When I think of the word flexible next to the word dieting I start to get a little anxious. How flexible is flexible? Can one really diet and still enjoy the greater range of food out there and still achieve their health and fitness goals?
Prior to this concept of dieting I would always follow a meal and workout plan with this expectation in my head of what I would look like in the time frame I allowed myself, usually being the famous '12 week' transformation concept that we all are marketed by the fitness industry.
Prior to this concept of dieting I would always follow a meal and workout plan with this expectation in my head of what I would look like in the time frame I allowed myself, usually being the famous '12 week' transformation concept that we all are marketed by the fitness industry.
I know when I see a transformation picture the first thing that comes to mind is 'How long did it take them'?. We are all eager to see results fast but we forget progress has many factors and we are all different.
Factors such as:
Dieting compliance
Dieting history
Hormones
Lifestyle/stress
Genetics
Etc..
The problem with knowing a particular progress timeline of others is that we tend to compare our own personal journey to that of theirs. Not taking into account all of the factors which make each timeline unique to a specific individual.
Through learning my own body and developing a greater understanding of food for fuel and the concept of macronutrients, I've now taken 'the plunge' you could say into becoming a flexible dieter. It took me a good 12months to fully understand my body and many times is was through failure and yo-yo dieting and I always found it easier to lose the weight than maintain. I had this belief that when I lost the weight I was invincible and could eat whatever I wanted! Yea, um that didn't exactly go to plan...
My experience with many diets led me to believe some foods are good for you & some foods are bad for you. That the way you lost weight was determined by the foods you cut out of your diet and so on.
Chicken + Brown Rice = Good. Ice Cream + Cake = Bad.
“Eat clean” (two words despised by the flexible dieting community) used to be my mantra. Until now. Flexible dieting has been recently gaining momentum as a revolutionary new way of eating. Even the google search of flexible dieting has increased as people are now recognising this way of dieting is more sustainable.
Is it harder? To an extent yes as you now become accountable for what you eat, tracking your food ensuring you're reaching your macronutrient goals and not blowing out your daily calorie intake. One should also note it doesn't endorse only eating 'bad foods', it still aims at encouraging you to eat nutrient dense food but also allowing for the 'flexibility' when needed.
It's been 2 weeks since I have started and there are days where I excessively ate however looking back at each day I can assess what food my body actually needed and what emotion sparked the need to eat and make changes accordingly.
Wish me luck! Time for me to go eat Nutella.. What?! Yea that's right, it fits my macro goals today...
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