I teach people how to use their hunger to live at a healthy weight. What I notice is how suspect we’ve become of our own bodies.

I can’t think of a single diet that doesn’t advise its adherents to suppress, disregard, or otherwise mishandle their hunger.

The message is clear: your hunger is a problem. It will betray you and lead you astray. At best, it’s a petulant child in need of discipline. At worst, it’s a dark corridor leading you to binges and a complete lack of self-control.

That’s simply not true.

The consequence of mishandling your hunger is a lifetime of disconnection from your body. That connection is essential to achieving and keeping a healthy weight.

Yes, the very thing you’ve been convinced is a problem is actually…

Yes, you can lose weight on a diet. Then, what?

There’s a 96% chance you’ll put it back on. To my thinking, that’s the very definition of not working.

It’s the reason I’m never tempted by diets. Eleven years past my 50-pound weight loss, I know with absolute certainty dieting isn’t how lasting weight loss happens.

Here’s a short breakdown as to why that happens.

What diets complicate: eating healthfully.

What’s not complicated: eating healthfully and joyful movement.

What is actually complicated:

Creating and sticking to routines, navigating a world that can’t stop trying to feed you, socializing, personal relationships, a need to fit into social groups, anxiety, the choices we make with our time, how we speak to ourselves, setting boundaries, managing aches and pains as…

See if this sounds like you:

• I need to start working out
• If I could just…
• Why can’t I…?

This is a complexity trap. Layers of unnecessary decisions have been added to what should be a simple activity.

My new piece explains the tool of simplicity to accomplish effortful things (like weight loss).

Weight loss is effortful. I don’t mean in the way of flipping tires or pretending you aren’t hungry. It’s an effort to make your meals and move every day.

Consistency is the sustained effort required to experience long-term success.

I’m devoted to simplicity because consistency is unattainable without it.

The secrets to progress aren’t complicated. What’s complicated is doing it every day. This is where the structure of our lives upends our best intentions.

Keep reading, Simplicity Rules.

Rebecca,

founder, not another diet

“Strangely, life gets harder when you try to make it easy” James Clear

I have a theory that people pursue effortlessness when what they actually want is simplicity. One is a fantasy based on marketing and ideas formed in childhood (ease equals worthiness). The other is how to start and ensure consistency doing effortful things.

Anything worth pursuing requires effort.

Or, everything that matters is effortful.

Accepting this truth clears the way to set priorities. You can no longer nurture fantasies that high-effort goals happen on the margins of your life.

Weight loss is effortful. I don’t mean in the way of flipping tires or…

I gave up drinking during the pandemic.

I’d been a moderate drinker for the three years prior, but it never sat well with me. It often left me fatigued, bloated, and foggy the next day.

The trigger for abstaining was a breakup. I drank as part of what we did together but I had misgivings. Alcohol had the strange effect of making the whole of my life more unwieldy.

The pandemic meant that socializing in bars and restaurants was unavailable. I spent my days riding my bike and making meals. Two things I already did, but now with renewed gusto.

…

Set it down and see what happens.

Here’s a thing diets love to gloss over, consuming alcohol causes weight gain and often prevents weight loss.

You see the term moderation bandied about quite a bit, but regular alcohol consumption makes it nearly impossible for many people to achieve a healthy weight.

There are two reasons for this (maybe more, but these two ought to be enough to make you reconsider your consumption).

It’s a keystone habit.

Meaning it has such a large effect on your mind and body that it limits other more healthful behaviors.

• It interferes with sleep, making it less likely you’ll have the energy to go out for…

If the last thing you feel like doing is thinking about diet and exercise, I get it. It’s summer and there’s a real benefit to easing the cognitive load.

If you don’t want to abandon your long-term goals but need a break, good news. There is a multitude of things you can make progress on that will lead you back to success in losing weight and keeping it off.

My latest piece suggests some approaches that will help you make real progress once you’re ready to dig in.

7 Things Not About Food Or Exercise That Will Help You Lose Weight

I’m busy leading the Summer Cohort through the program. …

Are you experiencing weight loss fatigue?

If you’d like to set down thinking about diet and exercise for a bit but not abandon your end goal, this article is for you.

Sometimes, the best approach is sideways.

There’s a tremendous benefit to having clear goals and going for them. That’s not particularly true in weight loss. There are simply too many factors to contend with to give one objective all the focus.

Your weight is a by-product of how you construct your life.

Instead, work on various aspects of your life that allow you to take care of yourself with ease. After all, weight loss is an outcome of consistent, healthful practices…