Did I say that its OK to put weight on during your Don't Say Diet journey? Well I should have.

I say that Don't Say Diet is not a diet because it isn't, you won't need to change what you put in your food shopping basket each week, no supplements, no diet labelled products, no deprivation etc. The reason being that its not about the food, its about you. I enable you to change your perceptions and it works very well and is very successful, however, everyone reverts to comfort zones now and then, especially in the early days before the new habits have been formed, even afterwards sometimes and as a result we gain weight and guess what? Thats OK.

With the best of intentions at the start, lets face it we are also likely to go off track from time to time, revert to old habits and to gain weight because we are human.

It makes me sad when clients are reluctant to face me because they have gained weight and they feel ashamed. This of course is the time they need me most, to gently guide them back which I do, but this mentality is brought on by dieting and is often difficult to overcome.

I thought it would be interesting to read what the dictionary says:

SHAME: Emotion caused by consciousness of guilt or dishonour in one's conduct or state, cause of disgrace.

Please, please never feel guilty or ashamed if you ever go off track. Don't Say Diet is a journey of learning and that means ups and downs, but it is always about feeling good about yourself whatever you do.

I've not written a blog for a while and it's mainly because I've been giving my self a bit of time out. I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and decided to let go of everything and just enjoy myself. That was fine the first week, I had meals out, drinks, hardly any exercise I just enjoyed myself and to be honest not much damage was done in terms of weight gain. We all need to kick back sometimes and just let go.

However, this became a a two week splurge of self indulgence when last week I continued to swerve all of my exercise classes in favour of being a full blown couch potato, with evenings in front of the TV eating all kinds of high calorie food and drinking wine.

Of course I have put on some weight and clothes are tight - you all know how this feels, it's not pleasant. However the way I feel about myself now since I started Don't Say Diet compared to how I used to feel when I had done this is very different and I'll tel you why.

I chose those two weeks of indulgence. I made that decision and I accepted the consequence before I embarked on the journey. Because of that there is no guilt, no self loathing, no recriminations, no regret. I over ate but I was in control at the same time.

Now I don't mean to sound smug, I have all the Don't Say Diet tools at my disposal and so it is easy for me to step off and back on to this way of eating, but those two weeks were once my way of life and so I understand how easy it is to fall into old habits, feeling like you have failed and therefore continuing to over eat. I started Don't Say Diet so that I can use my understanding and empathy to help as many people as possible to overcome their weight issues to get that control and to actually enjoy losing weight. So remember don't feel you are alone.

Guilt plays a large part of dieting, that’s because we give our responsibility about what we eat to someone else. We feel guilty if we 'cheat' as if somehow we have let them down.

I think if we owned what we ate, there would be no need for guilt and we would gain control over food.

GUILT; “State of having done something wrong, taking responsibility for an offence”

................... and this is food we are talking about!!!!!!

It’s crazy to eat something you love and then spend ages feeling guilty about it. Swap guilt for choice. If you choose to over eat, so be it, enjoy. Next time you may choose differently and that’s when the changes begin.

Exercise is a vital part of Don't Say Diet, it helps to speed up our weight loss and of course is good for our health. Some of my clients tell me that when they exercise, they eat excessively afterwards, this is a common reaction and its roots are embedded in the diet mentality.

If this is you, then ask yourself what are your reasons. Now is the time to start understanding what is driving this pattern of behaviour in order for change to take place. Consider the food and consider the exercise.

FOOD

Often we are tempted to go reaching for food after a work out because we feel we have burned the calories and therefore the food intake will be neutralised and won't count. This comes from a feeling of lack or deprivation which has been hardwired into us from years of dieting. We can overcome this by thinking differently about food and concentrating on our goals. This is all part of the Don't Say Diet techniques.

EXERCISE

If you turn to food as compensation or reward after exercising then you are viewing exercise as something to be endured rather than enjoyed and you have probably chosen something that doesn't suit you. There are many exercise options out there, don't limit yourself for example to the gym if that is not what you like doing, find something that you love and exercise will become something that you look forward to.

Just being aware of your patterns and then knowing the reasons behind them is a great start to changing your behaviour towards food and gaining control.

Some of us graze all day long, that's OK, maybe your body needs that kind of input, but if you are over weight, maybe now is the time to check out if that really suits you and if eating in an organised way may be more beneficial to losing weight.

I often ask my clients if they are hungry when they eat a meal and its amazing how many say they are not and can't remember the last time they were actually hungry.

I always say that a little hunger is not a bad thing, we don't want to be ravenous before a meal as we will be inclined to over eat, however there is nothing like feeling really ready for a lovely meal. It makes you appreciate your food and it also gives us time to digest what we have eaten previously.

I always say don't deprive yourself of anything, this also goes for not depriving yourself of the the feeling of satisfaction you will get from eating a meal you are truly ready for.