The ‘no diet’ diet trend.

We spent early nineties on non-fat diets and late nineties on low-carb Atkins. The last 10 years we’ve been detoxing, going paleo, gluten-free, and organic free-range everything. We’ve come full circle and are genuinely tired of adding up calories, points, and overspending on green juices only to gain every inch lost (plus some) back the second we stop. 


If you’ve tried some or all slimming methods out  there , you know that every diet works until it doesn’t any more. A diet is only a temporary challenge that can take us a step closer to a dream physique. But when it ends we fall back into previous patterns around eating, now craving forbidden foods even more. If there were no healthy foundation habits to begin with, we end up with more weight than before we started, now feeling a complete failure, too.


So is getting slim while saying ‘yes’ to a Sunday brunch and enjoying a pasta dish on a vacation a myth?


Turns out, there is something better than dieting. Taking small steps each week to change eating habits and lifestyle choices is a smarter approach to losing weight and keeping it off.


Behavioral modifications are more complicated to work with than tracking calories or signing up to a boot camp. It will take longer than a couple months to undo the damage of patterns formed over many years.


When working with new nutrition habits we start with the ones that are out of wack the most, like portion control and slowing down when eating. We give a habit 2 to 3 weeks to brew and settle. Only when we can prove that we practice it at least 80% of the time we move onto the next behavior that’s out of control.


Some of the easier habits to master are reported to be ‘take a 5 minute health action each day’ ,’add protein to each meal’, and ‘swap an ice cream Sunday for a fruit protein shake’.


The habits that require more work and mental strength are ‘add a serving to vegetables to each meal’, ‘eat till only 80% full’, and ‘eat without distractions’. Difficult habits like that are broken down into smaller tasks that are doable and easier to accomplish each day.


For example, Elisabeth, a busy working professional in her thirties was learning to eat vegetables which she’s been resisting for years. Instead of forcing her to load on steamed broccoli on day one just because it’s known to be good for you, she is starting with baby steps towards veggies. Can she eat a cucumber or a carrot? Would she eat a new veggie prepared in a tasty way rather than raw? And only over time she will open up to try more sophisticated vegetables. 


Habit-based approach to eating works where calorie count stops working. When on vacation, at a party, at a family dinner, or after a stressful workweek calorie count goes out of the window. But when you learn to listen to your hunger cues and can stop eating when full, waistlines stay trim no matter what you’re eating and your grandmother is happy you had the cake. 


With this ‘no diet’ approach we change not only taste buds but also lifestyles.  The type of exercise and the intensity of it plays its role in shaping our physique. So does the quality of sleep, how we cope with stress, our surrounding and self-talk. Working through these roadblocks  is not a one-pill-fix-all approach but is more rewarding and lasting than a fat loss pill. 


Take surrounding, for example. We all have that one friend who needs company to overindulge. And isn’t there always cake in the office the first day we start a new diet. How hard is it to lose weight when living with a boyfriend who doesn’t respect your choice to leave a healthier life. Working through this obstacle is important because it’s not as simple as skipping all social gatherings. Instead, we learn how to have important conversations, how to set boundaries and let people in your life know what’s important to you. Nobody should be sabotaged on their way to personal bests.  


After only a month of working with habits and behaviors clients report a more conscious way of eating and making better choices is becoming a second nature. Now they are picking a 30 minute walk over a donut and remember to take breaths between bites. Parents love that they can teach their kids how to eat well without mentioning words like “diet” or “bad for you”. Those who have failed before now dig deep into their relationship with food and exercise which has been traumatized by countless diets. Busy professionals find ways to fit fitness into their packed schedules. 


Here are five tips on how make the habit-changing process work well for you:


START WITH SMALL MOVES. It is crucial to start very small. For some it might only be adding 20 minutes of activity each day, or eating a home prepared meal instead of take out just twice a week. As you get confident with smaller tasks, do them more often or pick more difficult tasks to accomplish.


BREAK DIFFICULT HABITS INTO DOABLE TASKS. If the habit seems impossible to adopt but you feel like it’s going to make a big difference for you, break it into very small tasks. For example, when struggling with meal prepping for a few days ahead, start with packing only snacks for the first week.  The following week, try to prep salads for the day. The week after prep the night before and like that, let your new habit grow in difficulty week after week. 


DO JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER. What would you eat today if you could do just a little bit better? How can do just a little bit better with today’s workout? Fitness for many is all black and white, but the grey area is where all the magic happens. 


FIND A BUDDY. Support system is crucial and it’s harder to get out of a morning jog if you scheduled it with a friend. Checking in with the partner daily has proven to keep consistency going. 


CELEBRATE EVERY SMALL WIN. We constantly remind ourselves of what we’ve done wrong, but celebrating every little victory sets a positive environment for a change.


Don’t forget to take a break from this habit changing work. It’s on days that we go back to our previous lifestyle that we realize it’s no longer working for us.