It’s that time of year again. New Year’s Resolutions!

A new year and a new you. In the past, you may have made New Year’s Resolutions that didn’t work out. But this year’s different, right?

Well, I’m not a fan of my coaching clients trying new diets for the new year because that strategy inevitably causes people to fall back into old habits around March…Then rinse and repeat next year.

Instead of picking a new diet, think about it like changing your lifestyle. I know I know change can suck sometimes…But it doesn’t have to if you do it the right way.

So in this article, I’ll explain why New Year’s Resolution diets don’t work and what to do instead.

 

How To Pick The Right Diet For 2022

Before picking a diet to go with, it’s important you see this as a lifestyle change instead of a quick fix.

Historically speaking, people say they need to go on a diet after the holidays. So maybe they go on a short term diet to lose the 5 pounds they put on and then snap back to old ways.

To make a long-term, permanent, change you have to think about it as a lifestyle shift instead of a quick fix diet.

 

Which Diet Is Best?

There are many diet options out there today. Atkins, keto, Zone, Ornish, Mediterranean, paleo, and more.

It’s important to note that all these diets help people lose weight. There’s no one that’s crowned “the best diet” out there.

There was a clinical trial done by Dansinger, et al., that had 4 groups of people (160 people in the whole trial) follow 4 separate diets for 1 year.

The four diets were: Atkins (low carb), Zone (macronutrient balanced), Weight Watchers (calorie restriction) and Ornish (low fat).

They found that after 1 year of everyone being on different diets, there was only about 1 kilogram of weight loss difference between the groups.

The Atkins group lost 2.1 kg, the Zone group lost 3.2 kg, Weight Watchers lost 3 kg and the Ornish group lost 3.3 kg.

Here’s their conclusion:

“Each popular diet modestly reduced body weight and several cardiac risk factors at 1 year. Overall dietary adherence rates were low, although increased adherence was associated with greater weight loss and cardiac risk factor reductions for each diet group.” – Dansinger, et al. 

So this tells me that the actual diet doesn’t matter, it’s more about you sticking with one that matters.

 

What NOT To Do When Picking A Diet For 2022

Do NOT pick some extreme diet like keto.

Keto is all the buzz in the media right now. It can help people lose 40+ pounds. Sure.

But it’s so hard to stick with long term these people typically end up failing on the keto diet, eating what they were before the diet because they didn’t learn proper eating habits and then gaining all that weight back or more.

The main problem is that the diet is more extreme than Atkins or low carb diets, it’s basically no carbs. Have you ever gone a week with no carbs? Screw that, I’d rather go a week without technology than a week without carbs.

Nearly every client I spoke to who’s tried keto is coming to me now because they lost a bunch of weight but gained it all back. So now they’re in the same spot they were in before except they lost time and confidence in themselves.

So, first rule: NO KETO DIET

 

Picking The Right Diet In 2022

Ok, so you’ve learned that your eating habits need to be a lifestyle change and not a temporary “diet.”

You’ve also learned not to do something extreme like keto. Because you’ll likely end up back where you were before.

When choosing the diet for you in 2022, do the following steps:

  1. Pick a balanced diet incorporating foods you like.
  2. Don’t go from 0 to 100 and overload yourself. Start small.
  3. Then continue to make small changes every week.

A balanced diet means you’re getting in moderate amounts of carbs, fat and protein.

The exact percentages are going to depend on your personal preference. Maybe you go a little higher in carbs, lower in fat or vice versa.

The way I always explain it is to ask yourself, “do I feel better on a higher or lower carb diet?”

Meaning, do you feel drained and lethargic when you eat more carbs or when you don’t eat enough.

Also, you can adjust the amount of carbs you eat depending on how physically active you are. If you’re working out 60 minutes or more a day then higher carb might suit you better.

Personally, I like a higher carb and low fat diet. I workout a lot so the carbs fuel me more than a low carb diet.

 

Start Small and Continue Making Weekly Changes To Your Diet

Make small changes to your diet instead of flipping everything inside out.

For example, if you’re mostly eating cereal in the morning, a burger and fries for lunch, and pizza at night then don’t try to eat salads all day to “be healthy.”

Nah forget that. You’re going to go back to that pizza in about a week or so.

I’m not saying this as a way to diminish your efforts or capability but instead laying that out as a bad strategy that’s worked for no one.

Instead, maybe change what you have for breakfast and keep the other meals the same. Do that for a few weeks until you get used to it and can be consistent with it.

For example, maybe you’ll have 3 eggs and fruit for breakfast, burger and fries for lunch and pizza still at night.

Then next you start to bring in more protein at dinner. And on and on until your nutrition and diet has completely changed 6 months from now.

 

If you want help changing your nutrition and eating habits in 2022 then reach out to me. I provide nutrition coaching virtually and can help you too. Set up a consultation with me using the link clicking here.

 

 

Disclaimers

I am not a doctor and do not recommend anything on this site, or blog post, for anyone without consulting with their doctor first. Please read the privacy policy for more information.

The information in this article is for educational and entertainment reasons, it should not be interpreted as medical advice or as a recommendation for a specific treatment. Always talk to your doctor and in the event of a medical emergency one should seek the help of a qualified and licensed health care provider.

You should understand that when participating in any exercise or exercise program, there is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself, and agree to release and discharge Thefitnesswrangler.com from any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown, arising out of Thefitnesswrangler.com