Once Upon A Diet
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growing up
i obsessed over two things losing weight
and wanting my crush to like me back and
at some point
i convinced myself that the more weight
i lost
meant the greater my chances were in the
romance department
i mean that’s how it works in all the
fairy tales the guy or girl
finds the person that they like changes
everything about themselves and then
bam happily ever after
cinderella needed a fairy godmother to
come and take a pumpkin
turn it into a carriage mice turn into a
horseman
and we all know about those glass
slippers which can we agree would be
extremely uncomfortable
i wasn’t asking for some crazy magical
makeover
i just needed to lose 10 pounds to look
good in a juicy sweatsuit
i didn’t think it was going to be so
hard but turns out
weight loss is really hard
i tried everything under eating but that
led to overeating
which then led to restriction which then
led to binging which then led to
excessive exercise
the harder i worked the harder it got
and the more those glass slippers seemed
really tempting i knew there had to be
another way
and i was determined to find it so
naturally i dedicated my entire life to
figuring out how do people lose weight
i decided to go to school to become a
registered dietitian
i remember thinking this is perfect i’ll
learn how to lose weight
get the body i want and i hear college
is like the pretty ideal environment to
find your future husband
it was a win-win so eager to learn i sit
down
in the very first day of class the
professor teaches us about vegetarianism
immediately i’m excited this is how i’m
going to lose the weight
about a week later i got asked on my
very first date
now that was even more exciting
he obviously was going to be my future
husband i didn’t need to go dating
around anymore
within the first few weeks of school
college was going great
except it only took me about three years
to realize
that neither being a vegetarian nor
being in that relationship
worked for me don’t get me wrong they
were great at first and i learned a lot
but i stayed in them way past that point
anyways i ended up graduating college
and although i didn’t find my husband i
certainly found my calling
i became a registered dietitian and for
the past six years
i’ve been helping people create and
follow nutrition plans to live healthier
and happier lives
and through the years i’ve made many
observations
one of which my twelve-year-old self was
actually on to something
she was just looking at the wrong fairy
tale you see
because through coaching thousands of
clients i noticed they all had the very
same pattern before they would start
working with me they would jump from
diet to diet
hoping each one would be the one they
basically went around like cinderella’s
stepsisters jamming their feet into
every diet
never once considering if in fact it’d
be beneficial for them in the long run
and that’s when i realized we have to
stop being
like cinderella’s stepsisters and more
like goldilocks see goldilocks didn’t
try to make anything work when clearly
it didn’t
she was just herself as she experienced
new things
and landed on what felt just right for
her
today i’m going to teach you how to be
more like goldilocks
in my work i use a series of reflective
questions that can help anyone and
everyone break free from that stepsister
cycle
with these three guiding questions i’ll
be able to shift your mindset
towards finding what works best for you
the first question is the perfect thing
to ask yourself before you start
something new
will this last past the honeymoon phase
it’s a hard one i know
because in the beginning progress is
happening it’s exciting and it’s easy
but easy makes it easy to miss the signs
when you have rose-colored glasses
red flags just look like regular flags
which is why you need to ask yourself
this question
because what happens when the novelty
fades
it doesn’t matter how effective your
diet is in the first 90 days
that’s probably going to taper off and
if you like the results that it’s giving
you
you’re going to have to keep putting in
the same amount of effort to get that in
return
so if the diet requires you to eat out
of tupperware container
and never leave your house well then
that’s probably not going to work for
you in the long run
at some point you’re going to need to
resurface and join the world
so here’s the thing there’s nothing
wrong with a short-term fling
but if you’re at the point where you’re
looking for something sustainable
and you don’t see this lasting say more
than six months
then don’t bother getting involved it’s
not the plan for you
the second question is the perfect thing
to ask yourself when you’re currently
in something and it’s this
do i even like this so many people are
following a diet
any diet just because they’re afraid if
they’re not following something
they’re somehow going to gain a ton of
weight but here’s what i spent years
learning
just because it works doesn’t mean it’s
working
and sometimes something isn’t better
than nothing
taking some time off from following a
structured plan doesn’t mean you’re
going to gain weight
just like choosing to delete some dating
apps for a few months
doesn’t mean you’re going to wind up
being a crazy cat lady and that’s coming
from a cat lady
by the way
time off is exactly what we need to
realize that happiness
isn’t dependent on the number on a scale
or whether or not you have a date lined
up for friday night
here’s the thing whether it’s a date or
a diet
the chances of you finding exactly what
you want right off the bat
are pretty slim and although you may be
disappointed
it’s never a waste of your time as long
as it taught you something which leads
me to the last
and final question the most important
one
what lessons did i learn from this
the goal i have with my clients is to
help them come to an understanding of
what’s necessary
for both their success and their
happiness
and just like relationships we usually
have to figure out what we want
by crossing off what we don’t want
looking at your past
is the only way to do that trust me
if you don’t take the time to do this
you might end up like me
where i spent the majority of my
twenties dating five versions of the
same guy
just with a different name and a
different face
you need to take the time to reflect
back and identify
what it is that you want to bring into
your future and what it is that you want
to leave in your past
that is the only way to break that
stepsister cycle
when it comes to nutrition and
relationships success comes down to one
thing
compatibility they have to be compatible
in terms of your lifestyle
your level of commitment and your
specific taste
if it’s going to work it’s got to be the
right fit
and unfortunately none of us get to have
it all handed to us like cinderella did
at the same time trying to make
something work when clearly it doesn’t
hasn’t benefited everybody which is why
you have to get your goldilocks on it’s
a little bit more work than a fairy
godmother coming to wave her wand and
get you in
those glass slippers or juicy sweatsuit
but it’s a lot more realistic
with time patience self-awareness
and these guiding questions you will be
well on your way to finding a nutrition
plan
that’s just right for you thank you
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you