Stop Expecting Long-Term Results From Short-Term Solutions

I recently got into a deep conversation with someone regarding their diet, or as I like to call it, their “way of eating.” It wasn’t an argument or even a disagreement, but it was a conversation where I had to defend “my way of eating,” which caught me off guard a little bit. 

Not only should I not have to defend something I choose to do with my body, but I also found it funny that I was being asked for advice, which was then turned against me. 

The conversation was pretty clear-cut; this friend was looking for different solutions to help her lose weight.

She Had Tried Many “Diets” Throughout the Years 

None of them ever gave her the lasting results that she was looking for. She solicited advice on what I do to maintain my weight and what I think has made me successful with maintaining that weight over a long period. 

The answer to that question sounds simple. I stopped looking for short-term solutions and expecting them to have long-term results. That isn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was the truth. I spent years, and I mean almost six years, in the same boat she is in.

I tried just about everything under the sun 

Nothing seemed to work. I ended up consulting a physician after refusing to go up one more pants size. The doctor didn’t have all the answers but what they did do was help me to learn that if I wanted to make a lasting change, I had to be willing to make changes that could last.  

That was figuratively a hard pill to swallow. I, too, was hoping that I could find that magic pill that would make me skinny and fit forever. 

The conversation with the doctor changed my life even though I left knowing that the work had to be done all by me. After that appointment, I spent a lot of time learning about my body composition and researching different “ways of eating.”

My Lifestyle Needed to Change 

Once I realized that my lifestyle as a whole needed to change, the job of finding what worked got a little easier. I now knew that I wasn’t looking for a diet or a workout routine; I was looking for a lifelong adjustment that would help me get to where I wanted to be. I was ready and willing to sacrifice changing my mindset and how I viewed food.

Even today, I choose to limit the amount of carbohydrates and sugar that I consume. I do this because my metabolism is slower than average, and the carbohydrates and sugar keep my body from fueling itself correctly.

My Way of Eating

I have periods where I am extremely strict and times when I’m not. I do this because it works for me, but I don’t do this as a diet; I do it as my “way of eating .” That means that there is no end to the finish line when limiting the carbohydrates and sugar I consume. It means that if I want to continue to have the results that I have now, I have to continue maintaining that “way of eating,” and I think that is where I lost her. 

She wasn’t looking for a long-term solution. She was looking for a quick fix. She wanted to drop weight fast and then get back to her norm. That is why every diet she has ever tried has failed because even if she succeeded in losing weight, as soon as she stopped the diet, she went right back to her previous way of eating and gained back any weight that she had lost.

Now I know that we are talking about a diet or way of eating, but this concept is more than about your health and wellness when it comes to achieving anything. You already know that I feel you have to be consistent if you want something to last a lifetime. You have to be willing to work on it for that lifetime

Start small and train hard

If you’re going to be a marathon runner, you don’t just go out and run a full marathon. You start small, and you train hard, and eventually, it becomes easier and a habit. If you are after a promotion at work, you can’t just work hard long enough to get the promotion; you have to continue those behaviors to maintain that job and work towards whatever your next goal may be. 

Fad diets and short-term solutions may provide instant results, but they never last unless they become habitual. There are so many apps, books, and websites that are designed to help you be successful with weight loss, and the majority of them all have one thing in common, and that is consistency. 

They tell you what or how to eat and when. They help you track it to find out what works, and you can keep doing it.

Long story short, stop expecting long-term results with short-term solutions.