As a Food Coach who spends all day guiding women off the crazy diet merry-go-round, I have heard all the reasons why it’s not an ideal time to start a new diet.

I know all these reasons already because I have probably said them all to myself at one time or another when I was 65lbs. heavier.

The most common reasons I hear for putting off starting a new diet are:

• I am about to go on a vacation and I’ll be surrounded by wonderful food.
• My birthday is next week and I want to eat the cake and enjoy myself.
• I have a business trip and will be at the dining mercy of my clients.
• I have many social gatherings next month and it will be too hard.

These are actually THE very best times to start a new program and here’s why:

Believing that we must hold off until we have extra free time when we’ll be in a better position to focus on a new weight loss plan, is a huge missed opportunity.

That attitude does not take into account the vital lessons we learn during the weight loss process and the tough barriers we work through that allow us to achieve the lasting results we’re hoping for.

If we only learn to “diet” or change our eating habits under static, so-called normal conditions, then we are not learning how to navigate through the challenging days and difficult events, which are a realistic and expected part of everyday living.

That leaves us ill-prepared to handle the tough food circumstances and that’s usually where our diets crumble, because we never learned how.

We live in a busy fast-paced world of daily celebrations, events, change, and transition.

It is always somebody’s birthday, or a reason to celebrate, and these are more often part of our everyday realities, and not the exceptions.

I recently had a potential new client- a savvy NYC marketing executive- who was panicking about her upcoming business trip to Nashville. She had pleaded with me to hold off on coaching her until she returned home “to normalacy.”

She imagined her lack of control over choosing meals or restaurants that would be good for her and feared the famous Tennessee BBQ scene would be a diet disaster for her.

I urged her to view this trip as an opportunity to try out her very new skills and while it may not be easy, she would be getting the very best crash-course in how to handle – and triumph – the most challenging of situations.

She came home feeling empowered, proud of herself, two pounds lighter, and even enjoyed some great ribs.

She realized if she could do it there, she could do it anywhere. It had been indeed the ideal time for her to start that diet.

The wonderful busy world we all live in provides us the perfect backdrop for starting new food plans and comes with the real-life teachings required to reach our goals, and stay there.

Embrace starting a new diet when you think it’s the worst time; it’s a gift in disguise that will keep on giving and promises your best shot at lasting weight loss.

Brigitte Weil is a NYC-based Weight Loss Coach and the founder of The I Hate Celery Sticks Strategy, a life-changing Coaching program that redefines old conventional views of dieting and promotes an approach designed for lasting success without crazy diets, silly gimmicks, or giving up the foods we love. Brigitte is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, a Paris-trainer pastry chef, a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer, and remains committed to developing private and group Coaching programs that support her philosophy of combining passion of food and fitness with balance to create the lives we desire.