Health, Diet & A New You: Part 1 - Learning From Failures

So where do I begin.. The way I like to see it is that your body and health are the most important and prized possessions any of us will ever have and it’s important, but also very challenging to know what choices to make on the behalf of them. Everyone knows temptation, our taste buds tell us one thing whilst our arteries and midsection tell another, but that impulsive craving is enough for most of us to forget momentarily or merely to convince the disciplined side of us that it is worth it. Of course this is not a bad thing necessarily and it's important not to limit yourself in such a harsh way that you simply cannot maintain the rules that you restrict yourself to when it comes to food.

Simple Steps to a Quick trim and Why "Diets" Don't Work

So here is where it could go drastically wrong. Guess what? I am a classic example of a crash yo-yo dieter. I've honestly spent a tragic length of time researching and trying methods of extreme quick weight loss.

I've never been big but have an unrealistic dream (like so many women) of my ideal body (Victoria's Secret model)! I've tried almost everything shakes, fasting (5:2), high protein, low fat, low sugar, calorie restricting, 5 small meals, no meals and just picking and all I can say about them all is that they do not work in the long term, and eventually you will be back to feeling disappointed.

Yes, it’s a fragile subject, to admit to the time I have wasted on so many occasions and the worst of it is the weight you lose piles back on as soon as you finally give into all those cravings -after your week of being overly disciplined- and end up binging! Every girl I know claims “I won’t binge I will maintain it” but even for the most conscientious of us this is far easier said than done.

Another reason this can happen so easily is because the fat cells are so difficult to get rid of! Crash dieting will shrink them hence the sudden weight loss after the first week. It is also important to note a lot of this is water weight and these shrunken fat cells then act like sponges to soak up new fat entering the body after the diet has been scrapped. After growing up a little, seeing my failures and learning from them (a very important point!) I realized that I was probably doing more harm than good to my body.

One day I woke up and decided to scrap it all completely. It's only now I've managed to maintain and actually lose weight from just following a healthy lifestyle. I'm well aware that we're all different and these tips may not work for you, but for me they truly have been a Godsend and a push in the right direction this summer! 

In my next post we will scrap the word diet with all its negative connotations and focus on lifestyle leading to a new you.

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