As a recovering alcoholic, I’m someone who needs rules. I find success in structure while also being able to thrive in chaos. It’s a weird dichotomy but a structured rule set to my life is definitely more beneficial for my health and that of my relationships. So when I am pursuing fat loss or muscle gain I need to set some hard rules. But guess what? Not everyone is me.
I work with a world class athlete who is in a weight class sport. Getting to a certain weight isn’t about anything other than competition. And getting there as strong as humanely possible. To start, we had every meal prepped and ready to go. No thinking, no improvisation, no choices. As we have progressed through weight loss, however, things changed. She began to realize that she had the right foods in place, knew her numbers, and did better by just grazing as tracking as the day went. She has actually improved her relationship with food while deep into prep. That’s crazy.
We would never have discovered this had we been dogmatic about rules and steadfast in biases. No, instead we found out what worked for her and dove in head first. We can’t discount options just because they aren’t optimal in others. There is always another way.
For most of us, at least starting out, some structure may be necessary. The goal, however, is to add flexibility as we progress and move further away from those early stages. So be aware, pay attention to what you respond to, and understand both the benefits and downsides. Because at the end of the day we aren’t in this to diet, we are in this to move beyond dieting.
