Reframing 'Diet', Enjoying Yourself and Betty Boo

So my marathon training has officially begun (Kielder in October Yikes!) and I am also surrounded by easter eggs. That is actually a dangerous combination for me as the running can lead to 'licensing' the eating of more chocolate than would be wise. Which brings me to this week's food for thought...

Sprout-sized food for thought:

Why is it that every diet I know or have known, even the ones that claim to not be a diet but then look, smell and feel suspiciously like a diet, based on restriction? Well, duh! Dave it's obvious isn't it? How can we lose weight without some form of restriction?

I get that and yes of course there needs to be some form of deficit created between energy in and out in order to lose weight. But, as i explore in this video, it's not restriction per se that I have an issue with, it's the focus on restriction, sometimes pretty extreme restriction, that I have found ends up being counter-productive. It leads to more stress and anxiousness, constant monitoring of what goes in to my mouth, a lot of recrimination when I fail at restriction and ultimately a feeling of 'ah what's the point, I've screwed it up now, so i may as well...'

In this snippet from episode 105 I attempt to reframe the idea of how we eat. Don't get me wrong this is not about denying the basic truth (the energy deficit) but it is about recognising that some of us need to develop a more positive relationship not only with ourselves and our food but in how we consume it - maybe even enjoy it!

On the Pod:

In Episode 105 this week I am building on from last week's episode in which I explored the question of where to focus my efforts; diet or exercise? If you haven't checked that out it is worth doing so before jumping into this week's episode.

This week I try to tackle the above tricky challenge - can we reframe diet and more importantly our relationship with food? The 'food for thought above' is a quick dip into this episode and if that has got you curious, check out the full episode as I flesh out the challenge and how I see the way forward.

Shifting our focus from restriction to freedom may feel either scary or even a bit disingenuous on my part, but I explain why I feel it is the real way to developing a sustainable way to lose and manage our weight and ultimately enjoy the process. Listen to the podcast here.

Popular Post:

'Doing the Do' Like Betty Boo.

Last week I posted about the importance of parking perfectionism and focusing on simply doing one or two new things - ‘Doing the Do’ as Betty Boo would say. In other words, park expectation re: how well you do it (meditate, walk, exercise, diet), and focus on getting it done. 

It's important to acknowledge that it doesn’t stop there. We will seek improvement, need to overcome obstacles and want to embed quality into what we do in terms of those health habits.

However, if you are prone to perfectionism or stopping something because it isn’t good enough, or you are not good enough at it, then it’s vital not to let that creep back in.

So, once you have started ‘doing the do’, continue and make that your goal (read the rest of the original post here

MidLifer Chronicles - It's OK to Enjoy Yourself (part 26)

Over in my e-newsletter, I have been charting my own journey wrestling with midlife, health and weight. You can read this and previous blogs here. Here's a taster from instalment 26:

This weekend we had a lovely trip away with friends to Whitby and I've reflected on a few things not only over the weekend about life and business, but about the weekend itself.

First things first, I approached the weekend knowing that my marathon training is now underway and my first official week of training (the previous week being my soft-start) required a longer run at the weekend.

I also knew that two things would make this challenging. One, I usually do this run on a Sunday and that was checking out day so totally not convenient. Two, alcohol would be involved over the weekend and that would mean a reducing of the chance of me wanting to actually go out for a run.

So, what to do?

I gave it some thought and decided to plan in a run at the weekend, but do it on the Saturday and make it shorter. which meant I had to make one of my mid week runs a bit longer. Now I am early in the training so the weekly mileage total I had to hit was ten miles. I had run a 3 miler on Wednesday so I decided to run at least 4.5 on Friday to give me a shorter 2.5 miler for the weekend (read more)

5 Ways I can help you:

That's it for this week, so all it leaves me to do is share how I and my resources can help you:

1. Keep getting this newsletter (there, that's easy!) - there may be a nugget or two that resonates
2.  Subscribe  to the podcast - loads of food for thought, interviews and tips.
3. Get my Daily Sprout videos direct to your inbox -  sign-up here 
4. Check out my  '3 Zzzed's' Sleep Improvement Course 
5.  Get in touch  to discuss how my coaching support can help you lose weight, get life back in order and achieve you big midlife goals

One Last thing:

Here's one of my Daily Sprout videos. Over the years I created 500 of them. They are all around one minute or less.

That's it for this week. Let me know your thoughts and feedback or things you would like me to cover in the future.

Dave

Dave Algeo is a coach working with busy professionals and business owners who struggle to find the time to prioritise themselves, their heath and personal goals. He specialises in working with those who seek to change deeply rooted behaviours whether emotional eating, perfectionism, imposter syndrome or others.

Drop Dave a DM to arrange a 15 minute chat and find out how he can support you in losing weight, achieving sustainable health and wellbeing and regaining energy and zest for midlife and beyond