“Add, don’t restrict” for weight loss
So, you want to lose weight? Drop a few pounds before summer and you are already dreading the diet that comes with it? I don’t blame you.
Diets are hard and most of you have tried so many diets before that by now, you must be feeling exhausted from failing over and over again. By failing I mean: putting the weight back up.
The reason why is because diets are restrictive, hard to maintain and not sustainable in our real life full of challenges and unpredictable situations. I am a firm believer and have many clients to testify for it, that the scarcity mindset around dieting makes you binge every single time.
The more you restrict, the more you want food!
The more you restrict the more you binge once you give yourself the free pass in form of a “cheat meal” or a “cheat day”.
Your body doesn’t feel well when there is no food and it will try to hold on to food by making you overeat once your guard is down, once you are feeling emotional, stressed or anxious.
This is a very typical scenario: dieting for few weeks and then back on overeating and binging.
So how can you stop this cycle and still lose weight?It’s the concept: “ADD DON’T RESTRICT”With this concept the idea is not to restrict all the time, but to add foods in the process.
What does it mean in real life?Instead of asking yourself ” What can I remove weekly from my diet?” ask yourself:” what can I add to my diet weekly”
See, if you add weekly more vegetables, it means you will feel fuller therefore you won’t be hungry therefore you won’t overeat.
Add a portion to your meal and you will instantly be fuller!If you add more protein, you will fee satiated for longer and again you won’t binge. Who says a portion is 150g?
Add more, you won’t gain weight because you will be full from your protein with zero will to binge.If you drink more water, you won’t feel dehydrated and your body won’t hold on excess waterIf you add your favourite treat every week or every other day even, it won’t make your progress stall, in fact your brain will calm down.
The idea is not to remove but to add foods so not only you feel fuller physically but also to feel the abundance of food coming your way. You don’t want to live like you are constantly on a diet eating like a bird do you?