Is salad making you gain weight?

Picture the scene. It's Monday. Day one of the new diet that's going to be different this time. 

You're optimistic, you're prepped. You've got a salad ready for lunch and grilled chicken and rice for dinner and you're feeling almost smug. 

You've got this.

Only you haven't. What you're actually doing is setting yourself up for another failure. You're doing the exact same thing you've always done and expecting different results and well. That's the definition of insanity. 

There are many reasons why restrictive diets don't work. 

Let me talk you through a few... 

1. Low calorie = excessive hunger. Excessive hunger = uncontrolled eating further down the line. 
2. Restrictive dieting = food obsession. Hyper focus on food makes it impossible to stop thinking about it which leads to over eating 
3. Strict diets lead to cravings and can lead to binge eating 
4. Labelling food as "good" and "bad" and assigning morals to food can lead to feelings of guilt and shame when you eat things like chocolate which then lead to a "f*ck it" mindset and self soothing using food 

You don't need another diet. You need a mindset shift. You first and foremost need to understand why you gained weight in the first place. 

Examples could be; 

• history of over restrictive dieting which becomes a vicious cycle 
• low self esteem 
• emotional eating 
• low mood / anxiety 
• eating because you feel fat (body image) 
• relationship issues 
• perfectionsim 
• unrealistic expectations of how long weight loss takes / invloves 
• making excuses 
• illness 
• hormonal issues (eg menopause) 
• parenthood 
• a challenging relationship with alcohol 
• food guilt
• over working and lack of boundaries 
• bullying (being bullied) 
• focusing only on weight as a measure of progress 

I've been a PT, nutritionist and coach for over 10 years and I would wholeheartedly argue that not one of my clients hadn't presented one of or a combination of the above. 

It is therefore absolutely necessary to address the root cause and think about how to do things differently, sensibly with a long term goal and focus. 

Weight loss is a process. Weight gain happens for a reason. Unless we understand that reason and we work on changing it we will probably never lose weight for good. 

It's not about how fast you lose it. It's about the way in which you change your life and mindset to accommodate the changes and to be truly happy and healthy, not just white knuckling it day to day starving yourself until you can't hack it.

Each and every time you start another restrictive diet you're actually taking another step backwards. You're going to feel even worse when you fail again. 

It's not you that sucks. It's the method you're using to lose weight. 

I use mindset changes to help you lose weight for good and ditch diets. 

94 per cent of dieters regain their weight over time. Are you ready to be the 6 per cent? 

Coach Carly xx