The Only Way To Stop Falling Off The Diet Wagon For Good

Learn how you can stop breaking your diet once and for all.

**Disclaimer: Please note that the information in this or any other blog posts on this site may not be suitable or apply to you, depending on where you’re at in your mental health and/or eating disorder/diet recovery journey. This information is for educational purposes only and not meant to be a substitute for medical or psychiatric advice. Please consult your healthcare practitioner before making any changes. See full disclaimer here. ​​

​The only way to stop falling off the diet wagon is to not be on a wagon (a.k.a. A diet) in the first place.

This was maybe not what you wanted to hear. Perhaps you were hoping this post would be about THE diet that will finally make you feel amazing, where you’ll never get a sugar craving again and where you’ll easily get to and/or maintain the "ideal" body weight you want.

Isn’t that what we all want? What we all should strive for? Diet and “wellness” culture would make it seem so. And you can find a number of diets out there that will promise you these things, if you only eat certain foods, or not eat certain foods, or only eat a certain amount of foods or a certain ratio of food groups, or if you follow rules x, y, z.

You see, being “on” a diet implies that you’re following certain rules and if you break these rules, you’re then “off” the diet. You’ve failed. You’re back to square one. You’ve fallen off the wagon.

But what if there was no wagon to get “on” in the first place? 

I invite you to try this thought experiment for a minute: Can you imagine what your day to day life would look like if you were never “on” or “off” a diet or food plan? What would that look like? How would you feel? What would you eat? How would you know what to eat or not to eat?

If you’ve been “on” and “off” different diet wagons for a while, trying to imagine what it would be like to eat with no rules may feel scary, or even impossible. If that’s the case, try to think back to a time when you didn’t think so much about food, when you were not following any diet, and you were just eating normally. You may have to go as far back as childhood. Or you can think of someone you know who seems to be able to eat all sorts of foods, including ones that you would think of as “bad” and “good”- without thinking too much about it.

When you’re not “on” a diet wagon, all foods are allowed, anytime (of course this does not include foods that have to be restricted due to allergies or medical conditions). And when there is no diet wagon to be on in the first place, there are no food rules, period. Therefore, there are no food rules to break and throw you into a shame spiral downward. The flip side is that there is also no one way of eating that will fix all your problems or give you all the answers in life.

I’m not saying that certain foods won’t affect your health. For example, I won’t argue that vegetables and fruit probably have more health-promoting nutrients in them then a chocolate donut. But what if one day, you just really want that chocolate donut in the staff room at work? And because you’re trying to cut out all sugar in your diet (a.k.a. You’re trying to stay “on” the wagon) you deny yourself the donut. But then you think about it all day and nothing you eat satisfies you. You go home and decide to “allow” yourself to eat something sweet- maybe a couple low-sugar cookies from the cupboard. You don’t even like how they taste, but you eat them anyway. And then you notice a twinge of guilt coming on. You broke one of your food rules- you had a bit of sugar.

And now you’re wanting more. You keep thinking of that donut, yet keep eating the “diet” cookies. Before you know it, you’ve finished the box, you feel uncomfortably full, and still unsatisfied. And worst of all, you feel ashamed. You blame yourself for breaking the rules and start to believe that something is wrong with you. That you have no control. You have fallen “off” the wagon. You then vow to get back “on” the wagon tomorrow or after the weekend. And you believe this time, you’ll be able to stay “on” for good.

Doesn’t eating the donut and feeling satisfied seem like a more healthful behaviour than eating the whole box of cookies and feeling unsatisfied and ashamed?

Being “on” a diet may seem like the best thing to do for your health, but what are the health consequences of being “on” and falling “off” the wagon, over and over again? Can this affect your physical and psychological health? Yes!! In fact going on and off diets is associated with worse health outcomes than just not going on a diet at all.

What if you had just eaten the donut at work without guilt? And you didn’t have thoughts about whether it’s “good” or “bad” for you?

Think about all the mental space you would free up if you didn’t have to worry about whether it’s OK to eat certain foods or not. What if you could trust yourself to choose foods that nourish and satisfy you without the side of guilt and shame? What if you could trust your body to tell you when and how much to eat?

I know, this may sound super scary to even think about, especially if you’re used to following certain rules about food. But listening and respecting your body’s inner cues, such as hunger, fullness, and satisfaction, and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat all foods is truly the only way to get off the diet wagon for good. Food is still an important part of your life, but it doesn’t determine whether you’ve been “good” or “bad” that day, or week, or months.

If any of this resonated with you, but the thought of not following a diet or any food rules seems totally crazy and frightening- it’s OK. There is actually a process to help you break free from diet rules and to learn how to trust yourself around ALL foods. This is called Intuitive Eating, one of the frameworks I use in my psychotherapy practice, and something I’ve written extensively on, starting here. 

Being able to stop dieting for good can be challenging, and take time and patience. But know that it is possible and that you don't have to do it alone.     

Are you struggling with eating and body image concerns?
​Learn more about my psychotherapy & counselling services, and how I can help you here.

If someone else you know could benefit from this article, please share it!​