This week I wanted to talk about diets and the 3 lies we tell ourselves whenever we start a new one.
The first is that this will be the last time. This is finally the diet that will stick, and you will never need to do it again! You are finally in the right head space, you are motivated and you are ready! This, is probably the biggest lie of them all. If you have decided that this is the last one, then I assume it isn’t the first. The average person will try 126 diets in their lifetime. 126! If those diets have worked for you before, why do you do you need to do another? If diets haven’t worked for you before…they will not work now. It isn’t another diet you need to finally reach your goals, it’s a shift in mindset!
The second thing most of us tell ourselves is that we are taking back control. If we are on a diet we are controlling what we eat right? Wrong! By dieting, we restrict foods what we want to eat, so rather than eating what you actually want to eat you are eating what you think you should eat which tends to be dictated from diet culture. When this happens, it is the diet that’s in control not you. The minute you tell yourself you can’t eat something, you have given up control.
Lastly, you tell yourself you will stop binge eating. It is quite possible that you worry if you are not on a diet you will fly out of control eating everything possible but it is the diet that makes you feel like you want to eat everything because the option to has been taken away from you. As soon as you tell yourself not to eat something, suddenly it becomes all you want and all you can think about it. This is what is likely it to lead to the binge eating. The binge eating cycle starts with restriction of food (through dieting) which makes us feel sad and deprived, this leads to a binge which causes feelings of guilt. Those guilty feelings cause us to restrict again which begins the whole cycle. Put simply, if you want to stop binge eating, first you will need to stop dieting. Yes, this notion is very simple, and it is more complicated when it comes to stopping the binge eating and it takes time and support. But not dieting is one huge first step. If instead you allow yourself to eat what you actually enjoy you will much more consistent, much in control and the binge is likely to stop.
If you tell yourself these same lies each time you diet, the diet isn't what you need. What will help you, is a change in mindset and to drop the diet culture. If you would like a free consultation to see exactly how I can help you achieve your goals simple email 'consultation' to lauren@laurenregantherapy.co.uk
Lauren x
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