Make this Your New Year Resolution> No. More. Dieting .

A bright and shiny New Year is fast approaching and many people are planning their resolutions.

Do yourself a favor. 

Don't make 'go on a diet' one of yours.

That may sound funny coming from someone who is all about health and wellness, so let me ask you a few questions before I begin to explain myself.

• Question 1:  Have you ever made a weight loss New Year's resolution in the past?

• Question 2:  Have you ever cheated within the first month of starting a diet?  
                     I'm not judging. Just asking.  :-)

• Question 2:  Have you tried more than one diet plan in a year?

• Question 3:  Did you end those diets because you just couldn't
                     stand feeling deprived, miserable, or hungry any longer?

• Question 4:  Did you lose weight-- but then gained it all back within a year?

• Question 5:  Do you weigh just a little more at the end of the
                     year than you did at the beginning of the year?

If you answered 'yes' to any (or all) of the above,
then you’ve probably figured out by now that you'll never get ahead of the game if you continue this behavior.

I mean year after year, you starve yourself; 

watch your calories closely; you count all your points, or you take some magic pill (promising to burn fat while you sleep or some such nonsense); and ok, you lose some weight. 

Then you stop and ALL that weight you worked so hard to lose comes back to find you  --- and how fast it comes back is scary, isn't it?! 

Even worse, sometimes you even end up weighing more than when you started. UGH! 

Honestly, diets don’t work and they are detrimental to your health.
It's time to give it a rest and to give yourself a real chance at reaching your health goal this year.

And it won’t be with any stinky diet.

Sure, we all want to look good in jeans or a cute little dress,
but we shouldn't make ourselves sick in the process.
And that's what almost always what happens when you diet.

When you go on a calorie restrictive diet, you don't consume enough quality food or enough healthy nutrition, so your body reacts as if it is being starved--and it begins to conserve energy for future use--- in the form of fat.
That's right. Your body starts storing fat--and will not readily release it.
Instead, it sacrifices your muscle. And that's not good. Not at all.
The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism--and the more efficiently you are able to lose weight/fat.

So... since you have even less muscle when you end a diet, the next time you try another diet, you would need to eat even less than you did before to experience any significant weight loss.  Crazy, right?
And what's that saying about definition of insanity?
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?
In this case, that totally fits.

And, not only do diets eat away at your muscle which slows your metabolism, but some diets plans and products contain dangerous ingredients.
Or they seriously lack nutrition.
Or they contain artificial ingredients.
Each of which could cause some major health issues in your body. 

I set a Google alert for any diet recalls or FDA warnings on all diet-related products, and I get notices sent to me every single day.  

The Diet/Weight Loss business a huge, largely unregulated market and there are many companies just out to get a piece of the action.

Heck, here's a newscast describing how buying weight loss supplements is not only a waste of money, but also dangerous.  Take a look.

Oh, and please don't be fooled by those highly marketed, 'physician recommended' diet programs.   Read the ingredients and the label.  Usually that's enough to give you some good clue as to if it is a healthy program or some slick marketing masking as a 'healthy weight loss program'.

Hint: If there are any artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and/or lots of sugar

...Well, does that sound like a healthy plan to you??

Also, check out the company behind the product.
 If it's a 'processed food company',  it's probably not something you'll want to try.  There is one such diet program that has been so detrimental to so many people, including some close friends of mine, that I use it as an example of what NOT to do for those I coach. 

(I won't name names here, but I will give you a clue.
The company behind it is Nestle. They have excellent marketing but extremely poor nutrition, so you can see where they spend their money. The consumer is the one who pays the ultimate price with poor health.)

So, my suggestion for 2015?  NO MORE DIETING!
Instead, make positive changes. Make wiser choices and keep them as part of a permanent, healthier lifestyle.

But I'm not going to leave you hanging if you are serious about achieving a healthy and sustainable weight loss goal this year.

If that's on your 'to do' list for 2015, then keep an eye out for my next few posts.
Psst: I'm will not you to begin on January 1^st.
We'll start the Monday AFTER the New Year, so you have time to prepare.  And I’ll share reason why in the next post.

I will also teach you what I look for in a healthy weight loss program and I'll share what specific program I am comfortable recommending to my friends and family.   Why?  People get great results, they don't feel like they're dieting, they love it and they get healthier as a side benefit.  

(And I love that!!!)

In January of 2012, my own husband (finally!) made the decision to make this program part of his healthy lifestyle too. The result?
He has lost 45 pounds and has kept it off.  It most likely saved his life.
I'm not exaggerating.  He was headed down a very unhealthy path and he totally turned his health around. That's a huge testament to this program. Especially since he was the typical 'all you can eat meat and potatoes' type of guy.  If he can do it (and love it) so can you.  
No joke.

He is now so proud of the way he looks.
He feels wonderful and he will never go back. Never.
After all, that's really the key, isn't it?

Losing that weight and then keeping it off---for good?

Be well, my friends!
~Anne