How to become happy?

For many, following various slimming diets is an integral part of life. Many of my clients say that they have been on diets for as long as they can remember for others the problem of excess weight becomes more acute after the birth of a child, and for others – when entering the second half of life.

For the most part, the diet has never been related to health, but was aimed at getting slimmer, which means more beautiful and, therefore, happier.

But.

These goals are often not achieved.

The reasons are varied, but in most cases, the cause of failure is a lack of self-love.

What do I mean by that?

In my opinion, the number one reason for failure in losing weight is a frivolous attitude towards yourself.

Frivolous attitude in the sense that:

• We want to get the maximum result in the shortest period without thinking about the consequences;
• In most cases, we measure the result only by the lost kilograms and forget about the feeling of well-being (to become happier) and health (that we will have to live in this body for many more years).

And without thinking about:

• Will I be able to follow this diet?
• If I can – what will it do to my body and health?
• What happens after I go back to my old eating habits?

Dear girls and guys, if you go back to your “old eating habits”, you will return to what was the cause of the appearance of extra pounds.

What gives you hope that it won’t happen again?

To get a real idea of how what we eat affects us – here are the stories of my clients (words changed) about diets, how they influenced them and how they found the strength to listen to themselves and start losing weight in a healthy way.

I hope these insights will help you look at weight loss a little differently and build a healthier relationship with food, your body and life in general.

Elina, 28 years old

I always had to think about nutrition and sports to maintain a good body shape. In my youth, I tried a million ways to lose weight. I have been keeping in shape for ten years with the help of running, healthy eating and recipes from Ineta`s blog.

In general, I love food and wine, so I need to work out a lot to burn all these calories.

I need control and leadership because I often lack motivation.

I also wanted to add – after all the periods of fasting in my youth, Minnesota onion soups, etc., it is now quite clear to me that I want to eat right and lead a healthy lifestyle. With respect to my body, which is so cool 👍

Having started eating right, I lost 7 kg in 2 months, and on top of that, I now have a very healthy complexion and I feel very energetic.

Santa, 40 years old

I have been living in Finland for 10 years. It’s time to put my lifestyle in order.

The problems with weight fluctuations began immediately abroad when I got a very hard physical seasonal job. In the summer I lost up to 20-25 kg, and in the winter everything came back again and even more. And every year I continued to torment my body in this way until the weight stopped fluctuating and remained constant at the highest point.

Alice, 36 years old

I have been following the success of Ineta for a long time, and then I noticed that she had a blog from which I tried several recipes, At first, I didn’t understand anything, but after a while I enjoyed them! Because after pretending to be a vegetarian. I wanted to restore the strength of my muscles with the help of protein, therefore, mainly with meat. But it turned out that there are a trillion ways to do it. In parallel, due to ignorance and a vegetarian diet, an excess layer of fat has grown a little.

Little by little, I began to understand how these things work in general, and that we still have a lot to learn.

Then, a few years ago, I got an individual menu from Ineta, because my problem is that from time to time I lose motivation. Then it means plus about 3-4 kg, sometimes 5 – then it’s already too much. It’s much harder to lose them than it seems, so I need a little support, a little plan and a little new perspective on it so that I can feel comfortable and balance my hunger with exercise and study.

And also, like any of us, I have my own life with work and everything else that takes a lot of energy. I’ve tried a lot, but the approach of Ineta is a lifestyle change, a serious approach, genuine changes and balance, without the feeling that you can’t do anything. You just need to get your thoughts in order.

Liga, 50 years old

I belong to the age group representatives of which remember that food was an indicator of prosperity and love and the festive table determined the position in society. Of course, this has not left without consequences either in my physiology or in my eating habits. That’s why I want to teach my teenage daughters that they don’t have to eat all they have on their plates just because someone has put a lot on them, how to eat healthily and exercise moderately. And a huge thank you to Ineta, who has drawn me into her “sect”, because both the mirror and my feelings now tell me that I am finally doing everything correctly.

This is the best place to be to learn how to eat deliciously, healthily and as much as your body needs.

Paloma, 33 years old

I used to eat everything, especially sweets. Although at that time it seemed to me that I was eating healthy, now I realize that I have sinned quite often. After the outbreak of the pandemic, I worked a lot from home, moved a little, and often ordered ready-made food. As a result, when buying jeans, I found that the old size no longer fits, and the next size also turned out to be too tight. I didn’t like the view in the mirror at all. I realized that this could not go on any longer, and something had to be done.

I decided to change my lifestyle radically and ordered an individual menu from Ineta. I started to cook diligently according to new recipes. The first three days I had a bit of a headache (I understand it was due to the reduction of carbohydrates), but now I feel great and I need to rebuild my wardrobe, as everything has become too big.

Conclusion – food affects us much more than we usually think, but we can appreciate it only when we have something to compare it with – when we start eating differently.

Elvira, 29 years old

As long as I can remember, I have always struggled with being overweight, I have tried many different diets, weight loss marathons and sports, but as I was plump, I remained so. I have two young sons a year apart. This year I tried keto, but I’m tired of eating fat. Now I am participating in the weight loss challenge of Ineta, and from the first day of this program, my weight is pleasantly reduced. I like simple and very tasty recipes. It turns out that it is possible to eat tasty and healthy at the same time.

And I have hope that I will finally get rid of bulky clothes forever!

Liara, 28 years old

I’ve been trying to lose weight almost all my life. My problem is emotional overeating. I also followed a couple of diets, which, although they brought results, I do not recommend them to anyone. For long-term results, you have to change your lifestyle, and this is much more difficult!

Marie, 28 years old

When I was young, I was in great shape, trained and followed a simple and nutritious diet. I didn’t worry about what I was eating, and I didn’t need any snacks. As the life situation changed and stress increased, the idea of proper nutrition and the amount eaten deteriorated.

For a long time, I punished myself for eating too much, for eating this and that.

Now that I’ve sorted out my relationship with food (I’ve started to understand why and what I eat, and I’ve regained an idea of portion sizes), I realize that I punished myself too much, and I’m glad I’m not worried about it anymore.

At the moment, my partner and I like everything, and I’m excited about new ideas in my kitchen.

Eva, 31 years old

The weight increased after the birth of the sons and remained stable. I ordered an individual menu and managed to lose weight, but then work and thoughts about other things, and everything came back.

I realized that in a state of stress, I eat without taste and a sense of pleasure, and I can chew and gnaw something all day, but at the same time, I can also comply with the conditions if I deem it necessary.

Over the past two years, I have managed to gradually reduce my weight by simply following the meals (three meals, two snacks) and thinking a little about what I put in my mouth.

At first, it was not easy, but now everything is simple and, most importantly, delicious. Many thanks to Ineta for the recipes – her menu was great support until I learned how to do it myself and understood what each product gives me.

Olga, 40 years old

My biggest problem was emotional eating – the feeling of constantly wanting to eat something didn’t leave me all the time. The big package with nuts, treat cheeses, etc., disappeared without noticing while working at the computer. Of course, this also had consequences for weight.

I still haven’t found the perfect daily routine, but I’ve solved my problem of continuous eating. It turned out that when you eat in a balanced way, the desire to eat disappears, and in its place, there is a fantastic feeling of lightness and a surge of energy.

The consciousness of this is my most significant victory, just a pity that I came to this only now.

Sally, 39 years old

I have high demands on myself, so I get very upset if I “return” to old habits.

I have never complained about my weight, but after the birth of my second child, I still wanted to change my silhouette, so 4 years ago, I began seriously thinking about this topic. For 3 months I went to a sports club twice a week and did sports under the supervision of a private trainer. And, of course, where there are workouts, a balanced, healthy diet also goes hand in hand because, as we know, 80% of weight loss is nutrition. In 3 months I lost 10 kg. I was very pleased with myself, maybe I had already lost too much weight, but… then it started – a school for children, a change of work and a daily routine for me.

I slowly began to get lazy. I no longer paid attention to the food I eat, although I knew everything about calories, carbohydrates, proteins, etc. The main thing was to cook food for everyone as soon as possible so that I still had free time, and I slowly started to get rounder and rounder again.

And then this happened – I signed up for Ineta’s slimming challenge.

And I don’t regret it for a minute. Although I thought I knew almost everything about healthy eating, it turns out that it’s a much wider world with a lot of variables.

Healthy eating requires learning, but it pays off with weight loss and well-being.

Also, with health. The family doctor says that all my tests now are like a twenty-year-old.

Elsa, 40 years old

In 2014, I was very happy with my weight – not too little, not too much! I liked my image in the mirror and was satisfied with the size of my clothes…  But then, in the second half of 2014, I was faced with vegetative dystonia, severe panic attacks, anxiety and many other things that changed my next two years. This disease also “controlled” me through the digestive system – I could not eat almost anything normal, and food even caused physical pain!

Slowly it changed, but while I found out all sides of this disease – why it happens to me, what happens and how to get rid of it – I had already reached the other extreme – I ate a lot, everything and even a little more! The scales started to show a number that I didn’t like anymore!

At the moment, I have dealt with all this. I only have to lose a few pounds that I no longer want to carry with me!

The goal is quite high, but now I know how to achieve it, and I feel that I can achieve it.

The main thing is motivation – imagine how you want to feel and look, and do everything possible to achieve this – and you will achieve it!

Egon, 44 years old

At first, I was obsessed with counting carbs and weighing food, but the results were not quite what I had hoped for.

Then I started trying different diets. I thought if they could help Hollywood actresses, they would help me. However, I was disappointed again.

I became more interested in products and nutrition in general.

I am a diabetic with insulin production issues and resistance, not type 1 or type 2, but somewhere in between. So I created my balanced diet based on strict portion control, limiting sugar and other carbohydrates.

Changing my eating habits and choosing healthy products made me healthier, more energetic and happier.

Karina, 34 years old

I have tried different diets. I didn’t have a set plan – I just periodically tried to “eat less fat”, “eat fewer carbs”, or “eat fewer calories”.

But none of it worked. I was unhappy with the way my body looked, especially after the birth of the child.

As a teenager, I was very thin and received more attention than at any other time in my life. I often think of those times as the “good old days” until I remember how chaotic and restrictive my diet was then.

I think it’s important to know what we eat and why we eat it. And learn how to cook all this so that the food brings pleasure. At least because no one can eat only steamed chicken fillet, rice and lettuce for a long time.

Dieting can very easily become dangerous to health – I am a good example of this.

Unfortunately, many women believe that their main value is how they look, not their personality. That they are willing to sacrifice their health for the sake of appearance. Start by loving yourself first, take care of your body – do not feed it with everything that is at hand, and then your appearance will also improve.

Key takeaways

Fad diets damage your metabolism and lead to confusion because there are a lot of diets, and their dietary recommendations vary greatly. It’s very misleading.

Studies show that most diets can have unpleasant consequences — people who follow them can gain more weight in the long run than they lose on a particular diet.

There is a lot of research on this topic.

But it seems that this knowledge does not stop us – the popularity of fast diets is not decreasing.

Maybe it’s because our bodies will never be good enough for us if we don’t meet the standard of beauty promoted by the media.

The goal of dieting should not be just weight loss. Weight is only one part of our body – our girths, well-being, and health are certainly much more important.

Read more about body recomposition and how to measure your progress HERE.

Short-term fad diets don’t work because they can’t be followed for a long time, and when you go back to your “old” eating habits, you go back to what was the cause of your weight gain.

Long-term weight loss requires changing what you eat, how much you eat and how you eat. Moreover, not for a week or a month, but for the rest of your life.

These changes do not happen quickly, and you will have to learn how to eat right, but the time spent will definitely pay off.

Love yourself, and eat balanced, delicious and healthy!