Why diets fail…and what to do about it

Let’s face it - we all know that diets are not sustainable. There is overwhelming research showing that when the body is deprived, starved and stressed physiological processes go into effect that try to reverse what the body is perceiving as life threatening. Studies show that our bodies respond to sustained deprivation by slowing our metabolism, increasing our hunger and find ways to find the fuel it needs to survive. Essentially, a primal drive is initiated that creates a cascade of biological responses leading to unconscious overeating and obsessing about food.

I’m not a nutrition expert…or a fitness guru…and I’ve been on enough diets in my life to tell you that they don’t work. I’m going to share with you what I know, and what I know finally worked for me to reach a comfortable weight, become physically fit and secure in my body. I wish I would have known this sooner, but what I can tell you is that in my 50’s, I am healthier than have been most of my life and more importantly, I have a healthy relationship with food and my body.

After highschool, I developed an obsession with exercise and restrictive eating. Looking back, I wasn’t overweight when this all began, in fact, I was probably average size and in pretty good physical shape because when puberty hit, I became dissatisfied with my body and uncomfortable with the changes (widening hips, growing bust, etc.). Regardless, my hypersensitivity to the size and shape of my body kept me on a strict regime of working out, restricting calories and obsessing over how my body looked. Somewhere along the line I figured out that I could surpass weight plateaus by simply not eating. This eventually led to an eating disorder. Eventually I recovered, but my relationship with food, exercise and my body has always been something that I continued to work on, even to this day. One of the hardest things to give up was the idea that I need to starve to be fit, and that I will “always” struggle.

Throughout my adult life, my weight has fluctuated between 130 and 180. My personal fat threshold is around 145. Up until a few years ago, I literally would bounce between the high and the low. As a therapist, I counsel people on making changes in their life all the time, recovering from eating disorders, changing their relationship with food and weight. Sometimes the best way to learn things is by teaching it, even if you haven’t quite mastered the skill yourself. It is though helping my clients get unstuck, and researching and learning ways to help my clients get unstuck, and applying these principles to my own life, that I have been successful at finally mastering my weight and body image.

As a therapist, my clients present to me in varying degrees of “stuckness” as I like to call it. We get stuck in patterns of behaving, relating, thinking, being, doing and believing that get in the way of living to our fullest potential. Anxiety and depression are great examples of ways people get stuck - they both prevent us from moving forward, can wreak havoc on our self-esteem, relationships and careers. When I’m working with a client and I exhaust the tools in my tool belt, I go out and find more, often trying them on myself first. I am indebted to my clients for what they have inspired me to go out and explore and discover - they are the inspiration behind the techniques that I share in my program.

So, what is the secret? If diet’s don’t work, then what?

The journey will look like this - what is your why? No seriously, this is a big one. We need to discover what’s behind you wanting to change your body/physical health/weight/lifestyle. If it’s simply about a number on a scale, that’s not good enough. It has to be tangible, big, important, for some, it might be life or death. But then there is the other why - why not. What will making these changes bring that I’m afraid of….

Next…we will bring in the concepts of neuroscience, consciousness, neuroplasticity, the subconscious and the brain. We will examine our beliefs, discover tools to change or modify our beliefs that could be sabotaging our efforts or preventing us from reaching our goals. We will learn a bit about the hunger cycle, priming, nudging, habit stacking, intentional practice.

By the way, there is no “diet” included in this program, but I will provide links to helpful individuals and sites that can help you choose a lifestyle that works for you.

I welcome your participation in my program. Please join me and others!