The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies - Meri Raffetto [129]
Lifestyle changes are all about balance. Discovering balance is the key to making long-term changes work. Without balance, you can wind up feeling deprived and defeated, or even overwhelmed with the need to be perfect. Know that there'll be times when flexibility is the name of the game and allow yourself to indulge without losing your focus.
Lifestyle changes become a natural part of your routine. In the beginning, trying to lose weight requires some focus as you find ways to incorporate low-glycemic foods and cut back on the amount of overall calories you consume. Yet eventually the new actions you're taking (such as diet changes and exercise) turn into a habit.
The most effective way to create a habit is to set goals and take action toward those goals over and over until that action feels like a normal part of your routine. Focus on the areas of your diet and exercise that can use some tuning up, decide what you're going to change, and then make that change each day. (Note: You may need to switch up your strategies once in a while if your current path isn't working well in your lifestyle.)
Lifestyle changes must be things you can do on your own. Following someone else's plan is only a temporary fix. Working as a registered dietitian in the weight-loss industry, I've never met someone capable of following a strict meal plan long term. Doing so would be truly difficult due to the loss of personal preference and choice. Figuring out how to plan healthy meals on your own is the more realistic option. When you know how to plan your meals, you can plan healthy eating anytime, anywhere, whether you're on vacation or at the office.
Understanding the downfalls of being on and off a diet plan
A lot of times people approach weight loss looking for an easy out. They want to be told what to eat so they can go home and just follow the plan. This approach is easy, but it's practically guaranteed to send your weight on a roller coaster ride as you yo-yo on and off the plan.
When you religiously follow a diet plan, you lose weight and get results. I'm not denying that, and I'm sure you've experienced this scenario one time or another. However, you probably also know that when you veer from the plan, you usually wind upgoing right back to your old habits. Depending on how long you're off the plan, you can regain all that weight you lost when you were on the plan. I promise you this cycle will never feel natural; instead, you'll always feel like you're dieting. Who wants to be on a diet for the rest of her life? That doesn't sound fun in the slightest.
Following are some of the downfalls of treating your dietary changes as on-again/off-again behaviors rather than permanent habits:
The dietary changes become temporary, and you always feel like you're dieting, not like you're living a normal life.
The results you see are only temporary. Your weight can rise and fall each time you go on and off the plan.
Because you're not making healthy behaviors a habit, they're harder to keep up.
Consider this example: Both Laurie and Beth are using a low-glycemic diet to manage their weight and health. Laurie is sticking strictly to her new diet plan and paying close attention to the foods she shouldn't have. One Saturday she's invited to a barbeque at a friend's house. There, she has the option of eating hamburgers, chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, mixed greens salad, and chips. Laurie's craving all the high-glycemic foods and thinks, "I've been good for a month, so I'll eat high-glycemic foods today and get back on track tomorrow." So she goes for the hamburger, potato salad, macaroni salad, and chips; winds up overdoing the high-glycemic foods; and feels guilty on Sunday. She then says to herself, "Well, I blew it yesterday.