Free Yourself From The Diet Cycle

Think about this for a minute…. Americans spend over 60 billion dollars ANNUALLY with the weight loss industry and yet, 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.  While we continue spending more on weight loss each year, the obesity rate continues to climb.     Anyone else scratching their head over this?

If I asked most people how to strip excess fat, they would probably tell me to eat  REAL food, exercise, drink water and sleep.  4 very simple instructions for healthy fat loss, many even add a 5th item – meditation.  So then why do we continue to purchase pills, drink chemical laden weight loss shakes, buy infomercial equipment or count points to strip fat, when the true path is so well known?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to change our eating, movement and sleeping habits if results are what we want? Are we seeing anything odd here?

Although these above changes are VERY SIMPLE, that does not mean they are easy.  Perhaps this is exactly what the diet industry banks on, us being too busy, tired and distracted to be consistent with lifestyle changes.

A short term diet, a pill, a shake or even a green drink might produce but they will not uproot old habits and addictive patterns that got us where we are today. If we cut weeds at the surface, the roots are still there and weeds will grow back. Just the same – if we diet only to lose 20 pounds but do not change our ways, the weight most often will come back.

The keys to lasting changes are consistent effort and accountability to those 5 simple steps.   It’s not sexy, there’s nothing to sell, there’s not a quick fix AND YET…when consistently practiced – HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL!

Have you ever wondered how a program like AA works so well with such a high success rate?  They practice accountability, consistency and humility. Folks are accountable for themselves by checking in, on a consistent basis, with someone who has already made the lifestyle change they are currently working towards and even after the changes are obtained, they continue to check in consistently to maintain those changes. Makes sense!

When starting out, lifestyle changes are EXPECTED TO BE SLOPPY! We are learning a whole new way of living, we will fall, we will forget, there will be emotions, we will be frustrated, we will not understand and yet, too set new roots – WE KEEP GOING! 

To get out of the dieting cycle and make lasting changes – be consistent with your efforts, be accountable to yourself with a coach, a friend, a mentor – enlist someone to check in with on a consistent basis – ESPECIALLY on the weeks you’re struggling, check in with someone who has been in your shoes to help you over the hump, even if it’s just the mental hump that week.

Be consistent, pick ONE habit you want to change and be consistent with your efforts, not perfect…consistent! It may take months or even years but once you have that new foundation, it’s yours to keep!

NO EFFORT IS TOO SMALL AND NO EFFORT IS EVER WASTED!

Katie Surjan, GT Coach

katie@genesistransformation.com