Don’t Change Your Diet, Adapt It
When your current diet isn’t working, it’s natural to want to switch it out for something new.
It’s a common mistake.
If you want to reach your goals, there’s a better way.
No Matter the Diet
First, I need to address a possible misconception: you might think you’re not even on a diet.
That’s probably how I would have felt, years ago, when the only rules to my diet were something like:
Eat whenever you’re too hungry not to.
Eat whatever is taking up space in the house.
Eat out if it’s more convenient.
Do it again later at some point.
It’s not “dieting” in the traditional sense. It took no forethought or consideration. But it’s still a set of habits that defined the way I ate.
That’s a diet.
It doesn’t matter if you’re on a specific diet with definite guidelines on how to eat, or pay little attention to that sort of thing at all. If you’re not happy with your situation, the most effective solution is a slow evolution.
How to Adapt
Even when we help clients with their diet, it’s not uncommon for them to hit a roadblock. No matter how good your diet is, there are a plethora of reasons why things might not go exactly as planned. (Plan on it.)
Sometimes fat loss doesn’t happen the way you want. Other times hunger hits a bit too hard too often.
The initial reaction is usually one of panic — the diet isn’t working!
But after taking a step back, you can always find a way around obstacles by adapting specific things ever so slightly, based on the exact issue you face.
Things like:
Adjusting a portion of carbs or fat at each meal.
Trying 5 smaller meals a day instead of 3 big ones.
Allowing a small daily treat rather than a weekly blowout.
Taking more time at meals by eating slowly.
With each of these modifications (or any like them), the basic makeup of the diet stays the same. It’s only a small detail that gets shifted a bit more in the direction of your goal.
That way you’re not learning a brand new way to eat, just a better strategy.
When to Actually Change
Even if your diet is way off track, it’s still better to slowly adapt to healthy eating by taking it one step at a time.
The only instance where I recommend complete change is if you’ve already done a total reversal from your typical diet and are struggling.
If you’re starting to realize you made too drastic a change, go ahead and get back to a more familiar baseline.
It’s not that change is bad.
It’s just that the best way to get there — and stay there — is to stop forcing massive overhauls to your diet, and allow slow adaptations to produce the change you want.
If you’re not sure where to start, we give 12 suggestions in our ebook, “Forever Fat Loss.”
Which one will you pick?
