The Beach Diet started as an idea and is still just an idea.
So where did this idea come from? I needed to lose a bit of weight. I looked at some of the popular diets around at the time:
The 5:2 diet where you eat normally for five days and limit yourself to 500 calories for two days a week. Works well for some of my friends, no chance for me. 500 calories is just unrealistic for me.
Group sessions where people get together and talk about weight and learn from each other. Great for some people, but I just don’t want to make such a song and dance about it. I just want an easy way to manage my weight.
The No Carbs diet. This is where you don’t eat much or any carbohydrates (carbs). Carbs are found in bread, potatoes, rice and many more of the foods I love. I am not going to do this, or enjoy it. That set me to thinking that all these diets seem to be about punishing yourself. Does that have to be the case? Is it the only way?
Then I remembered my Dad’s approach. He identified one behaviour linked to food. He changed this behaviour and stuck with it for two or three months. With this simple change, he noticed the difference in his weight. Read more about his story here.
I started to think about behaviours and my every day work as a trainer on the subjects of communiaction, management, leadership and other work place skills. Most of my work with people is about changing their behaviours at work.
Could the principles I used be applied to weight management?
I tried it and it seemed to work for me. Then I mentioned it to friends. They tried it and it seemed to work for them. So I thought I would write it down.
That’s how the Beach Diet started. This website and blog is where it has got to so far.