Let’s be honest — if diets worked the way they promised, you wouldn’t need another one. You’d do it once, get your results, and move on with your life, right?

But instead, most people have a running list of diets they’ve tried. Keto. Paleo. Low-carb. High-carb. Intermittent fasting. Whole30. Carnivore. The one where you drink a shake instead of eating real food and slowly lose your soul.

And what do they all have in common? A short-term focus, a rulebook, and absolutely no plan for what happens when life gets… life-y.

It all begins with an idea.There’s this belief floating around that if you’re not dripping sweat, breathing like a pug in July, and feeling like your limbs might fall off, then your workout didn’t count. I don’t know where that started — probably some bootcamp influencer with an affinity for yelling into a GoPro — but I’m here to say… that’s not it.