Balance in Dieting?
I blame main stream media. There is a blame to be pointed here because people don’t dream up ideas about nutrition. They believe what they see and what they read. Nutritional science is a very new field of study. It’s new and it’s complicated. 10 years from now we may know things we could never imagine today but for now, we as nutritionist can do our best by educating, exploring, researching and relaying the most up to date proven information to the public. And no matter how well we do this job there will ALWAYS be a magazine, tv show, blog or guru who will take over the brain waves of the general population.
Carbs were once the hot topic demonized by media now it is all about “balance”. And I don’t mean calorie balance. That would be to easy to prove wrong, NO they want to tell people that in order to be happy and successful on a diet you must have balance.
Definition of balance -an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.
Let’s go over some basics
- a diet is generally a caloric deficit to obtain a goal of fat loss ( NO BALANCE IN CALORIC DEFICT)
- losing weight is not steady. Maintenance is steady. No change is steady. Diet is not maintenance and if you diet and see no change you are wasting your time.
In conclusion -it is generally not possible to be on a diet and have “balance”. You want to lose weight you have to sacrifice your usual dining out, drinking, social eating and desserts for your goals. I’m not saying you have to eat 99% fat free meat, rice cakes and broccoli for every meal but I am saying that you can’t continue to eat how you have been and see any results. You need to learn to say no, be able to socialize without eating and drinking and learn healthier eating habits.
90% of my clients are athletes, this makes the topic of balance a lot easier to approach but general population wants balance . Balance to them means eating out, not having to explain to family and friend why they are eating for their goals, not giving up beer and pizza on the weekends and whatever else they dream of as “balance”.
There are a few people who sell themselves on offering balance in their clients lives. If you are coming from an extremely overeating or eating disordered lifestyle then hiring a nutritionist or person who specializes in that area can possibly help you find balance. But if you are already eating healthy, coming from a non eating disordered background, or an athlete the only balance you will find is when you feel like a million bucks after you put in the hard work and make changes in your eating habit to reach your goals.
My objective with every client is to have them eating the maximum number of calories and still lose weight. I promise I will never have clients at an unnecessary caloric deficit and I promise they will NOT get fat from eating carbs. What I can’t promise is that you will see results if you don’t follow my plan and make excuses of needing balance.
I’m a nutritionist not a magician. I study science not fairy tales. If you want to lose weight there is no balance, when you hit your goals and need to maintain then we can discuss balance but until then, put on your big girl panties or big boy pants and come along for the ride.
**there are exceptions to every rule, this post is stated in overall general terms