Is Your Diet Making You Miserable?

If your diet is making you miserable, it’s time to hit reset.

The road to weight loss is not straight. It makes turns, sometimes loops back on itself and throws in unexpected pot holes. You probably already know this, but diet is only one part of that windy road. That being said, it’s a big part. And it can make or break your weight loss and other fitness goals.

When you hear the word diet, do you inwardly (or outwardly), groan?

You’re not alone.

Most diets come with a list of good and bad food, rules and restrictions, and a whole lot of hunger pangs and taste-bud-boredom.

Ironically, it may be that miserable diet that you adopted to lose weight that is in fact sabotaging your fitness and physique goals.

There is one and only key to a successful diet: it has to work for you in the long-run.

And a diet that is making you miserable is not going to work for you in the long-run.

How Your Happiness Affects your Physique

The link between happiness and weight loss might surprise you. We often look to exercise and diet alone when trying to lose weight, but mental health and happiness has a real effect.

Any amount of stress, including the kind that is prompted by feeling miserable on a diet, causes your body to change the way it regulates hormones. The hormone cortisol, which is released when you are feeling anxious or stressed, makes you crave comfort (often in the form of food). When you give in and indulge you create a dopamine high. When that dopamine level crashes, you crave it again. And the cycle continues.

One way to help keep those cravings in check is to follow a diet that is satisfying physically, physiologically and mentally.

Here are signs that your diet is making you miserable (and sabotaging your goals).

You avoid dining out with friends.

If your diet is so strict that you can’t find a way to enjoy an evening with the people that you love, it’s not worth it. Food, at its purest, brings people together. If the idea of going to a restaurant is more stressful than enjoyable, it’s time to rethink how much you are willing to give up for a few pounds off the scale.

You’re always hungry.

Do you need to consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight? Yes. Do you need to always be hungry to achieve that? No.

A little bit of hunger is okay, especially if you realize that you’ve been eating in excess and you’re trying to adjust to a healthier calorie range. But you shouldn’t feel hungry all the time.

Long-term, calorie-restrictive diets are not healthy and they aren’t conducive to a healthy metabolism (your long term gauge for healthy weight loss). Anything lower than 1,200 calories is very likely not giving you a) the energy your body needs to function at a basic level and b) the nutrients your body needs to thrive.

You feel guilty if you eat anything not on “the list”.

If you look at food as black and white, good and bad, allowable or off-limits, there’s a good chance that your relationship with food is making you miserable.

An apple is always good, right? Not if you’re allergic to it. Apple pie is always bad, right? Not if you can thoroughly enjoy a couple of bites, feel satisfied and put the rest back in the fridge.

Labeling food gives it a stigma. That which is off limits is, by default, automatically more attractive. You restrict yourself from eating it, you crave it more, you give in, you feel guilty, and you feel like you’ve lost the whole game (stressful cycle).

You obsess over food.

Do you find that you think more about food the less that you eat it?

I struggled with anorexia for years. While I didn’t eat a whole lot of food, it’s all that I thought about. I scanned magazine to copy out hundreds of recipes (that I would never make) and read every food magazine I could get my hands on. Every bite that I took was scrutinized. The less I allowed myself access to food, the more it took over my life and the more miserable I was.

Obsession takes many forms. The guilt of getting cheese on your salad when you asked for no cheese. The need to choose pretzels or chips solely based on the calorie content. Ordering egg whites with your ham and cheese omelet. That’s no way to enjoy life!

You feel tired.

Finally, if you always feel like you’re dragging, even after a full night’s sleep, you’re probably lacking nutrients!

Your body is an engine. Fuel is an absolute necessity! If you feel cranky and tired all of the time, your likely not as alert or focused as you could or should be, and your mood could be affecting other choices that in turn affect your fitness goals (to go to the gym or not to go, to choose the healthy snack over the french fries).

How to fix it

There are ways to rewire your diet mentality so that you can reach your goals AND enjoy life. Think of these as the New Rules.

Rule #1: No foods are off limits; there are simply healthy foods and less healthy foods.

There are no good or bad foods. Food exists on a spectrum that ranges from healthy to not as healthy, but nothing is off limits. Use the link below to for a great visual idea of what this spectrum looks like.

Nothing is categorized as bad or good. Instead, food lands somewhere along the spectrum of “eat lots of these”, “some of these”, and “not so much of these”. Eat this way and those off-limit foods lose there power.

You have the power and the privilege to make a decision at every eating opportunity.

Where does your food/meal land on the spectrum? What is this food really giving you? Is it beneficial to your body? Is it beneficial to your mental/emotional well-being?

You choose.

Rule #2: Wait, be present, eat.

When I tell my nutrition clients to think about what they are eating before they eat it (so that they have time to ask themselves the questions listed above), they usually reply with “that’s just it, I don’t think”.

Fair enough. Then don’t think, but also don’t act.

Just wait.

When a craving hits, wait 15 minutes. Find something to do. If you are truly hungry, you’ll be hungry in 15 minutes. If you’re thirsty, you’ll know when 15 minutes are up.  And if you’re bored, you’ll have found something to do and realized there is a difference between truly hungry and bored.

This is a great way to learn to listen to your body.

Rule #3: Always go in with a plan but be willing to adapt.

Lastly, it’s always smart to have a plan. Go in with a plan, adapt as you go.

It’s true, most restaurants do not support a healthy diet. That being said, if you have a plan you can still go out, enjoy a normal night out and stay healthy.

Maybe that means you’re the DD. Or maybe you check out some menus before heading out so that you can help choose a restaurant that offers a healthier option. Maybe that means you invite your friends over for a night in so you have complete control.

I’m willing to bet they’ll will be on team Go You.

Want help turning your nutrition goals into reality? Leave the diet mentality behind with a proven online nutrition coaching system and plan customized to what you want and need.