This easy way to lose weight is simple.
Jenna Rizzo, a Georgia-based fitness coach who specializes in weight loss for women, offers a simple psychological tip to combat yo-yo dieting:
“Grab a pen and paper and write down all the things you could add to your diet: more protein, more fruits, more vegetables, more fiber,” Rizzo said in an 83-second video this week. “Be detailed: Greek yogurt, chicken breast, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries — the more detailed you are, the better.”
She shared her own experience with inconsistent eating habits to back up her case for this health regimen.
“I’ve tried every diet out there. I think I’ve tried ketogenic diets, intermittent fasting, calorie counting, every diet out there,” she revealed.
She said she was usually able to maintain a healthy diet during the week, but on Fridays, everything was let loose.
“Once I have a cheat meal, it turns into a full-blown cheat weekend,” she explained. “I literally eat to the point where my body hurts and I keep eating.”
Rizzo says her binge eating spree, which saw her order two brunch entrees, eat an entire pizza and end the day with a pint of ice cream, was driven by her association of unhealthy food with restriction.
“My brain was telling me that these foods were limited and I had to eat as much as I could while I could,” she said.
Rizzo encourages others with similar tendencies to adopt the abundance mindset that she has used to help clients throughout her career.
Making a list can help reduce feelings of scarcity, she says.
“When you start focusing your mind on all the food you can eat, it creates an abundance mindset around food instead of a scarcity mindset,” she argued.
Rizzo argues that this shift in perspective leads to consistency, clarity, and long-term weight loss.
“Over time, you start to feel a little more at ease with food, which really helps with consistency, and I know that if I want to lose weight, I need to be consistent,” she said.
Rizzo’s advice comes as the American Heart Association predicts that obesity rates will rise from 43.1% to 60.6% of the US population by 2050, due in large part to unhealthy diets.
Obesity has been linked to an increased risk of more than 12 types of cancer.
