Different diets, same result

I recently posted a image on Facebook and Instagram about different diets and their outcomes. If you saw it, great! If not, get yourself over there now and have a look.

Instagram.com/jeffbeckpt (and why not give me a follow while you’re there!).

The overriding message from this image is that there are many, many different diets out there. And I’m not talking extreme diets here such as juice diets, detox teas and meal replacement shakes. 

Simple, effective, CALORIE DEFICIT diets. 

That is the fundamental attribute needed to lose weight – create a calorie deficit.

A few clients have asked about this and I’ve explained that it’s not the end of the world if they have a bad day. It doesn’t mean that they should fall off the wagon and make poor choices for the rest of that week due to one bad day. I try and encourage my clients to look at their overall calories for week.

For say for example, you need 2200 calories per day to maintain your currant weight. You set yourself a target of consuming 2000 calories per day, which means you are in a daily deficit of 200 calories. That means over the course of the week, you’ll be eating 14,000 calories with a total deficit of 1400 calories.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, you hit your target (through a healthy, balanced diet). That’s 6000 calories over 3 days, and a nice deficit of 600 calories. However, Thursday rolls around and for one reason or another, you go over your 2000 calorie target and consume 2500. 

Now you can view this in one of two ways: 1) The week is a write off because of one bad day and you go back to your old habits, consuming too much over the next 3 days. Diet starts again Monday, right? 2) You look at it as a blip. You consumed 500 more in one day, but overall Monday to Thursday you’re still in a 100 calorie deficit. Carry on doing what you were doing Monday to Wednesday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and that’s a deficit of 900 calories over the week.

Everyone has off days, and that’s fine. It’s human nature and nothing to beat yourself up about. Get back on track the following day. If you wanted to, you could even adjust the remaining calories for the week to allow for the surplus on the Thursday.

Take the 3 remaining days worth of allowance (6000), minus the 500 (5500) and divide that by 3, leaving you with 1833 calories per day. That would get you back up to the target of 1400 calorie deficit over the week.

Which diet works for you may take some trial and error. I know people who use the 5-2 diet and have had great success. Another one I’ve seen someone use is just eating one meal per day and that is working wonders for him. He’ll be the first to admit, though, this took a while to find and adjust to. 

For me, I track my calories each day using My Fitness Pal, and try and hit the same amount each day. This isn’t for everyone, but seeing how much nutrition is in the food I eat really helps me stay on track. 

The choice is yours. And if you need any help, just get in touch. I’ll help you in any way I can.

Take care ​Jeff