02: Building Habits, Not Just Diets

How to Eat Cake on a Diet

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In this episode of How to Eat Cake on a Diet, Jody breaks down why diets fail and how building sustainable habits is the key to lasting health and weight management. Starting with a startling statistic—that 95% of diets fail within the first year—Jody explains how restrictive diets set us up for failure by creating unsustainable rules, depriving us, and failing to address the root causes of unhealthy behaviors.

She dives into the science behind why rigid diets are so challenging to maintain, including the psychological impact of restriction, the "all-or-nothing" mentality, and the lack of flexibility that makes diets incompatible with real life. Jody emphasizes that true transformation doesn’t come from relying on fleeting willpower or chasing quick fixes—it comes from consistent, intentional habit-building.

The episode highlights:

• The Flaws of Dieting: From deprivation leading to bingeing to one-size-fits-all approaches that ignore individual needs.
• The Power of Habits: Why habits are more resilient and effective than diets, how they shift from effortful actions to automatic routines, and why consistency matters more than perfection.
• Practical Strategies for Habit Formation: Including starting small, using habit stacking, and focusing on immediate, intrinsic rewards rather than relying solely on the scale for validation.
• Harm Reduction: A compassionate approach to breaking deeply ingrained habits by making gradual, realistic changes instead of expecting overnight success.

Jody explains the habit loop—cue, routine, and reward—and shows how understanding this framework can help replace negative patterns with positive, lasting habits. She also addresses how tying progress to intrinsic rewards, like feeling energized or reducing stress, helps maintain motivation when external measures, like the scale, fluctuate.

The key takeaway? Habits are the foundation for sustainable change. They offer flexibility, resilience, and the freedom to navigate life’s unpredictability while staying aligned with your goals. The episode concludes with practical tips for building habits, such as starting small, removing barriers, finding accountability, and tracking progress.