If you’re here reading this right now you must be looking for a few tips to sticking to a diet. Be sure to take notice of what the message in this post is trying to tell you because these simple tips helped me lose 33lbs (15kg), and they’ve helped my clients lose weight too!
1. Stop dieting
When it comes to losing weight or getting healthy, stopping and starting, stopping and starting is often the method we tend to get stuck in. But this method often leads us to gain more and more weight over time. The truth is that fad diets don’t work long term so you have to stop the dieting cycle and focus on a ‘diet’ that becomes your way of life for the long term.
2. Small steps are best
I always used to throw myself head first into things and with an all or nothing approach. The problem with this method is that it leads to quick burnout and we end up caving in. We can’t be expected to take on everything at once, we’ve got a lifetime of habits to break here! So we need to take small steps forward every single day and keep moving in that direction instead of taking 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Consistency is much more important than perfection.
3. Choose one plan
There are so many ways of eating that are all equally healthy. Some people choose a vegetarian diet, some people choose a paleo diet, others gluten free, in the end it doesn’t really matter. Sure, there are certain health principles that are important, like focus on the quality of the food you are eating, but to get the best results you have to choose one plan that seems like a good fit for you and then stick to it long term. The worst thing you can do is feel restricted by a certain ‘diet’ plan and then go on a binge bender as a result of it!
4. Adjust the ‘diet’ to suit your eating style
The reason why many diet programs fail is because you are trying to fit into the rules of the diet, rather than adjusting the diet to suit your eating style. We’ve all got different habits, foods we like and don’t like, and preferences for things. So what we can do is take our plan of choice, focus on food quality, but adjust the diet to our eating style by working on making meals that we enjoy.
5. Love the food you eat
Which brings us to the last and most important tip to sticking to a diet…LOVE the food you eat!
Sometimes we have to make big adjustments in our eating and give up or drastically cut back on the junk and it can take a little time to get used to. But real food, healthy food, fresh food, provides so many flavours, textures, colours, and variety that you can still LOVE the food you eat. Experiment, get creative in the kitchen, find new recipes, learn to cook and prepare food that you love. When you can thoroughly enjoy the food you eat, you never feel deprived and sticking to the diet is easy. It becomes your lifestyle choice!
THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Can you see how these 5 things add up to a recipe for success?
When you can stop dieting and find one plan that is going to suit you as a long term lifestyle plan, then you can take small steps every day to adjust the diet to your eating style and keep working toward overall improvements. This is the key to successful weight loss, improved health and a life that’s free from the ‘diet’ stress.
This may sound simple but it really works! It worked for me, it works for my clients, and it works for people in our Online Weight Loss Program.
I love this acronym:
- F – follow
- O – one
- C – course
- U – until
- S – successful
The day I saw this some years back turned things around forever, you can change things too!
Just follow these tips for a few months and I can assure you that you’ll be standing somewhere different to where you are now.
Jedha
Nutritionist & Health Coach
P.S. Need some help to apply these tips into a workable strategy for you? Join us inside our Online Weight Loss Program. I hope to see you there :)
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