7 things to consider before starting one

1. Have your “Marylin Monroe moment”!

So here’s what I mean. When we use the famous Marylin quote:

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

…we automatically use it towards a potential lover, a life partner or overall, in a romantic way. And there’s nothing wrong with that! I mean, we should definitely apply it to our lives when considering a romantic relationship. HOWEVER, there’s that thing called SELF-LOVE that we all forget about and many of us aren’t even aware of it. So my advice is: READ THIS TO YOURSELF! Yes! In order to know if you are ready, you must understand how deep is your level of self-love and acceptance or if it’s even existent, and if your answer after reading it is an honest NO, not existent or very low, then I would highly suggest you stay as far away as possible from restriction.

2. How is your current relationship with food?

Do you often feel out of control around food? Do you think about food every time some type of negative feeling arises? If you answer yes then again, anything strict will eventually throw you right at the other side of the spectrum and overeating is almost a matter of not if, but when it will happen –  and believe me, developing any kind of eating disorder at this point is highly possible, so working on awareness and being present will be way more beneficial to you then entering a strict diet.

3. What is your non aesthetic goal entering a diet?

In other words, what is your WHY? The why that resides deep in your soul, that you can only find after striping down a few layers of superficiality and dissolving the ego. In order to maintain any big lifestyle change I believe you need to dig deep and work on some soul-searching, this kind of work will assure you grow deep and stong roots to sustain your new habits and branch out when you are ready.

4.How are your current eating habits?

Whether good or not, how aware or intimate are you with healthy foods? Because the truth is: you can be extremely knowledgable but just going through a phase where your choices aren’t the best and that’s fine, BUT if you need some work in getting to know your healthy options a little more, then I suggest you do so. It’s important to create a connection to the food you put in your body – to simply follow a meal plan isn’t as fulfilling if you don’t understand how they operate in your body.

5. What kind of feelings arise when you look at yourself in the mirror?

If the feelings are positive, you should be ok, that potentially means that you have a higher level of acceptance and self-love and that should sound somewhat like this: ‘I know I’m not where I would like to be but I still love myself this way’ or ‘I’m ready to nourish myself according to how I feel about me and that is with love and respect’ or anything on that spectrum. However if your response is negative in any way, you should consider working on acceptance, forgiveness and self-love daily until you release all these feeling that do not serve you. And again, in this state of negativeness, restriction should do more harm than good on the long run – and I mention in the long run because a lot of times like this you may act like a pendulum so coming from a place extremely negative may swing you up to the positive side with a very high-speed but the chances of you going back to the negative are just as quick; and here’s where yo-yo dieting and rebounds happen. So from here, if you aren’t being so kind to yourself go back to number 1,  get deeper on that honesty level after reading the quote and spend sometime there til you feel more connected.

6. To date, how many times have you dieted down and gained the same weight back or more?

Alright so right away I’ll say: if it’s 2+ times, you should consider it as a red flag. There’s a reason or more why they didn’t work and your job from here on now is to go back and figure out the imbalances. Where is your resistance coming from? Have you considered that perhaps you just don’t enjoy or care for any feelings of restriction? Or maybe you have this idea that losing weight is supposed to feel horrible and painful, but the truth is IT DOES NOT! and if it was how could it possibly be sustainable? Having those feelings forever? No thanks!  Neither losing weight equals to endless happiness, believe me I’ve been there and it’s not true!  I understand getting out of your comfort zone is an import step to progress but you also have to consider how far are you pushing yourself, you want to be able to get into a state of flow – where your skills are just below the task at hand and you can still enjoy the process by feeling challenged yet knowing the goal can be attained. Understanding flow is key to long-term success with a sense of joy.

7. What is your basal metabolic rate (BMR)?

If you are not familiar with the term, watch my video on HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BMR. So wether you figured that you are ready or not to enter a strict diet, knowing your BMR is some great info that you could benefit from when progressing in your healthier self journey. Chronic dieters especially, you know – you that answered 2+ times on the question above, should definitely use this tool when moving forward. I believe it’s important to know your stating point in order to make wise future decisions in what direction to go. Remember the ultimate and most fundamental goal is to be healthy, balanced and happy.

MUCH LIGHT AND LOVE