Listen to find out why diets don't work for losing weight and for an overall happy relationship with food, while learning tips of what does!

It seems like everywhere you turn, there's a new diet being sold promising results with little effort and in record time. But the truth is, it's all in the name of making money.

My guest today, Randa Derkson from Randa Nutrition, is a mother of two littles and loves all things food. She's a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Sports Nutrition Consultant and it's her mission to teach nutrition without a deprivation mindset.

She teaches that you can have all the tasty things, you may just have to tweak a few things (bring on the pizza, chocolate, and wine). She doesn't believe in fad diets (been there, failed at that) or calorie deprivation.

Instead, she teaches you REALISTIC nutrition that you can apply to your family. Because no one wants to eat a salad while their family enjoys pizza.

You can find Randa at her website, Randa Nutrition, on her Instagram account and on her podcast The Healthy Mama's Podcast.

Grab the free 3 Days to Get Your Healthy Back on Track Challenge and check out her Real Food Real Life Nutrition Guide.

The Failure of Weight Loss Diets

While it seems like most of humanity is either on or has been on a diet of some sort, they still continue to fail when it comes to long lasting results.

Randa shares her reasons why this is:

There is an end date, you are only doing it for a certain time to lose a certain number.It's restrictive, you must cut out something so it leads a failure theme where you get into a cycle of binging and feeling bad and being obsessive to get back.You feel like you are under a microscope and guided by strict rules.

How long do you keep the weight off after following a diet?

The hard truth is until you stop following the diet and go back to your normal way of eating.

Because you are restricting yourself with a diet and not learning how to eat within your normal eating habits, once you return to those habits, the weight comes back.

Why people say it's impossible to lose weight

Losing weight is hard for many reasons, but most of all, it's because it's hard to change our habits. Habits are formed over many years, and changing something engrained in our life is not easy.

People tend to want quick fix, we don't want to give up our normal way of doing things. So we go extreme with a diet, then get overwhelmed and stop.

How to Lose Weight the Healthy Way

While it is important to have a positive body image, sometimes we do get to a point where we want to lose some weight.

Whether we have fallen into some bad habits or stopped our regular routines, it's okay to feel like you want to shed a few pounds if it's for a good reason.

So what do we do? Randa says the theme is balance. When you balance what you eat, you will be better satiated.

You don't feel like you're missing out, you can not only eat your favorites, like pizza, but if you have a slice you won't feel guilty.

This teaches you control instead of the all or nothing mentality. It's a mental game of learning to allow yourself to enjoy food again.

Tips to lose weight for long term success

Her are some of Randa's key suggestions: