Do you restart your diet plan every Monday morning? You’re not alone! Repeatedly restarting a diet will ensure you keep losing and regaining the same weight. Two key factors will help you escape yoyo dieting for good.
Monday morning marks a new week and a new opportunity to eat well, exercise and finally get after losing the weight. A lot of people start a weight effort based on this spike in motivation alone.
All of a sudden, it feels urgent that they skip the fast food and fit in a work out. After a weekend of poor eating and binge watching Netflix, they feel bloated, sluggish, tired…and those work pants won’t quite zip up. In that moment they want to feel better, lose weight and feel better in their clothing, and it’s important to strike while the motivational iron is hot.
But here’s where a lot of women go wrong.
They take too much effort without a lot of thought. Since Debra next door did well with intermittent fasting, today is the day to start intermittent fasting. They skip breakfast, eat salad for lunch, avoid breakroom snacks…and by the time dinner comes along, they’re feeling absolutely starved.
Then they go overboard, snacking while they’re cooking dinner, over-plating their meal and likely making up for lost eating opportunities during the day. Willpower is gone.
By bedtime, they’re right back where they started. Feeling overstuffed and guilty.
“Why can’t I stick with this, even for ONE day? What is wrong with me?!”
Let me tell you what’s wrong.
That burst of motivation is being wasted because two key components aren’t in place before beginning a weight loss journey.
1. Logistics to restart your diet plan on the right note
Knowing that you WANT to change is not the same as knowing WHAT to change and HOW.
If you restart your diet plan every Monday, it’s probably because your plans are too vague. It’s important to have very specific actions tied to your goal so it’s abundantly clear. ‘Eating better’ and getting in an occasional workout, although beneficial, isn’t a plan. Start with SMALL goals (think 15 minutes or less) that can be added into your day. Decide what those actions will be, how you will take them, when you’ll do it and where. The likelihood of following through will increase the more clarity, so don’t skip this step!
There is a lot of misleading information out there, so you’ll also need a solid foundation of nutrition and lifestyle information that’ll be helpful and safe for your health now and in the future.
When you don’t operate with a plan that takes your specific situation, health concerns and preferences in place, you’ll like experience extreme hunger cravings, low energy, find yourself more irritated.
Ultimately, this leads to a very short, miserable dieting experience. If you’ve been starting over every Monday, that’s a good signal that your action plan isn’t sustainable and realistic in your life.
With the right guidance from a registered dietitian, you’ll know that the plan you’re moving forward with is simple, easy to follow and ultimately tailored to your needs. You’ll feel energized, in control of cravings and confident in your success.
2. The right mindset to NOT restart your diet plan week to week
Motivation is fleeting. It often ebbs and flows throughout the day. Since losing weight requires consistent action-taking, waiting until you’re motivated generally leads to failure. On low motivation days, you must take action despite feeling less than enthusiastic about it. This requires a strong desire mindset, and developing skills and tools to help you push through.
WE also need to work through decision fatigue. This happens when you’ve been working, taking care of kids and crossing off stuff on your to-do list all day. By dinner time, your ability to make sound decisions declines, especially when it comes to choosing healthy options over your favorite comfort foods.
Developing auto-pilot habits that transcend decision fatigue is possible but takes time. How can you make the right choices under the cloud of decision fatigue as you develop strong habits?
Have a clear plan (see above) and a mind resolved to take action on your daily goes, even when your motivation isn’t there. Your desire to reach your goal must be strong enough to push through the ‘I-don’t-want-to’s’ you’ll experience along the way. My most successful clients have adapted their mindset to push through, even when that motivation is gone.
If you can’t get this mindset right, you’ll continue stop, making each time harder and harder to restart your diet plan. You’ll be starting over your diet week after week, never gaining any traction.
Building this resolved mindset comes with practice. In my program, we use a combination of regular 1:1 coaching, journaling and tracking systems to strengthen resolve over the course of twelve weeks.
Why these 2 factors are important for successful weight loss
In all of my time as a dietitian coaching in my 12-week online program for weight loss, I find that having the right plan and a strong mindset in place is highly predictive of long-term success.
Those who are successful choose to experiment with their eating and lifestyle habits until they find something that works for them. They choose to work through tough mindset issues like emotional eating and pushing through low motivation.
Those who keep losing and gaining the same weight do the opposite. They refuse to try new eating patterns and new foods and continue to blame their troubles on their circumstances.
“It’s been a busy week.”
“Work has been crazy.”
“The kids’ activities schedule takes up so much time”
While these circumstances require some creativity, they’re not exclusive to one person. Many successful dieters have navigated these obstacles on their path to success.
I have a 12-week, fully online program that helps women tackle these key issues so that you will never have to restart your diet plan ever again. They lose an average of 20 pounds in 3 months.
If you have been struggling with years of yo-yo dieting it’s time to approach this differently. Stop losing and gaining the same weight over and over. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Jackie Durand RD, CDN to learn more and apply!