MANAGING DIET FATIGUE!
Coach Mike here! I want to get into a topic that I don’t think gets talked about enough in the health and fitness… Diet Fatigue!
Diet fatigue is more than just having an off day when it comes to complying with your weight loss plan; it's a persistent state of mental and emotional exhaustion that can derail even the best-laid plans. If you're feeling like you're running on empty, struggling to stick to your diet, or wondering if it's all worth it, know that you're not alone. Some common signs that indicate you are experiencing this fatigue include:
Feeling stuck or plateaued
Lack of motivation or enthusiasm for healthy habits
Increased cravings or temptation to deviate from your diet
Feeling deprived or restricted when previously you had not
Decreased sense of enjoyment or pleasure in food and eating in general
Can you relate? Diet fatigue usually occurs when you have been working at change for months and is a completely normal reaction to being in a caloric deficit for an extended period. It does not necessarily mean that your plan is too restrictive overall but instead can be a pushback response to the overall healthy changes you are trying to make, especially when you have put these changes into action consistently. And sometimes as human beings we just need a break! Managing diet fatigue before you quit on yourself is obviously the ideal goal here, so let’s talk about ten tips that might just help!
Shake Up Your Routine: Try new recipes, workouts, or activities to add variety and excitement to your routine. You can add variety without starting over completely!
Check In On Your Goals: Reflect on your goals and adjust them if needed. Going hard is not a bad thing but grinding at goals that don’t feel achievable can be tiring.
Count Your Wins: Too often we get overwhelmed by the things we felt we haven’t done well and it can influence our attitude and energy. Take an objective look at what you have accomplished and put into action, identify your non-scale victories (NSV’s!) and celebrate those wins!
Practice Self-Care: Prioritize self-care activities that charge your batteries. Do something you find fun that you have been putting off. Put energy into care that isn’t just about your fitness journey.
Seek Support: Reach out to friends, family, or a support group for encouragement and motivation. Sitting alone in your feelings of fatigue can just make them intensify.
Get Enough Sleep: Prioritize your sleep and aim for 7-9 hours per night to help boost your mental strength, regulate hunger hormones and support weight loss.
Find Healthy “Indulgences”: If a big focus of your fatigue is foods you are missing and feelings of restriction, make an effort to find ways to incorporate these foods or healthier alternatives into your plan. Struggling to find a replacement? Google the food/recipe with the word keto added and no doubt someone has already found an answer!
Reconnect with Your Why: Reflect on your reasons for starting your journey and make sure that it still resonates with you! Ask yourself why it is important to stay focused on your goals even when you are feeling fatigued.
Begin a Reverse Diet: When you have been in a severe caloric deficit for a month or longer, strategically implementing a well planned reverse diet to increase your calories incrementally until you return to your maintenance level can go a long way towards managing the mental and physical exhaustion of dieting. This can feel like a daunting prospect to navigate and I would definitely suggest getting assistance to support you following this path with care to ensure success!
Take a Diet Break: This tip is last on the list because I want you to consider the actions above before you decide that you need a more “extreme” intervention. A “diet break” is not a “free for all,” but it is giving yourself a week or two where you immediately eat at your maintenance calories with the proportionate macros. When you have a long road ahead to achieve your goals in a healthy manner, scheduling diet breaks at determined intervals can go a long way towards eliminating diet fatigue. Again a key word here is strategic and working with a coach to set this up can go a long way towards ensuring you implement it properly and avoid any negative consequences. Coach Jon and I work with many of our clients on this and would both love to have a talk about how it might help you! Click here to schedule a call with one of us now!
Whatever you do, understand that diet fatigue is not a defect or failure on your part. It should be identified and addressed much as you would fatigue in other areas of your life. Your goals and health matter, don’t let this challenge be something that derails your efforts!
