Over my 14 years as a personal trainer and weight loss coach, I was always asked the same question over and over again….. Where's my diet plan? Now, this may sound as though I wasn't doing my job. But this isn't the case. I help people achieve the body they desire without restriction and sacrifice. A diet plan is built on restriction and sacrifice. This is why I will never give anybody a diet plan.
Clients used to say, "Tell me what to eat and when to eat, and I'll follow it". They would have the best intentions of actually following it, but the truth is, they wouldn't. It would be silly to say that if I had never tried this method. In fact, at the beginning of my career, I used to cave in and provide each client with a diet plan. Guess what? They stuck to it for a week or two and then went silent because it had been thrown in the bin, and they'd decided it wasn't for them. They were right! A diet plan I created was never going to work for them. In fact, a diet plan from anybody else other than the person following wouldn't work.
This article is about why diet plans don't work and what to do instead. If you 100% feel you need a diet plan, it's probably best to search the internet for one. But please come back to me when it doesn't work.
Why do you think you need a diet plan?
The chances are, your answer will align with one or many of these reasons:
You crave food more often than you think you should.
You only have a little time to cook, so you feel like you're often eating the quickest thing, not the most beneficial thing.
You feel like you've seasonally overeaten - Christmas, New Year, Birthday, etc.
You've got a sweet tooth.
You have a big event coming up, such as a wedding or a holiday, that you want to look good for.
You've seen a diet plan work for someone else.
You've increased your exercise and feel you need to improve your diet to complement it.
You're tired a lot, and you think your diet could be responsible.
These are some of the potential reasons why you need a diet plan. Are any of the above your reasons why? If you drill down to the heart of these reasons, they all revolve around a 'problem' you think you have. You feel as though a diet plan will solve this problem. Maybe it will, perhaps it won't. The diet plan is a punt. It's a punt as you're putting your money and trust in somebody else's way of eating and hoping it will work for you. You're crossing your fingers (and your toes) and praying you can stick to it.
If it works for you, you will achieve your weight loss goal. However, once you stop, you will not know how to keep the weight off. If it doesn't work for you, you blame yourself for being unable to stick to it. You begin to think negatively of yourself and criticise your efforts. It's not your fault. It's the unsustainable diet plan's fault. We all want to look good and feel amazing. This is a desire. A desire that leads us to make ill-informed choices of fixing a problem with a solution that may or may not work for us. A diet plan is rarely the solution to your problem.
Why do diet plans even exist if I don't need one?
That's an excellent question. From our teenage years, we've been taught that a diet plan is the key to losing weight. Back then, you would step into any newsagent and be hardpressed to find a lifestyle magazine that didn't mention the term' diet plan'. Fast forward to today and you're bombarded with influencers, celebrities, and companies telling you to buy their diet plan. As you scroll down your feed on Instagram, you begin to believe you need one.
Think of a diet plan as a newspaper. Do you need a newspaper? Some people may say yes, and others may say no. But one thing we can all agree on is it's non-essential. If you want to get the news, you can get the information for free online or by turning on the TV. The same goes for receiving dietary advice. You can google diet plans, and loads of information and plans will be free. The problem here is which one will work?
Why diet plans don't work
Before I tell you what will work and what will help you lose weight once and for all, I need to explain to you why diet plans don't work.
I've touched on a few parts, but I need to provide further information before you decide what you need to lose weight successfully.
They are created by someone else
A diet plan is simply a way of eating created by somebody else. Generally, they've been made with a way of eating that has worked for somebody else. But somebody else isn't you. You're unique! Most diet plans have also been created with a cookie-cutter. This means that they've been thrown together as a one-size-fits-all concept. Once again, you're a unique individual. What works for one person doesn't work for another.
They are a short-term solution to a long-term problem
I mentioned this earlier. A diet plan is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. It consists of flipping your food intake upside down, which will only work for a short period. They tell you exactly what to eat for each meal. However, the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to learn and understand how weight loss works. How energy balance works. The solution to your weight loss problem is to be taught, not told. You must understand why you consume certain foods and how weight management works. This is the only way to lose weight and keep it off for good.
We have our own eating patterns
Diet plans work because they provide you with a weekly meal plan to follow. You follow somebody else's way of eating. It's like having to watch Emmerdale, but you don't like it. You're only going to watch it for a couple of weeks before you decide enough is enough, and you begin to say no to the person making you watch it. We all have our own eating patterns like we all have our own TV preferences. What one person likes, another person doesn't. This is why we can't be forced to eat foods we don't like. You know which foods you like, which foods you're willing to change, which foods you can't live without. This is why the only diet plan that will work for you is one you created.
They're boring
Have you ever followed a diet plan created by somebody else? They're boring aren't they? Eat chicken, rice, and broccoli. It sounds a bit bland and boring, doesn't it? Not to mention as dry as the Sahara Desert. Oh, why not have a rice cake as a snack to add more moisture to your life. In fact, whack some peanut butter on top for more moisture. Oh wait, that's dry too. Food plans are dull and dry, bland and boring, monotonous and moisture-less. You get the idea. A food plan that you will actually follow is one that's packed full of flavour, variety, and moisture. The only way to stick to your diet plan is to enjoy your foods and meals.
They don't fit into your lifestyle
The final reason diet plans don't work is that they don't fit into your lifestyle. You could be provided with the perfect diet plan, but if it doesn't fit into your current lifestyle, then it won't work. This is why it's your objective to create a way of eating that fits your lifestyle. There's no point in being told to eat breakfast if you never feel hungry in the morning.
I'm never hungry in the morning, so I generally pick up two bananas to take out and have later on. If somebody told me I needed to eat a big meal for breakfast, I wouldn't follow it.
I do, however, eat a big lunch. The reason for this is that I have more time to make lunch. Plus, I'm more hungry than others due to only having two bananas for my breakfast. If I gave you a meal plan that told you to have scrambled eggs on toast for lunch, but you're at work and need access to kitchen facilities, then you aren't going to eat it. You're going to do what works for you instead.
The two things diet plans don't teach you
Diet plans don't teach you two key things. They're essential, crucial (call it what you want) components of losing weight and keeping it off.
Meal plans don't teach you real-world nutrition skills
Although a meal plan tells you what to eat, it doesn't tell you why. If you don't know why you're eating a rice cake, you will probably sack it off and reach for a more tasty option. The key to sustainable weight loss is to understand real-world nutrition skills. These are things like which fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to eat and why you should include them in your diet. Oh, and don't forget about those vitamins and minerals.
Other nutrition skills include how to build a meal, how much of each food you should consume, and the number of calories in certain foods. I could go on and on about various nutrition skills, but the above are always good places to start.
I always tell my clients that I made many so-called mistakes when I started learning about nutrition many years ago. I believed all fat was bad. I thought carbs made me fat. I felt that fruit and vegetables were overpriced compared to a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar. Why on earth would I pay a couple of quid for some spinach when it's got hardly any calories in it. I'd also venture around the pre-made sandwiches in the supermarket on my lunch break and read the labels, searching for the one lowest in saturated fat. I also used to make a salad in the supermarket, thinking I was being 'good' or 'healthy', only to get laughed at by my colleagues because it was filled with potato salad and various pasta salads. I mean, there was a lonely slice of cucumber somewhere.
The point is that I did what I thought was good for me at the time. I was a personal trainer, so my qualifications were in exercise science rather than nutritional science. As soon as I decided to make nutrition my key learning topic, I began to laugh at myself. Sometimes, you've got to.
It was only then that I realised that I was making some silly decisions and spending my time focusing on the wrong things. As the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for his lifetime." Well, here's the new saying:– "Give a person a diet plan, and they will lose weight for a month. Teach them how to eat, and they will keep the weight off for their lifetime.".
Meal plans don't teach you how to be in control of your eating habits
Knowing what to eat is one thing, but knowing how to control your eating habits is another. Can you even control your eating habits? Is it as simple as self-control? Or is it an illusion? There has always been this assumption that our emotions cause all of our problems and that our reasoning must swoop in to clean up the mess. The assumption that we must use our rational thinking to dominate our emotions has trickled down through the centuries. It continues to define much of our culture today.
Unfortunately, we usually judge people based on this classic assumption. People wishing to lose weight are ridiculed and shamed because their current weight is seen as a failure of self-control. We see succumbing to our emotional eating as a moral failing. This is when our rational thinking screams, "I NEED A DIET PLAN".
Your rational thinking is wrong. On paper, it seems like the correct solution. But it isn't. You see, this rational thinking about needing a diet plan doesn't listen to what your emotions want. Your emotions and feelings feel as though they're being kidnapped. They don't want to eat the food on the diet plan, and they will do everything they can to break free. What's the easiest way for your emotions to break free? Sabotage. Once they've got you away from the diet plan, your emotions are happy, but your rational thinking is annoyed and left scratching its head.
Being told exactly what to eat by following a diet plan does not change your behaviours. We wish to believe that changing ourselves is as simple as being told what to eat. You can't simply change yourself by following a diet plan. In fact, I don't think anybody should drastically change who they are. You're unique remember. The only way to be in control of your eating habits is to allow your feelings to take charge. All you need to do is listen to them and create a structure for your eating habits that they're happy with.
What to do instead of purchasing a diet plan
Now that I've covered all of the above, I need to finish by informing you what you should do instead of purchasing a diet plan. This article is pointless if I've just informed you why you don't need a diet plan. What are you supposed to do instead?
Collect data
The first thing to do is collect data. And no, I'm not talking about your mobile phone data. Data is facts and statistics collected together for reference and analysis. The simple way to do this is to write down a food journal or download MyFitnessPal on your smartphone.
All of this data is unique to you.
How many calories are you currently consuming?
Which foods would you want to keep?
Which foods do you think can go?
Which foods could you include?
Are you short of any particular food group?
How much fruit and veg are you consuming?
It's your weight loss journey, so you must discover a way of eating that will work for you and only you.
Think of your feelings
I touched on this earlier; there's no point in following a diet plan or eating in a way that makes you feel bad. Feeling bad can be anything from tired, restricted, bored, hangry, or jealous of what everyone else is eating.
It's your job to discover a way of eating you will be okay with following. Let's even go for 'enjoy doing.' When you eat, it's best to look forward to your next meal rather than going, "Oh no, not plain poultry again".
Remember, it's your feelings that dictate your actions. Never try to override them with rational solutions.
Be your own expert
Once you've collected data on your current eating habits, it's time to be your own expert. Now, this sounds more difficult than it actually is. All you have to do is look at your food journal, think about your feelings, and decide what will work for you.
What is the current thing holding me back?
Is snacking preventing me from losing weight?
What lower-calorie, healthier snacks could I switch them for?
Is it a particular meal that I need to alter?
What will I enjoy eating that I currently don't eat?
Is my calorie intake too high?
How will my feelings like these changes?
Take it slow
This is where most people need to improve. They try to make too many changes at once. This is precisely what diet plans do. They don't care where you're currently at; they tell you to eat 'perfectly' or an even worse word, 'clean'. You don't have to be 'perfect' or 'clean' to lose weight. You need to gradually improve your eating habits each week. Be consistent with your small changes before you make another one. With all of the data you've collected in your food journal. And also the answers to the questions I asked in the 'be your own expert' section. You now know exactly where you need to start. If it's snacking, only start altering this part of your diet. Suppose you find you're eating way too many calories. In that case, ensuring you track your calorie intake consistently is where you begin. When you focus on the most significant change—the thing holding you back the most—you will be able to move closer to your weight loss goal easily. Remember, you must keep those feelings or yours positive, not negative. Our feelings don't like drastic changes. That's why diet plans don't work long-term.
Work out how long it's going to take to lose weight
The issue, a lot of the time, is literally time. We all feel as though our results are going to come in thick and fast. "If I just follow this diet plan, I will be two stone lighter in two months." Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and even if you did manage to lose that weight in the two months, it will soon bounce back to where you started. Truthfully, and you may not like this, you should aim for a maximum of 2lbs lost each week. If you wish to lose two stone, then it will take you 14 weeks. This brings me to the next question you need to ask yourself: Can I stick to this way of eating for at least 14 weeks? The reason why I've said at least is because you wish to lose weight BUT you want to stay that weight. There's no point in rushing to lose weight quickly if you're not going to maintain this new weight of yours.
Lose weight and keep it off
By doing all of the above, you begin to think long-term. It becomes your new way of eating. It no longer feels like a diet. It works for you. Your feelings are happy, so you can stick to this new way of eating. You decide what's going to work best for you. When you successfully alter your way of eating and mindset this way, you will lose weight and keep it off for good. This means you will never have to go on a diet or follow a diet plan ever again. It's this kind of flexible, you-centric approach that's going to gradually change your relationship with food. You'll be the one in the know, not the one always saying no. Sounds good, right?