This is the time of year that people start to work on their new goals and resolutions. One of the most common goals for many people is to lose weight or eat healthier. If this is a goal of yours, you may have even made it in the past and had it not work out. Diets are extremely hard to stick to in today’s world because we live fast-paced lives that often make it way too convenient to eat fast food, boxed meals, and make unhealthy choices. While I can’t promise it will be easy to maintain healthy food choices, here are some useful tips on How to Stick with a Diet that may help.
How to Stick with a Diet
Create a meal plan. This is such a big one for me. If I don’t meal plan, I am left at the mercy of whatever is in my fridge and that can be hard to make work in a healthy manner. I am also way more likely to buy foods that are quick such as a trip through the drive through. The truth is, many meals can be made in a very short amount of time so you can still cook even if you are not into making big meals, or are only cooking diet focused meals for yourself.
Clear out temptation foods. In order to totally be able to say no to foods that are not on your diet, sometimes that means keeping them completely out of the house. You don’t have to do it permanently, but try to keep them out for a period of time until you feel like you can have just one cookie or a handful of chips without going overboard. Out of sight, (sort of) out of mind, right?
Find an accountability partner, preferably one who lives with you. Let them know not to nag harshly and give you gentle reminders to eat healthy and on a schedule. The ideal person should be interested in a similar goal.
Stick to an eating schedule. One mistake people make when dieting is skipping meals or snacks thinking it will help them lose weight. This actually has an opposite effect and causes your metabolism to slow down and makes you hold onto weight. If eating frequently is an issue due to time, try to break it down into easy snacks throughout the day to keep your body on an even keel.
Don’t be so limiting on foods. This may seem kind of counter-productive. The truth is, the more restrictive you are, the more likely you are to binge on unhealthy foods. It’s that element of wanting what you can’t have. Instead, eat healthy with other foods in moderation.
Remind yourself of your reasons for eating the diet to begin with. Make them in-depth reasons rather than something broad like, “to lose weight”. Instead, why do you want to lose weight? For your health? To accomplish some goal like doing a marathon? Write down these reasons and place them in areas of temptation to keep yourself motivated.
More Fitness and Diet Tips:
10 Simple Changes to Help you Lose Weight
20 Weight Watchers Dinner Recipes
Pauline Wiles says
Timely advice for me! I agree, having a plan is a big part of success. For me, exercise is the other significant component: I really struggle to comply with suggested calories on a day when I don’t exercise, but when I do, it isn’t nearly as hard to feel satisfied within the daily limit. And I’m also tracking everything I eat with a free app; it’s a bit tedious but there’s no hiding from the numbers that way. Oh, and I’m trying to eat real food, too, since my overall motivator is to simply eat better, regardless of weight.