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Diet. What comes to mind when you hear that word? A drastic change to your eating for a few weeks? Lots of salad, vegetables and fruit? Little variety and always the same foods?
That's exactly how many people picture a diet. A means to an end for the body of their dreams. They think that if they just power through for a few weeks or months, a six-pack and more will appear. But what happens after?
For many people, a short, hard diet doesn't get them to their goal. Why? That's what I want to explain in this article. I'll show you a few tips for losing weight long term.
The problem with diets
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with a diet. After all, it forces you to actively engage with nutrition and what you put into your body. But a diet is a fast, sudden change to how your body operates. The way you eat on a diet isn't how you'd normally eat. Strict, nothing sweet. And that's where the first problem with diets lies.
Because most people don't stick to a diet like that. A diet often gets abandoned simply because it's easier to fall back into old eating patterns. The dream body goal never gets reached.
But what if you do see it through to the end? Let's say you've lost exactly as much weight as you set out to. What now? Most people go right back to eating exactly like they did before the diet. And here's the second problem with diets. Your body needs calories, and the amount it needs depends, among other things, on your body weight.
So if you've lost weight, you should also be eating less. Otherwise you'll simply gain it back. Especially after a sharp calorie reduction, your body is particularly prone to gaining a lot of weight back. That's because your body is coming out of a strong "starvation period." When plenty of food comes back, you store a lot of it as fat, as a reserve in case another starvation period hits. This effect is also called the yo-yo effect. Many people even end up heavier than they were before the diet.
How to achieve your dream body for good
These are the problems diets tend to come with. That doesn't mean they can't be fixed, though. I want to give you a few things to think about and some background knowledge here, which will make the path easier if you want to lose weight long term. You'll still have to walk that path yourself, though, in a way that works for you.
More background knowledge on nutrition
Often people just blindly follow a diet. They hear from someone who already has a six-pack how they got there. What they ate and when. Following a simple, ready-made diet plan is pointless. Because it's often not tailored to your individual situation and your body.
Every diet comes with its pros and cons. A keto diet can get you to your goal just as well as a simple calorie reduction. But one thing matters most: you should understand the type of diet, its purpose, and nutrition itself.
There's a lot to consider and learn here. Basically, there are a few principles about nutrition that you should understand.
1. When it comes to the composition of food, a distinction is made between macronutrients and micronutrients.
2. Macronutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates. All of them are important, and as long as they're good quality, they're healthy and essential for your body.
3. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. They only occur in food in small amounts, but they're still important for your body's balance and many key functions.
4. Your body needs a certain number of calories every day. This is based on age, sex and weight, but it differs from person to person.
5. If you eat less than your basal metabolic rate in calories, you'll lose weight. The same applies in reverse if you eat more than your basal metabolic rate.
If you want to lose weight long term, all you really need to know is this: every macronutrient matters. Protein for muscle growth, fat for hormones, and carbohydrates for energy. Fat has the most calories per gram, so the amount of fat should be factored in accordingly during a diet.
Changing your diet
If you truly want to lose weight long term, you should forget the negative idea of a "diet." Instead, your goal should be to change your everyday eating step by step. Because in the end, you also have to maintain your ideal weight, and you can only do that by being able to eat healthily over a longer period of time.
What does that mean for you? Start slowly. Over time, work more and more healthy meals into your daily life while cooking unhealthy meals less often. Try cooking more yourself instead of ordering from a delivery service. That way you also know what's going into your food.
This way, your body slowly and steadily gets used to the change. You'll probably lose weight more slowly than with a crash diet. But it's not a sprint, it's a marathon! You'll be able to maintain your weight much better this way.
If you notice your weight has plateaued and isn't going down anymore, you should work more healthy habits into your daily life. You could stand more at work instead of just sitting. Take more standing breaks. Do more sport. Every step that helps you live more actively and fit also affects your weight and your body.
Staying motivated
It's important that your motivation stays intact. You probably won't wake up every day feeling motivated to reach your dream weight. No one can. Still, there are a few things that can make changing your diet, or dieting, easier.
1. Try to define your goal precisely. Saying "I want my dream body!" is rather vague. How much do you want to lose? When do you want to reach this goal? If you set yourself realistic goals that appeal to you, you'll be more likely to stick with reaching them.
2. If you feel alone in changing your diet, get your partner or a friend to help. Things like this are usually easier to see through as a group.
3. You should always keep your successes in view. Measure your weight regularly and check how much you've lost. The change often shows up more slowly in the mirror than on the scale.
In the end, it comes down to seeing your body as a project. This project requires more effort at the start. You have to educate yourself on nutrition and healthy habits, and you also have to put them into practice. The change takes effort and follow-through, you have to step out of your comfort zone.
After that it gets easier, though. The project still needs to be monitored and adjusted along the way. How's your weight? Do you need more changes to your diet? But it gets easier, and the effort required to maintain your weight and dream body drops too.
Conclusion: how to lose weight long term
Of course, this project is anything but easy and quick to pull off. Otherwise almost everyone would have their dream body. The truth is simple: it's hard, and it demands discipline and staying power. You need these traits to turn the plan for your dream body into reality. If you're struggling with this, I can offer you nutrition coaching as your personal coach. I'll advise you on everything, and help you with training and mindset too, if you want.
If losing weight long term and maintaining your weight is your goal, you've set yourself a challenge. A challenge you can absolutely rise to, and one you'll grow from. If you internalize the problems that come with a normal "diet" and follow the tips I've given you, you'll definitely be able to reach your goal.
Sources
- Body Weight Planner (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.)
- Healthy Eating Habits to Start Now (My HealtheVet, 2021)
- Macronutrient Balance (Ministry of Health Australian Government, 2014)
- Macronutrients (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.)
- Vitamins and Minerals (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.)