5 telltale signs of a new diet addict

Emily Field [00:00:03]:

Welcome to Macros made Easy, the podcast that takes the confusion out of tracking macros. I’m your host, Emily Field, a registered dietitian that specializes in a macros approach. In each episode, I help you learn how to eat in a way that supports your health, body composition, and athletic performance goals. We’ll cover the basics of macronutrients, how to track for various goals, the role of macros in your health, and how to make sustainable changes to your habits. I’ve helped hundreds of people experience more food freedom and flexibility while navigating their nutrition. So whether you’ve tried macros and it just didn’t stick, or you just heard the word macros yesterday, I can’t wait to help you too. Navigating the world of wellness can often feel like chasing a never ending carousel of trends. If you’ve ever found yourself frequently switching diets or always on the hunt for the latest health craze, you’re not alone.

Emily Field [00:00:52]:

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the person who might be a new diet addict, and some telltale signs that you might actually be one. We’ll review the potential implications of each, share how you can break up with that new diet addict identity and rewrite your understanding of progress and success when it comes to making health changes. Welcome to episode 15 of the Macros made Easy podcast. It’s the new year, which in the health and fitness world means there’s a lot coming at you with regard to dieting. And you’re seeing the typical offenders. You’re seeing the detox diets. Those are the ones that capture people who really feel like they went off the rails during the holidays. You’re seeing the fasting plans.

Emily Field [00:01:29]:

Those are the ones that prey on people who heard that buzword in the last several months or years and got them curious to try time restricted eating and elimination diets, which are typically well received by people who want to blame all their problems on refined, processed, or packaged foods and feel like a hard and fast rule will do the trick. And that’s just to name a few. I want to be in your ear to make sure you’re feeling really good, confident, and strong to resist the amazing marketing and peer pressure that might be coming your way this time of year. In particular, I think the people that might need the most support are the new diet addicts. And this is a term I totally made up to describe a group of people who tend to find me after years of cycling on and off, depriving diets and restrictive plants. They have a rich history of starting over, and as a result probably find themselves saying things like, I don’t even know how to eat anymore, or I don’t even know how to eat if I’m not on a diet. You might not even realize that you’re a new diet addict, but here are some of the characteristics that I see. Let’s say you check the scale for validation that what you’re doing is working.

Emily Field [00:02:34]:

You find yourself ditching your efforts in the diet when you see the scale stay the same or go up. But you actually might find yourself self sabotaging and giving yourself unlimited permission if you see the scale go down. So the scale is just simply not working for you is what I’m saying. Next, maybe it’s a hobby of yours to collect articles, save videos or social media posts that are in the nutrition and diet realm. You may or may not try what you come across, but that’s not really the point. You just skim the information. It sticks with you at least a little bit, which can influence your food decisions and your eating behaviors into the future. Maybe you find yourself really quick to minimize your progress in areas like energy recovery from workouts, satisfaction from your meals, maybe sleep, appearance of your skin, hair or nails because you’re not seeing weight loss.

Emily Field [00:03:21]:

So all those other benefits that what you’re doing with your nutrition or your health is just out the window. You find yourself comparing progress to other people and disregarding your own. If you see somebody losing weight faster than you, you’re the type to spend more time preparing for your new lifestyle change than actually following through. I see this show up when people are writing lists or they sign up for meal plans, or they make calendars or spreadsheets, but they don’t actually follow through for very long. They’re not actually very consistent with anything. If any of these characteristics sound like you, then this episode is for you. I’m going to run through five telltale signs that you, my friend, are a new diet addict and what you can do instead to break up with that identity and actually start seeing the results that you crave. Number one sign that you are a new diet addict is constantly switching diets.

Emily Field [00:04:15]:

This person may have tried numerous diets in a short period of time. I think like maybe one to three years. They went from keto to paleo to intermittent fasting to juice cleanses, maybe something else in there. Without giving any one method enough time to see results or understand its long term effects. If this is you, obviously you’re going to have a reduced chance of actually achieving the desired outcomes that you want to achieve. You’re probably feeling pretty frustrated, and you might even be disillusioned with the dieting process. All of these different diets kind of like meld together and you don’t know really where one starts and one stops and you’re not really doing anything long enough to see if it would actually lead to any change. I would say the person who is constantly switching diets has a much higher risk for nutritional deficiencies and imbalances.

Emily Field [00:05:03]:

And we’ll get into that later in the episode of how we see this precipitate over time. Now, look, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to be curious to try different eating patterns. I think our human experience should include a lot of experimentation. So if you’re someone who finds themselves constantly switching diets, I want you to first take a quick review of what you’ve liked from each experience that you’ve had. Then I want you to narrow your focus to like three to five things that you know you can commit to and maybe give it just twelve weeks. I think three months is absolutely enough time to know that these actions are supportive of your goals, or if they’re not, and then you can change directions from there. So here’s an example. Let’s say I was on Weight watchers at some point in my life, and I look back fondly on that time because I really enjoyed the budgeting system that Weight watchers gave me.

Emily Field [00:05:50]:

I liked the food tracking aspect of Weight watchers. So I would say to myself, I’m going to log something every day because I really liked seeing that data and it helped be more neutral with my food. Maybe I had an experience with keto eating or low carb eating, and there was stuff about it that I definitely didn’t like. But I really noticed an improvement in my morning when I started my day with protein. So I might say to myself, I’m going to aim for a sizable portion of protein each morning. I’m picking and choosing the things from each diet or diet experience that I really liked. And by doing so, you’re essentially returning the responsibility back inward and cultivating some self efficacy instead of placing responsibility onto the diet to work by itself independently without you trying. In order to develop consistency and move away from this particular new diet behavior, you’re going to need to develop some longevity in the behaviors to see if it’s working.

Emily Field [00:06:47]:

So just like you were when you were in your fifth grade science class and we learned about the scientific method, we want to change one variable at a time. Or we want to minimize the amount of variables that we’re changing so we can actually assess if something’s working. Instead of biting off way more than we can chew, which is typically what happens to a new diet addict. They want to overhaul all of their habits. They want to dramatically change their eating pattern. Instead of doing that, we want to minimize the variables that we’re changing and focus on gradual changes and adjustments over time. So, for example, let’s say you have a goal of increasing your steps per day instead of jumping right in and aiming for 10,000 steps per day when you’re only really averaging about four or five a day. Let’s start by mastering five k, and when that’s easy, focus on six k.

Emily Field [00:07:36]:

And when that’s easy, move to seven k and beyond. You can see what I’m saying here. So if you are the person who has experience with a lot of different diets, and in the last one to three years, you can count on many fingers what you’ve tried, I’m going to ask you to look inward and try to pull the lessons through that really worked for you from each one of those diets and create your own pattern that you want to eat, too. I’m asking you to maybe arrive at three to five variables that you might change, but the smaller, the better. The fewer variables that we have, the better. And then you can know what’s actually working for you and what’s not. And so you can quickly move on from what’s not working for you or adjust it in a slightest way to make it work for you in a better way. The next telltale sign that you might be a new diet addict is if you are very quick to believe, okay, and maybe you don’t realize you’re doing this, but so maybe, like, remove yourself from this story or this description and maybe think about somebody you know.

Emily Field [00:08:36]:

Because I absolutely know that you have someone in your life that does this. You’re quickly swayed by testimonials, celebrity endorsements, anecdotal evidence, without really critically evaluating the scientific basis or potential risks of that diet. Maybe you exhibit a tendency to accept and adopt dietary information and trends without really thoroughly scrutinizing it and giving it some critical thought. I would say that these people tend to look to personal stories or experiences from people that are close to them, but also people who are more the celebrity type or the influencer type. Your friends and these celebrities and influencers don’t necessarily have expertise in nutrition. So what’s the big deal if you are the person that’s very quick to believe or jump from one thing to the next, and that becomes your dogma or personality for the next couple of months. What’s the problem? I think it boils down to three things. Potential risks, for example, scientific basis, health concerns, and sustainability.

Emily Field [00:09:35]:

So what I mean by scientific basis is that there’s a failure to assess whether a diet is supported by rigorous science and research. Health concerns being that you’re ignoring potential health risks or side effects that might come as a result of engaging with that diet and sustainability. This is a big one, neglecting to consider the long term feasibility or health implications of maintaining that diet. So overall, this means that you’re going to be without critical evaluation. It’s going to lead to adopting a diet that may or may not be scientifically sound or suitable for that specific individual and their specific needs. And best case scenario is that you’re just wasting your time. But worst case scenario is you have some long term health implications because you’re really globbing on to something that could be potentially pretty harmful, especially the longer that you engage in it. So if you are someone who finds themselves in this position, I want you to take a long pause before you make any more decisions about who you want to work with next.

Emily Field [00:10:35]:

I want you to evaluate a couple of things about the person you’re considering working with or the person you’re considering buying a plan or program from. Okay, so number one question I would ask myself is, how long have they been preaching this particular approach? Do they seem to follow trends and hop around? I see this a lot with celebrities. I see this a lot with influencers. They are doing one thing, and then six months later they’re preaching something completely different, and they want to wrap it up in a bow and tell you it’s because. I don’t know. They give a really great story usually, but I think the key to someone who has longevity in this and knows what they’re doing, they’ve probably been preaching relatively the same approach, or pretty much like elements or threads of the same approach for a very long time, like years and years. Number two, I would ask myself, do they put other people or approaches down in their pursuit of their own convictions? Do they sound action oriented and positive? Or do they lead with fear, shame, or guilt? Really big red flag for me is when I see a professional or pseudo professional talking ill of somebody else or somebody else’s approach, failing to recognize that different people need different things. They are saying one way, my way is the best way.

Emily Field [00:11:50]:

Get on board on my wagon, and they might even lead in their sales tactics and their marketing tactics with making you feel really bad about yourself, fearful that you’re going to do something wrong or really, really guilty for you not jumping on board with them. I think that’s a big red flag for me. Number three, I would go looking or find out if they are a medical or professional person that has actual credentials related to the approach that you want to hire them for. So if a personal trainer is advertising for nutrition help, that might be a yellow flag for me. But maybe a, quote, health coach that is trying to be hired for or advertising for eating disorder help, that would be a red flag for me. For example, you want to hire someone who has a professional degree or expertise in the area that you hope to get help in. Okay. The last thing that I’ll say and what you would want to ask yourself, some critical thinking here is ask yourself, is the playing field even.

Emily Field [00:12:49]:

In other words, could you imagine yourself realistically achieving the results being promised because you see yourself in the client’s stories, the testimonials and or the anecdotal evidence? I want to get away from this person, this new diet addict having this sign, the quick to believe sign. They’re very, very driven by that. They are somebody that’s going to glob on to, they see results on someone’s testimonial page, or they hear from the coach that this is what they could achieve. But does it mean you have to overhaul your entire life in order to get those results? Or does that person who achieved those drastic results, did they have help? Did they hire chefs? Do they have a personal trainer? Did they have terrible work life balance and terrible body image issues in pursuit of those results. So you will kind of want to do a little bit of critical thinking here to assess whether this is a professionally sound and scientifically based diet that you’re trying to go on or trying to adopt? And I would admit this is probably pretty hard to see from the Internet when we are pretty good at showing all the good things. And marketing can be a little bit unclear or a little bit more smoke and mirrors. But I guess if I were you, if you’re somebody that really struggles with this, I would hang out in that person’s audience for a while. Consider the things I’ve shared with you here.

Emily Field [00:14:06]:

Do they have consistent messaging? Are they working in their field of profession? Again, can you see yourself in the stories they’re telling about their clients? Like, can you identify that that person is similar enough to you that you could find success as well. That would be a really good place to start if you’re somebody that finds themselves very quick to believe and glob on to new diets all the time. Next on our list of telltale signs that you might be a new diet addict is that you’re willing to overlook or ignore potential health risks in what’s being presented to you. You might neglect to recognize and assess potential implications when frequently changing diet patterns. Okay, so this is different from the previous telltale sign because while there, as a consequence, can be some health implications, I would say a telltale sign that you are a new diet addict really boils down to, in this realm, just blatantly ignoring it. Okay? So you know better and you’re still willing to try the diet. Okay. We see this happen so much.

Emily Field [00:15:10]:

We know, you know, that engaging in this very restrictive and very depriving diet is not healthy, but you’re willing to do it anyway. Okay? And this is a tough one to break because the reason why you are this way is likely because you’re incredibly uncomfortable in your skin and you are willing to do anything, even put your health at risk, in order to achieve results. It’s coming from a place of emergency and desperation and fear and shame and guilt and all of this stuff. And so the reason why I say it’s tough to break this one or it’s tough to get out of this cycle is because it really does require professional help. It requires working with somebody who is willing to, quote, go there with coaching or counseling. Many of you might have experience with this already, but if you’ve engaged in a very depriving or restrictive diet and you’ve blatantly overlooked the health risks, you might be struggling with any one of these health concerns. You might have some nutritional deficiencies, metabolic disruptions, digestive issues, even cardiovascular issues. Definitely mental and emotional impacts.

Emily Field [00:16:25]:

If you’re the type to willingly ignore the potential health risks of a new diet, just sign up for all of it. Just in the pursuit of weight loss. There are significant metabolic and hormonal consequences. Here. I’m going to use an example. The example being Octavia. Octavia, if you’ve never heard of it, is a calorie controlled meal replacement diet that totals around 800 to 1000 calories per day. Essentially, by creating such a drastic deficit through your eating pattern and nutrition, it can be quick to see weight loss.

Emily Field [00:16:58]:

Obviously, you’re starving yourself. But as you might guess, it’s incredibly hard to maintain the results after you’ve lost that weight. So let’s just say a client came to me now in early 2024 after doing Octavia in 2021 or 22, we are likely to see the consequences of that diet precipitate in all sorts of areas. It kind of comes down to physical, metabolic and psychological. Usually the weight regained after moving away from that extreme. Diet is mostly body fat, so your body composition is often worse than when they started the diet years ago. You’re going to see muscle loss, which means a slower metabolism. The more muscle mass you have, the higher metabolism is.

Emily Field [00:17:36]:

But when you lose weight drastically on a diet as severe as that, a lot of the tissue that you’re losing, a lot of that weight lost is muscle. So you’re in a worse off aesthetic position, but also metabolic position than when you started the diet. We also see a lot of depletion of minerals, and minerals are essentially the spark plugs to our metabolism. They generate the energy to make your metabolism go. So if we see a depletion of those minerals, you got a slower metabolism, you probably have some messed up hormones, you have low energy and fatigue, and you probably have some digestive issues. Lastly, when people engage in a diet like this, especially like Octavia, you’re going to come out of it with a fear of certain foods, a fear of weight gain, really poor body image, and really poor body acceptance. There’s pretty low self efficacy, so you don’t actually know who to trust. You can’t trust yourself, so you’re just overall in a terrible position than when you started the diet.

Emily Field [00:18:34]:

And again, I’m not trying to make anybody feel bad for this. I’m just trying to point out these signs that you may be a new diet addict. And we’ll talk about later in the episode of but if you find yourself being in that position quite often where you’re willing to overlook the health risks for something you know better, like you know better, I think anyone who signs up for optavia knows better. They know that eating 800 to 1000 calories and getting recommended not to exercise, which they do say on that program. I do think that most people know that’s not healthy and sustainable, but you’re willing to do it anyway. That’s concerning. That tells me that you need some mindset work and you need to work with a professional through coaching or counseling to really get at the root of where that fear, emergency, desperation, like guilt, shame, all of that comes from. Because that’s the only way that you’re going to break that cycle.

Emily Field [00:19:24]:

Here’s what you can do in pursuit of that coaching or counseling, though. So if you know, you are someone who’s attracted to new and shiny things or finds themselves seeking out restrictive or drastic changes out of desperation. I just need you to take a pause before making any new decisions this year about a new diet or new and novel approach. I want to remind you that weight loss is never an emergency, and the quicker you realize that, the quicker you will hop right off that diet cycle. So when we approach weight loss and fat loss like an emergency, we act differently, like how we would in a moment of Cris. And not only is that not a great environment for our body to feel safe and calm, to lose weight and lose body fat, but it’s not a great place for your brain to be either. When you’re trying to make significant health behavior changes in your life. When you’re so quick to opt into a diet that you’re willing to overlook the health implications, you have two choices, change your emergency mindset, or wait until you’re in a calmer place to tackle those big changes you want to make.

Emily Field [00:20:22]:

I can’t stress enough that making significant and lasting change in your health needs to come from a place of self love and respect, not from a place of hate and desperation. Emergency, all of that. None of the people that I’ve worked with that have been extremely successful in changing their health, their body composition, their athletic performance ever succeeded because they were coming at it from a place that they hated themselves. Okay, so the sooner that we can move away from that emergency mindset, that desperation mindset, the willing to overlook health concerns or health risks mindset, the better it’s going to be. The fourth telltale sign that you might be a new diet addict is that you are seeking external validation for your choices. This person often wants to see themselves as someone who’s in the know or ahead of the curve when it comes to health trends. They want others to look at them and notice them and seek their approval when it comes to their dietary choices. At its core, instead of finding intrinsic satisfaction or confidence in their own dietary decisions, they’re relying on external acknowledgment to affirm their choices.

Emily Field [00:21:35]:

You are likely to be a new diet addict because you want that rush of people being curious about what you’re doing and to ask you about it. You want to be perceived as favorable, right? You want to be seen as favorable by your peers or your social circles. You want to establish yourself as knowledgeable or progressive in the health and wellness space or with health and wellness trends. But you gain a sense of self worth through that external acknowledgment so you have to be changing diets constantly. You have to be hopping on a new trend or adding something new or removing something new from your pattern in order to kind of keep up this whole machine. Obviously, when you do this, it’s probably leading you to inauthentic choices. You’re making dietary decisions primarily on external validation rather than genuine personal best for you choices. Ultimately, this is just going to lead to a disconnect from what you actually need.

Emily Field [00:22:32]:

You’re going to overlook your own personal needs and maybe even your goals in favor of societal or community approval. It’s a vicious cycle to be in, for sure. So for this person, I would probably ask them to constantly reflect and adapt. And on a tangible level, that means probably regularly assessing your progress, checking in with your own experience and feelings towards that diet or that eating behavior. It might even be removing yourself from social groups or community groups online that might be promoting a certain diet or approach. Maybe audit your social media to make sure that the things that you’re seeing and you’re encountering, even on a subconscious basis, are really aligned with what you actually want. I think really to break up with this behavior of external validation is to get very clear about your motivations and to constantly assess whether your actions are aligned with your values and are you acting in accordance to those values. Are you showing up for yourself in the way that you envisioned? This one’s a tough one to really see yourself doing this, but I’m certain that you probably know people in your life that diet hop, and they are always preaching something new.

Emily Field [00:23:49]:

They always feel like they have something new to share. They can’t wait to get you on board as well. So if you see that person, maybe you can nudge them in the direction of maybe carefully assessing if what they’re doing is actually working for them, and if they’re surrounding themselves with people and approaches and dogmas that actually are in line with what they want for their lives. The last telltale sign of a new diet addict is that temporary commitment. They start a diet with enthusiasm. The commitment often fades quickly, though. As soon as a new diet trend emerges, they abandon the current one in favor of the latest and greatest. And this is very closely related to some of the previous signs that I’ve been talking about here.

Emily Field [00:24:36]:

But I want to emphasize that this initial enthusiasm and then very high pattern of abandonment is basically what I’m talking about. And what’s so sad about people who give that temporary commitment is that they will likely never achieve what they’re hoping to achieve because they’re overestimating how much they can accomplish in a couple of weeks and completely underestimating what they can accomplish in six months, nine months, a year. They are missing out on the long term benefits, that cumulative advantage of doing a little bit every day or every week and maintaining consistency in trade of something drastic and shiny and new and exciting. That new and novel stimulus that they’re looking for, it just usually never leads to the results they think they’re going to, and that leads to frustration and then lack of trust with their body and poor body image and lack of self efficacy. All of it wrapped up in a pretty little bow. Interestingly, I see this temporary commitment or like the diet hopping really show up a lot with my ADHD clients. By the time they come to me, they’re so frustrated that they haven’t been able to stick with anything. Or they complain of getting bored easily, which is why they worry that macro tracking won’t work for them because they think that they have to eat the same exact things every day in order to make it work.

Emily Field [00:25:54]:

With ADHD and chemical imbalances in the brain, sometimes we’re more wired or they’re more wired to seek new and novel stimulus and they’re trying to do it with their nutrition or with their fitness. They’re hopping plans and they’re hopping diets and it’s not really working for them. They get frustrated with themselves. So working with a coach that understands this and we are working collaboratively to figure out what will work best, we can actually insert new and novel stimulus within a diet pattern or within your fitness program, but just not overhaul the whole thing. So for some people that might be like we encourage them to try a new restaurant or to swap out some of their quote, boring foods for something new. Or we reduce the stimulus by having them get grocery delivery or pickup or something like that because the grocery store might be overwhelming. And these are just a few of the many examples that I could pour out here. But I just want to remind you that working with a coach who’s very collaborative with trying to understand what will work for you and then inserting our expertise can be the best recipe for somebody who has that tendency to seek new and novel stimulus and really fall into that trap of temporary commitment.

Emily Field [00:27:05]:

For others, though, temporary commitment is a result of not seeing results quick enough. So while we have talked already about building consistency and habits, I think the cure for this telltale sign would be to set realistic goals and assess metrics that actually matter. There is nothing more frustrating than setting out on a new diet approach or fitness routine and expecting to see x results. But you’re either measuring too quickly or you’re not measuring the right things. So you give up very quickly and go seeking something else. So the example I usually always get is if somebody starts tracking their macros with a goal of getting leaner and stronger, and they are using the scale to measure that, they are going to be quickly disappointed and be at very high risk of diet jumping and just remaining on that new diet cycle, that new diet addict behavior. So for the example of being leaner and stronger, you’re going to want to be assessing metrics like your progress pictures. Are you appearing leaner or stronger in your photos? Are you seeing fat loss from your frame in different areas? That would be a measure of what you actually care about, because the scale does not measure your leanness or your strength.

Emily Field [00:28:17]:

Obviously we can measure with progressive overload in your training. Are you actually getting stronger over time? Can you see that in your numbers? Are you able to do more, push more than you were previously? That would be a sign of getting stronger. We’ve had several episodes where we talk about this, but I think the cure for somebody who is really struggling with that temporary commitment aspect of being a new diet addict, we got to set realistic goals. We have to measure what we actually care about so we can visually see and be reassured that we’re progressing towards what we want. Okay, just to review, we have talked about the five telltale signs that you might be a new diet addict. Number one was constantly switching diets, and we said that the cure for that is to really try to develop some consistency by picking from parts of each of those diet patterns that you really liked and really minimize the variables that you’re changing and commit for about twelve weeks, because twelve weeks or three months is definitely enough time to know if that behavior really works for you. We also stress that prioritizing gradual changes in adjustments is really going to be helpful for maintenance and consistency over time. You’re likely constantly switching diets and invigorated by that process because you are biting off way more than you can chew and you can’t really commit to anything for very long.

Emily Field [00:29:44]:

The second sign was quick to believe, and we talked about the cure for that being to really educate yourself, but also to seek guidance from a professional. Just make sure you can verify that that person is really who they say they are and they have degrees or expertise in the area that you’re trying to hire them in. You’re seeing very consistent messaging across years. You’re not just looking at celebrities or influencers or anecdotal evidence that XYZ might work, because that really removes the personalization and customization of that diet to you. I would also say that a big one for this is to make sure that you are on the same playing field as the person that is successful in that diet. Do you see yourself having the same success as the testimonials or the client wins, or whatever you’re seeing from that coach or professional or that program? Do you see yourself in their stories? Because if you don’t, it might not be a good fit for you. The third sign that we talked about is overlooking health risks, so you’re willingly putting yourself in a risky situation out of desperation. I really feel like this one.

Emily Field [00:30:48]:

The person who’s really willing to do this probably has some underlying fear, shame, guilt wrapped up in their body image or where they’re at in their life. And so I think seeking professional guidance from a very talented coach or counselor could be really beneficial for this person. Likely, you’re treating weight loss and fat loss like an emergency, and it’s a stressful, emergent situation which does not set up your body to lose fat and to lose weight very easily. You need to be coming from a place of love and grace and better self efficacy when you’re trying to change your body significantly. Number four, telltale sign was external validation. So you’re seeking that external validation in your dietary choices. So I really think that the cure for this is to reflect and adapt. You’re going to constantly check in with yourself on does this dietary choice or this is eating pattern? Do these actions really align with my values and what I want for myself when I have a vision for myself ten years from now or 15 years from now, something like that.

Emily Field [00:31:48]:

Constantly assess whether or not what you’re doing is aligned with who you want to be and take some reflection and an adaptation. The fifth and final telltale sign was temporary commitment. And the cure for this is to set realistic goals to actually measure what you care about. Sure, we can make smaller goals, we can build consistency, we can make small adjustments. But if we can’t have some validation that the actions that we’re taking are actually leading to the results that we want. That’s a recipe for quitting a diet or quitting any approach very, very quickly. So I recommend that you assess progress in ways that are very meaningful for you and set realistic goals in those arenas. Don’t try to bite off way more than you can chew.

Emily Field [00:32:30]:

The more changes that you try to make at one time are probably going to fail you. It’s probably going to lead it to disaster and frustration. So I’m going to round out this podcast by talking about what real progress actually looks like, and I’m going to take a page straight out of my coaching book and share with you what I actually share with new clients who join my coaching program. What does realistic progress look like when you’re changing your nutrition and your fitness routine in the zero to four weeks and then in the four to ten weeks or maybe ten weeks and beyond? That’s how I usually split it up for people. I usually say like, this is the pool of things that you might see change or improve in the first four weeks, and then maybe in that intermediate time, that four to ten or five to ten week arena, we’re going to see some of these things start to change. And then when we’re past ten weeks or twelve weeks, what are the next things that you might see change? All right, so let’s talk about that. When you are first making changes using a macros approach, you’re likely really focused on improving your protein intake and making more balanced meals. You have to make balanced meals in order to hit your macros by the end of the day.

Emily Field [00:33:38]:

One of the easiest ways to do it is to make sure that you’re eating a sizable portion of protein, fat and carb at each meal. Three or four a day, I’d say is probably where most people start. And what that can lead to is probably the changes that you see in those first zero to four weeks. You’re probably going to have more stable and better energy all day long. You’ll probably notice improvements in your energy during your workouts, and you’ll probably see some better recovery after your workouts. You’ll likely see some better, more restful sleep. You will fall asleep faster, you’ll stay asleep through the night, you’ll feel more full and satisfied after meals. You’ll have less snacking and reduced cravings.

Emily Field [00:34:17]:

Okay, so notice how when I said in the first four to six weeks of adopting a macros approach, I didn’t say anything about weight, I didn’t say anything about body composition. It is completely unrealistic to expect that you’re going to see some drastic changes there when you’re just getting used to tracking macros and eating enough or eating up to your goals. Okay, so I usually take that off the table and help my clients level set their expectations. In the first four weeks, you’re seeing changes in the way that you experience your day. Okay. Energy sleep, fullness, satisfaction, no more cravings, all that good stuff. Okay. When we are beyond four weeks, so you’re consistently eating up to your macro targets.

Emily Field [00:35:01]:

You are eating balanced meals throughout the day. We are past that four week point. We’ll probably see some noticeable differences in your strength and noticeable differences in your endurance. You’ll probably see some improvement in your hair, skin and nail health. You might start to see some body weight and body composition changes. Okay? So in this stage, in that four to ten week mark, I would expect to see some changes in your body composition, especially if we’ve set macros for fat loss, or we’ve set macros in a place where you should lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You should start to see those changes in that four to ten to twelve week mark, okay? Because you have now been putting in enough time to increase your metabolism, improve your hormones, you have enough energy to do challenging workouts which will change your body composition. You’re getting good sleep, the machine is working better.

Emily Field [00:35:53]:

Okay, the third stage, so that’s like ten or twelve weeks and beyond. I would say this is where you’re going to see more obvious changes in your scale weight or more obvious changes in your body composition. You might also see improvement to your thyroid function or your sex hormones. If you’re measuring that in some way, you might see less turbulent premenstrual period. So instead of getting crazy PMS symptoms, we’re having a very mellow PMS stage, okay? That’s what a lot of women will declare to me around this time period, okay? So now at ten or twelve weeks and beyond, we have absolutely put in enough time at eating to our macro goals. We should see trends in the direction that we’re trying to go. So if we have set our macros for fat loss, we should start seeing that fat loss happen. If we set macros for maintenance, for the goal of building muscle and losing fat at the same time, we should start to be able to see that happening from our progress pictures and our measurements and things like that.

Emily Field [00:36:50]:

Okay? I would say that beyond that time, beyond four months, six months, nine months, all that, if we can put in that time, you are going to see a massive improvement in your metabolism, hormone management, your body composition. It will only get augmented from there. Again, I say this all the time, but likely you’re underestimating how much you can accomplish in six months or a year. What would happen if you dedicated a full year to your goals instead of being on this new diet addict cycle and just constantly changing when you give up, like at the two or four week mark. Something that we find ourselves saying a lot in coaching is that you need to learn discomfort tolerance. This means that we need to resist the urge to be comfortable all the time by being able to tolerate discomfort a little better and push a little bit farther past our comfort zone. And I’m not talking discomfort like a drastic diet. Depriving diet behaviors like really restrictive eating pattern, that’s not what I mean.

Emily Field [00:37:52]:

I mean, changing what you think comes naturally to you, what comes naturally to the new diet addict is just to table flip, walk away, start something new, and that’s not working for you. So getting that consistency down and putting in the work, aligning your actions with your values, and staying committed for three months, six months, nine months, a year, that is when you’ve really, truly mastered discomfort tolerance and you’re becoming more comfortable with doing it differently. You’re rewiring your brain a little bit differently each day that you choose to show up for yourself in that way. I want you to sit in the discomfort and trust that slow progress is still progress. Typically, the people that are new dietics are really hyper fixating on that zero to four week time period where we would not expect to see any drastic weight or body composition changes. And if you do, it’s a sign that you’re on an unhealthy and unsustainable diet. Okay? So sitting in that discomfort, becoming more tolerant of that discomfort, trusting that slow progress is still progress, these can be ways that you can really break up with that new diet cycle identity. As always, thank you so much for your continued support of the Macros made easy podcast.

Emily Field [00:39:07]:

I hope this episode has provided you with some valuable insights and reflection points as we talked about the signs and implications of being a new diet addict. Remember, the world of health and wellness is vast and ever evolving, and while it’s easy to get caught up in the allure of the next big diet trend, it’s essential to prioritize your own personal well being, both mentally and physically. If you’ve identified with any of the characteristics we discussed today, it’s not a cause for alarm, but rather an opportunity for introspection and growth. True progress is a journey, not a destination. It’s about making sustainable changes that align with your individual needs and values. Rather than chasing fleeting trends as we navigate the year ahead. I encourage you to approach your health journey with patience, consistency and a focus on long term well being. Seek guidance from qualified professionals, prioritize evidencebased information, and most importantly, listen to your body thank you so much for listening to the Macros Made easy podcast.

Emily Field [00:40:08]:

If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the one you’re listening to right now to share it on your Instagram Stories, and tag me @emilyfieldrd so that more people can find this podcast and learn how to use a macros approach in a stress free way. If you love the podcast, head over to iTunes and leave me a rating and remember, you can always find more free health and nutrition content on Instagram and on my website@emilyfieldrd.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you on the next episode.