Its that time of year again although for most of us, New Years resolutions are probably the furthest things from our minds.
If youve managed to get past checking the daily coronavirus updates and constantly changing travel and holiday plans to think about your goals for 2021, weight loss, healthy eating and fitness are usually on the list.
While lockdown saw some people embrace home exercise and ramp up their fitness regimen, others packed on the pounds in isolation.
Weve been bombarded with celebrity weight loss stories and the diets they underwent to shed the kilos this year.
But one expert is warning its time for no more diet w*nkery.
Canberra-based nutritionist Kate Freeman believes diets are dead and is on a mission to get people to replace food stress with the confidence of healthy eating habits.
How often have you had success with a diet, only to then crash and burn and end up in the same place, or even worse? she said.
You can lose weight, have more energy and feel fitter and stronger without needing to follow an unhealthy and unrealistic diet.
While diets are focused on rules and limiting choice, healthy eating is all about developing a deeper understanding of food to give you options and flexibility.
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Ms Freeman said she had heard too many horror stories about restrictive diets that delivered short-term results but quickly led to food guilt, confusion, binge eating and body dissatisfaction.
She said even motivated dieters hit the wall eventually and found it hard to get back up.
Diets can deliver quick results, but they also come with stress and anxiety, Ms Freeman said.
They cant deliver long-term healthy living. There is so much diet w*nkery out there hurting people who are trying to do the right thing for their bodies and their lives.
No more diet w*nkery building healthy eating habits delivers long-term results.
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Ms Freeman hosts a daily nutrition podcast and YouTube series called the The Daily Dollop which covers sustainable approaches to all the diet hot topics including sugar and carbs, snacking, cravings, weight loss and meal planning.
She also runs Australias only online healthy food habit-building program, The Healthy Eating Hub.
Healthy eating is a skill that can be mastered without the emotional manipulation from the diet industry, she said.
The program breaks healthy eating down into small, achievable chunks such as choosing wholefoods, having a balanced plate or first focusing on making changes to breakfast.
Ms Freeman said other programs were fixated on calories which often didnt achieve results.
Heres her tips for what not to do:
Dont set unrealistic expectations of weight loss True fat loss takes time. It is slow. If your expectations are too high, than theyre likely not going to be met. However, its highly likely what youre doing is working, you just cant see it yet. But because our expectations arent met youll give up, which is definitely not getting you to your goal. Shows like The Biggest Loser and Instagram testimonials warp our expectations of what is real. About half a kilo a week is good to aim for on average. Also remember that weight loss is NOT linear and peaks and troughs over the weeks and months. Be patient and use other markers of success such as how youre feeling or tracking your consistency with healthy habits.
Dont create yourself a set of food rules to follow No chocolate. No sugar. No gluten. No meat. No junk food. Unless you have a medical or ethical reason for avoiding these, you dont need to cut them out. Dont set yourself a rule that youre only going to rebel against later. Psychology tells us that rules are an inferior way to produce long-term change.
Dont cut out whole food groups There is no need to cut out foods to lose weight. Weight loss requires the creation of an energy deficit and health requires consistent diet quality. This means that you need to know how much energy your body needs and eat accordingly AND that what youre eating offers your body plenty of vitamins, minerals and other health promoting components.
Dont do a detox or cleanse There is no scientific evidence this works. It will not result in long-term weight loss. Short-term fluid loss, yes. Long-term fat loss, no.
Dont buy expensive supplements These are often costly with no scientific backing and in the context of a consistently poor diet will not result in weight loss.
Dont get too strict on your food Yes, weight loss requires an energy deficit. However, if you cut back too drastically on your energy intake youll end up hungry, tired and prone to overeating at your next meal. Create a modest energy deficit that you can stick too, so your body has enough energy to function but is also sufficient to get slow, steady weight loss that lasts.
Dont try to change everything all at once Psychology tells us that self-initiated change is challenging and requires critical thinking, trial and error and a maintenance phase before it becomes part of your life. Its simply impossible to do this long-term. You may be able to do it short-term, but once you cant do it any longer, the weight comes back on.
Dont fantasise Fantasising is actually counter-productive to long-term behaviour change. So ditch the #fitspo that makes you feel #crapso and set yourself realistic and sustainable changes that you can actually stick to. That way you not only lose weight in the short-term, but you do it for life.
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Diets are dead: The best way to tackle weight loss in 2021 - NEWS.com.au
