Why Dieting Shouldn’t Be on Your New Year’s Resolution List (and Things to do Instead)
Dieting is a huge part of our culture. ESPECIALLY this time of year. It’s the beginning of the year and everyone’s making new year’s resolutions. There are ads everywhere for gym memberships, NEW YEAR NEW YOU slogans, and the weight loss commercials and ads are rampant. It happens every year. People fall into the diet trap where they start off their new year motivated, working out at the gym, restricting what they eat (especially sugar). Then as the weeks go by, you get burnt out. You skip the gym some days, you eat a lot of that cake you said you weren’t supposed to have, and eventually you say, “Screw it!” You end up eating everything you couldn’t have on your diet and stop exercising. Then when the new year rolls around, you start over. You tell yourself, “this time I’m going to do it!” or “this time will be different!” And then it’s not.
This is why dieting DOESN’T WORK. If it worked, why would there have to be so many diets? There would just be one or two and that would be that. But there’s a new fad diet every year or so. NEW RESEARCH they say. They lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks! It’s lies.
How about instead of focusing on how much you hate your body and want to change it year after year, you make different resolutions? Ones that actually make you grow and feel better about yourself and your life? What about making goals that help you obsess less about your body and food and more about your mental health, physical health, and relationships?
Here are a few ideas for resolutions and goals you could go this year for INSTEAD of dieting!
Getting stronger. This is a great goal that can foster a more positive relationship with your body and more positive body image. Maybe it’s lifting weights at the gym and feeling pumped when you reach a new back squat weight, being able to hold a plank for longer, or swimming several laps without stopping. Those are all huge wins and can make you appreciate your body more. When you start focusing on all your body can do instead of how much you dislike how it looks, your body image will improve and your health will improve, mental and physical.
Having a more positive relationship with food and finding BALANCE with food. Diets foster that all or nothing mentality. When you’re on your diet, you have to be really rigid and restrictive. With it comes a lot of stress and anxiety, planning your day and maybe even avoiding social gatherings because you don’t want to be tempted to eat anything that’s not on your diet plan. But on the flip side, when you DO eat something that’s not on your diet plan (which happens sooner or later), it’s sooo common for people to end up bingeing or overeating on those foods. It’s that ‘eff it!’ mentality. “I already blew my diet today so I’ll just start fresh tomorrow.” And until tomorrow you end up eating till you feel sick because “I’m not going to be able to have cookies for a long time so since I already blew my diet, I might as well have more now!'“
Finding balance with nutrition requires getting out of that ‘all or nothing’ mindset. Eating foods that make you feel good and fuel your body while also including those foods that you crave will help you stay balanced and get all the nutrients and energy you need. It will keep you from overeating and bingeing because you’ll know that you can have those cookies whenever you want, which gets rid of that need to have as much as you can right now before you start your diet back up tomorrow.
Including carbs, fat, and protein is super important. Our body needs all of those nutrients daily and when you restrict any of them, your body isn’t getting what it needs. So try working on balance with your meals and snacks! You’ll feel better physically and mentally and you’ll have more satisfaction with the foods you’re eating!
Journal. This is such a great one for your mental health. It can help with anxiety and stress, help your brain think more clearly and be more creative. Journaling is a great coping skill and way to get out things you’re feeling. It can be a great release to life stressors. Also, it’s fun to look back at your journal months or years later and see how far you’ve come, read through old memories, and get nostalgic at things that happened. If you hate journaling, THIS journal can be a great start! It has a few lines for you to write on each day so you have to be concise. It could be a great starting point to get into journaling!
Self Care. Our society has such a go-go-go culture and praises busy-ness. Not that those things are bad, but man, can it burn you out! Too much of anything can be bad and when you’re always on the go, always busy, you don’t have time to rest mentally or physically. Rest is just as important as everything else. Think about it - if you are lifting weights regularly it’s SUPER important to have rest days. You don’t want to do leg day every day of the week right? Your legs wouldn’t have time to rest and strengthen and grow. You do leg day, upper body, maybe core. You mix it up so each muscle group has time to rest. And then you also have rest days where you DON’T workout because your body needs rest for recovery. When you’re studying for a test, taking breaks will help you retain information and prevent you from slowing down. It’s the same thing with our mental health! We NEED rest in order to feel refreshed and prevent burnout. Here are some ideas for self care and rest! Bubble baths, reading a good book, playing the guitar or other musical instrument, drawing or painting, going for a walk, watching your favorite TV show or movie, singing in the car, or baking a yummy treat.
If you want help changing some of your new year’s resolutions to something more positive, improving body image, learning new coping skills, or improving your relationship with food or exercise, you can schedule a free call with one of our dietitians, Josie, and one of our therapists, Kristy HERE.