The Festive period has come and gone and our jeans are feeling a bit tighter after feasting at Christmas and drinking on New Years Eve, I suppose it’s time to jump on a diet? Start detoxing? Find a quick fix that’ll mend this mess?! No!

There’s no mess to mend - you’re doing just fine and it’s very normal to consume more calories at this time. It’s so normal in fact that every fit-fluencer, lifestyle magazine and extended family member is going to be telling you how to lose the weight fast. While we’re not against the desire to reduce your body fat (not just “lose weight” - that’s vague and unhelpful), we’re definitely not advocates of crappy diets and crazy detoxes. Instead, we’re here to debunk them and give you a few tips on how to move forward with your post-feast period.

Here’s Why You Don’t Need to Detox

Alright, so you’ve heard of detox teas, pills and diets - we’re not fans of any of them. Half of them are pastel packaged laxatives that’ll have you on the toilet for an hour and a half, making you wonder what you ever did to deserve all this.

No one actually “needs” to do a detox, the body does it itself. Naturally. Every time you sit on the toilet, without the so-called assistance of those detox pills, your body is releasing exactly what it needs to. One of the functions of the kidneys is to help turn waste into urine and cleanse the blood, and the liver helps to make toxins less harmful to the body through a filtration process and that’ll come out in your stool. As long as those are working alright and your digestive system is up to scratch, we think you’ll be just fine.

What Does Dieting Do to The Stomach?

While changing what you eat can have its benefits, throwing yourself into a dramatic diet can be incredibly dangerous to your gut health, especially if the changes are sudden and you’re consuming foods or supplements your body isn’t used to. Severe changes in diet can cause inflammation, an irritable bowel and nausea.

And, if you’re heavily restricting, you could be missing out on key micronutrients, causing you to develop a deficiency which can impact your immune system, make you feel lethargic - you may even faint at times - you’ll feel weaker and the body will have a more difficult time repairing itself, leading to sped up osteoporosis, muscle atrophy and drawn out periods of illness.

And What About the Mind?

Dieting and detoxing are just as harmful on the mind as they can be on the body. Restricting food and being caught up in a punishment mindset can be extremely detrimental to the way you see yourself.

A black and white mindset of foods being either “good” or “bad” and seeing weight gain and fat as being “worthy of punishment” isn’t realistic or helpful, but we don’t blame you for thinking like that after decades of what diet culture has done to us.

Continued negative self and body image, putting yourself down and being your own bully not only feels bad in the moment, but can lead to depression, anxiety, disordered eating, puts a strain on your relationships and can make everyday feel taxing.

Rather, we want you to approach food and your behaviour around food with compassion, patience and love. There is absolutely nothing wrong with weight  gain, being fat or occasionally giving into emotional eating.You’ve not done anything wrong, you’re only human, hun!

A more positive perspective on your body image and relationship with food can lead to greater self esteem, a more content outlook and a better quality of life.Your body is a good body because you’re the one that’s in it.

To help you out, here are some tips from a few StrongHer coaches to help you get back on track and continue with a more positive relationship with food, whether you want to reduce fat, eat a more balanced diet or just want to feel more satisfied with your meals. No guilt, no shame, all love!

Emotional Eater? Deal With the Root Of the Issue

“Food is fuel but it is also an enjoyable part of life. No food is good or bad. If you find you use food as a tool of numbing, dealing with the emotions around that, rather than obsessing about the calories in your food, will be more beneficial to you”

SH Coach Katy Moran, @iamkatymoran

Change Should Be Gradual, Not All or Nothing

“Often people try and make dramatic changes, like changing their whole way of eating and throwing themselves into crazy exercise routines - but people burn out, get bored or crave what they miss. Instead, gradually introducing food swaps and portion size control can make these changes with the way you eat a lot easier. For exercise, it should be introduced in a fun and slow way - small behaviour changes (like taking the stairs instead of using the lift); finding a class that you like; and building a relationship with a PT that suits your style as a client will help create consistency. As for guilt, this is something that has played a role in my life for years - over exercising as a response to the fear and anxiety set off by food -  being with StrongHer has helped me change my mindset on this, not just as a coach, but as a person.”

SH Coach Lana O’Neill, @oneil.lana

“Detox” Unhelpful Social Media Accounts Instead

“Unfollow any social media accounts that make you feel bad about yourself and/or are selling quick-fix weight loss - aim to focus on what your body can do rather than on what your body looks like. And unfollow anyone who says ‘new year, new me,’ with a serious face.”

SH Coach Steph Plunkett, @stephplunkettpt

This Isn’t The “Be All End All” - Not Even Close!

“Eating a bit more over the holidays isn’t going to cause excessive fat gain - you’ll probably feel bloated and might be holding some extra water weight, but that’s because 1g of carbohydrates retains about 3 to 4g of water. You’ll get back to normal soon once you go back to your normal eating habits, you don’t need to put your body through a diet or detox, your body knows how to regulate itself. Fad diets and detoxes put you through a big deficit which, at the beginning, cause a huge drop in weight (not necessarily fat loss!) and that’s what keeps people hooked - they think it’s going to continue this way, some individuals plateau sooner or later. Eventually, you’ll crack, run to the cupboard and eat everything in sight because you’re so hungry or you’ve been craving a certain food! If you make it to the end of your detox and return to your former eating habits, it’s scientifically shown that we often regain our lost body fat because our body naturally wants us to make up for the nutrients we’ve missed out on. Sustainable fat loss must be a slow and enjoyable process - it comes with small lifestyle changes that you can actually stick to - that way you’ll be much less likely to rebound. Diet companies need to sell their detox teas and meal plans to make a profit, they’ve made us believe we need to diet after enjoying extra food over the holidays. After all, 6 mince pies, half a packet of paxo stuffing, 12 pigs in blankets and all the other trimmings were definitely worth it!

SH Coach Paris Pell, @the.student.trainer

For all you Smart Sallys out there who want even more nutrition help, we’ve put together our free ebook: Workout What You Should Eat to Workout, so you know what to eat as well as when to eat around your training schedule. Getting your copy is as easy as pie and cheaper than chips (because it’s free!) - click here to get the book in your inbox.