Dieting is not sustainable. We all know that.
You also know by now that I love analogies. Here is one I often use with clients to help explain why I think that lifestyle change is so much better than dieting.
Dieting can feel like double Dutch jump roping.
Do you remember that game as a kid? This seemingly simple street game starts when 2 long jump ropes are turned in 2 opposite directions and jumped by one or more people at the same time. The result creates both a challenge and an opportunity for joy, improved health and, if you are patient, mastery.
But it is not as easy as it looks.
Learning the ropes, pun intended, can be difficult.
Get started can be intimidating and often inspire delay.
For double Dutch, the ropes can hit you in the head or cause you to trip until you figure out the right timing. Timing is everything to start successfully.
For dieting, you may keep putting it off until the timing is just right and keep delaying the result. Maybe you have that ‘thing’ to go to later this week, or that half-eaten treat in the fridge or a well-meaning friend you invited you to try their homemade ‘whatever’. Maybe you keep saying to yourself, I can start the diet tomorrow. It can wait. The timing is just not right.
Momentum can carry you for a while.
For double Dutch, once you are inside the ropes jumping, it is exhilarating. You are in your happy place, getting lots of cheers and support, even confident. You got this.
For dieting, the same may be true. You finally break through that plateau and start losing weight, the scale and maybe your personal circle cheers you on. You got this.
But it can be messy to end.
For double Dutch, it is often not until you are inside the ropes that you realize it is a whole different skill to get back out, one that you can’t easily practice until you are inside the ropes. So unfair.
For dieting, there is so much less emphasis on life after the diet, what to do once you stop dieting, how to exit and not have to go back to the beginning when you gain the weight back in months or even weeks. So unfair.
Lifestyle change is about mastery.
If you want to learn the ropes for anything you really want to master, it starts with preparing for success with the right resources, insights, mindset, and to get and maintain better results, sometimes a coach and mentor to act as guide by your side.
The stakes are higher than they have ever been, especially as we age. Lifestyle change is something we should work to master now, before ‘recess’ is over.
ps. If you want some help for making a plant-based lifestyle change that lasts, join the waitlist for my Eat to Heal Over 50 program starting soon.
