate you and we can share your review. And it also does help other listeners who are podcast listeners when searching for new podcasts to kind of tune into on a regular basis, they go by the reviews. And so I just appreciate you in advance for leaving a review. It really does help us out. And if you're listening over on Spotify, we love you Spotify listeners, you can now rate the podcast. All you got to do is just type in, Embrace Your Real to the search bar, and then you'll see that you can click the five-star rating. There's no reviews on Spotify, but the rating itself does help us rank the charts around Spotify as well.
Okay, so let's dive into why dieting harder is not the solution. Are you ready for some real talk? When you can't seem to lose weight or you can't seem to see the results you want, but it feels impossible for you to stay on track it's not because you need to diet harder. Most often it's because you actually have an issue in your life that needs to be addressed. If you diet harder, the issue is still going to be there. It will constantly still be in your way, constantly making it hard for you to stay on track, to reach your goals, and to see the results that you want. So I want you to remember this, and write this down if you can. All human behavior is an attempt to cope with or solve a problem. Let me say that again. All human behavior is an attempt to cope with or solve a problem.
If you're trying to lose weight, but can't seem to stop digging into those pints of ice cream. The problem is not that you can't seem to stop digging into the pints of ice cream. You likely have another problem and digging into that pint of ice cream is your coping mechanism. It really doesn't matter how hard you try to solve your cope problem of digging into that pint of ice cream. If you never actually really solve the problem at hand, it's not going to stop with you just trying to solve that problem of you not digging into that pint of ice cream.
The reality is unwanted eating behaviors are frequently related to a deeper problem that doesn't start with food. You're unhappy with your career. You're unhappy with your relationships. You're unhappy with where you're living. You have anxiety about X, Y, or Z. You're stressed about X, Y, or Z. You feel burned out. You don't feel like yourself. It's one of those things likely that's triggering you to get off track and without addressing what your deeper issue is, you will continue to get off track. I know for me when I had a super unhealthy relationship with food, fitness, and my body, it really had nothing to do with my body, food, or fitness. That wasn't the problem. But focusing on those three things was my coping mechanism for dealing with my actual problem. Once I addressed my deeper issue, then I was able to finally break free from the toxic relationship I had with food, fitness, and my body. I didn't need to spend more hours at the gym. I didn't need to eat less food.
I didn't need to punish my body. I didn't even need to restrict more and more food. The countless hours and energy that I was putting into my unhealthy relationship with food and fitness, that was actual energy that I could have used to create a better relationship with myself, instead of using the unhealthy relationship with food and fitness as a coping mechanism. So here's my advice to you, focus more on pinpointing and addressing the real issue. When the real issue is attended to, the superficial issue will no longer be an issue, it will naturally solve itself. So ask yourself those questions. Are you unhappy in your career? Are you unhappy in your relationships? Are you unhappy with where you're living or have anxiety about X, Y, and Z, or stressed out about X, Y, and Z, or feel burned out, or just don't feel like yourself? You've got to address the deeper issue and naturally, the other issues will likely resolve itself.
If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 143, Important Questions to Ask Yourself Regularly. We focus way too much on health, happiness, and well-being of others, and rarely if ever do we focus on our own health, happiness, and well-being. That's why in this episode, episode 140 of Embrace Your Real, I encourage you to check in with yourself about how you're feeling and how you're living your life. And I give you three important questions to ask yourself regularly. To help you do so I will link that in the show notes so that you can easily go listen to that episode. I love you so much. I hope that this episode helped you, inspired you, or encouraged you, or maybe just challenged you in a good way to really take a look at the things in your life that might be the bigger problem at hand.
If you have a girlfriend or a friend or someone in your life that you feel like would benefit from this episode, I just ask that you shared out with them. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your story. Be sure to tag me, Julie A. Ledbetter and tag Embrace Your Real account. We love connecting with you guys. That is all that I have for today's episode. And I'll talk to you in the next one.
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're 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 post-workout 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 Podcast 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.