Make A Grocery List And Stick To It
Once you have your menu planned for the week, make a shopping list either on paper or on your phone I use Notes, but there are apps for this, too. Knowing in advance what you need to purchase at the supermarket will save you time, reduce food waste, and prevent you from purchasing items that look appealing but you don’t actually need. To stick with your list, avoid shopping when hungry or tired. Research shows an increase in impulsive behavior at those times. Levinson
Why Is It So Hard For Me To Stick To A Diet
It can be hard to stick to a diet because dieting can encourage a black and white mindset- this means that youre either trying to be good and eat perfectly in accordance with your weight loss plan, or youre being bad and eating exactly how you please, perhaps mindlessly making poor food choices and overeating.
Be Patient With Yourself
Sticking to a healthier diet is a marathon, not a sprint.
Learning the best diet for yourself takes trial and error, and some days will be easier than others, so try not to feel discouraged if it takes longer than youd like for your new habits to set in.
As long as you set realistic expectations for yourself, remain committed, and continue to reevaluate your progress, your diet is likely to keep moving in a positive direction.
SUMMARY
Forming new habits of any type takes time, and healthy diets are no different. When youre feeling frustrated, try practicing self-kindness and refocusing on your long-term goals.
Breaking old habits and forming new ones is not an easy process, especially when it comes to foods youve been eating for your whole life.
Our diets are complex systems influenced by biological, cognitive, and social influences, just to name a few (
Also Check: Heart Healthy Diets To Lose Weight
What Are 10 Ways To Stay Healthy
10 Healthy Lifestyle Tips for Adults
- Eat a variety of foods.
- Base your diet on plenty of foods rich in carbohydrates.
- Replace saturated with unsaturated fat.
- Enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables.
- Reduce salt and sugar intake.
- Eat regularly, control the portion size.
- Drink plenty of fluids.
What Specifically Do You Want To Change
An example of a small goal to focus on might be to eat veggies at one meal each day or walk for 20 minutes daily.
Once that first small goal has become second nature, tack on another like have a source of protein at every meal.
Another goal might be to get to the gym daily and when thats mastered, the next step might be to have a workout plan & train with intention each time.
These are all just examples of small goals, be sure to tailor yourself.
When we add a bunch of new daily habits all at once it can be overwhelming and hard to keep up with. This slow and steady approach allows you to focus entirely on one goal at a time until it becomes second nature.
Read Also: Add More Fiber To Diet
And The Other Reason Is Because It Doesnt Empower You As An Individual To Make Your Own Decisions Around Food
If youre reliant on someone else making decisions for you, how are you ever going to develop the skills to decide what to eat when you go out with friends? When you go on vacation?
How do you develop that skill if youre not putting in the effort?
I recommend following what I like to call a consistency plan instead of trying to stick to a diet plan .
Id like to give an analogy here. Imagine youre trying to prepare for an exam and you go to a teacher for help.
You sign up for their class and instead of teaching you the fundamentals showing you how to solve problems and different kinds of questions that may be asked and ways to tackle each of them. They give you the question paper for the next exam along with the exact answers.
Now, when you go sit for the exam, will you ace it? Most likely yes, if youre able to memorise the answers. And are able to replicate and regurgitate them during the exam.
Now imagine this.
Every time theres an exam, you go to this person and all they do is hand you the question paper with the exact questions that are supposed to come for the exam. And every time, you pass the exam with flying colours, because you already know the answers beforehand.
But what do you do when you no longer have this individual and you still have to keep writing exams?
How do you tackle those questions then?
You may also like: Understand Your Own Behaviour to Create Desirable Outcomes
How To Stay Consistent With Diet
Asked by: Mr. Willy Oberbrunner PhD14 Simple Ways to Stick to a Healthy Diet
Recommended Reading: Are Diet Drinks Bad For You
Here Are Other Reasons That Hinder People From Their Weight Loss Progress:
1. Boredom:They keep eating the same boring food, which makes them vulnerable to temptation. Planning interesting meals will help overcome this.2. Distraction:Kids and families going out to dinner eating out and social engagements can sometimes distract you from your goals.3. Forgetting: forgetting to eat or waiting too long to eat when this happens, the blood sugar crashes, and people end up eating the wrong things because theyre too weak and hungry.
Often, when people get too hungry, they dont want to go to the store anymore to get all the ingredients necessary to make a healthy, low-carbohydrate meal. They miss out on all the fats, proteins, and vegetables they need because they havent planned their meals and made that important store trip.
Without planning, its easy to destroy your whole weight loss plans.
Tip No 1: Lose Weight Slowly
If you’re losing weight but not as fast as you’d like, don’t get discouraged. Dropping pounds takes time, just like gaining them did. Experts suggest setting a realistic weight loss goal of about one to two pounds a week. If you set your expectations too high, you may give up when you donât lose weight fast enough. Remember, you start seeing health benefits when you’ve lost just 5%-10% of your body weight.
You May Like: Mediterranean Diet Crock Pot Recipes
How To Stay Consistent With Exercise And Diet
The number one question I get from my online clients and social media followers is this How do I stay consistent with exercise and diet? Here is a secret you must know MOTIVATION IS OVERRATED. Motivation comes in spurts and eventually disappears. If you rely solely on motivation, then your desire to exercise or stick to a healthy diet will likely disappear eventually. Its one of the reasons why the majority of new gym subscribers drop out after the first month.
Does Walking Count As Exercise
Walking briskly may be an effective kind of exercise that is often underestimated. It can help you increase stamina, burn calories, and improve the health of your heart. A brisk 10-minute daily stroll offers several health advantages and contributes to the required 150 minutes of weekly exercise that you should be doing.
You May Like: Chewy Hill’s Science Diet
Why Do I Not Like Working Out
Its possible that the reason you despise exercise has absolutely nothing to do with the activity itself at all. According to science, the situation is significantly more complicated. The lesson is that the greater the emphasis placed on bodies seeming good or bad depending on their size, the less pleasant exercise becomes for people. You could be under the impression that this has nothing to do with you.
Step : Its Got To Be Hella Fun
Adherence: The attachment or commitment to a person, cause or belief
Sorry to be that guy. You know
The Oxford Dictionary defines Adherence as.
But here we areanywhooooo.
One of the many reasons I managed to go through 3000 auditions as an actor and get rejected from them, one of the many reasons I have been able to write non stop content for four years on Personal Training, and one of the many reasons I am able to keep my calories in order is because all of those things bring me joy.
Lets take my acting for example. You may well be thinking to yourself that Im crazy.
Which is fair.
I am sitting here openly telling you that I enjoyed being rejected 3000 times.
I didnt.
But I loved my days in London Auditioning. The result was inconsequential to me. Of course, I wanted to get the job. But that didnt stop me enjoying the day I got going through the experience of trying.
For me, it was a day away from my office job. It was something new to talk about. It was exposing myself to an opportunity of improvement, of challenge, and of new experience.
It was a moment to grow.
It was also a moment to fail.
Not that I wanted to walk into the audtion knowing I would fail – believe me – every job i have ever been up for I have given everything I had for it.
But learning from that failure is a joyful experience. Its a badge of honour. I had the courage to risk failure, i felt that fear, did it anyway and opened myself up to vulnerability and strength.
Also Check: Jennifer Aniston Diet And Exercise
What Are The 9 Rules To Lose Weight
How to lose weight: the nine rules
Give Your Breakfast A Protein Boost
Aim for 15 to 25 grams of protein at breakfast. Protein is digested slowly and suppresses hunger hormones, helping keep you full. Additionally, a high-protein breakfast helps curb cravings later in the day. Pair protein foods with fiber and healthy fats, like two eggs with whole-wheat toast and avocado or high-protein frozen waffles with nuts, berries, and a little maple syrup. Younkin
You May Like: Dr Nowzaradan 1200 Calorie Diet Plan
Tip No 1: Understand Portion Sizes
We’re so used to super-sizing when we eat out that it’s easy to carry that mind-set home. To right-size your diet, use a kitchen scale and measuring cups to measure your meals for a week or two. Use smaller plates and glasses to downsize your portions. Split restaurant servings in half — making two meals out of one big one. Portion out snack servings instead of eating them directly from the container.
How To Overcome Inconsistency In Your Diet
Consistency is often the difference between success and failure. If you struggle with inconsistency in your diet, here are some ideas you can apply to be more consistent in moving toward and finally reaching your weight loss goals.
Disclaimer: Just so you know, if you order an item through one of our posts, we may get a small share of the sale.
Consistency is often the difference between success and failure. Think about it. Saving money requires consistency. Running a marathon requires consistent training and in order to lose weight, youve got to be consistent in your food choices. If you struggle with inconsistency in your diet, Ive got some ideas you can apply to be more consistent in moving toward and finally reaching your weight loss goals. What is Consistency? The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines consistency as reliability or uniformity of successive results or events. Consistency in weight loss is doing something in a similar way day-by-day that results in pounds and inches dropped over time. Ive known a lot of people who lose a little bit of weight and then begin gaining weight again. Its not because they suddenly lost their ability to lose weight but because they stopped making the choices that initially gave them success.
Don’t Miss: Pcos Diet Plan To Lose Weight
Develop Long Term Habits And Routine
Make exercise and healthy eating habits part of your daily routine. It should be like brushing your teeth and taking a shower, non-negotiable and embedded into your lifestyle. As an example, if you know that your usual diet doesnt have enough vegetables, make it a point that you eat one big salad every day.
Motivation is what gets you started, long term habits and routines will keep you going
How do you build habits and routines consistently and stick to them?
- Start with walking for 10 mins for a week. Increase it to 20 mins in the second week.
- During the third and fourth week, add 1 set of three exercises to your routine that takes roughly 56 mins.
- Increase it to 2 sets of 3 exercises, along with 20 mins of walking, during the fifth week.
- Build upon this gradually to find a sweet spot of exercise intensity and duration that is feasible enough to reach your goals.
The key is to break down each goal into smaller, attainable goals and consistently achieve them. Accomplishing those small goals regularly and acknowledging the small wins will also help you release dopamine which will, in turn, motivate you to stay consistent.
The Challenge Is Staying Consistent And This Is Where Planning Helps
What is the definition of consistent? Its something done the same way for a long period of time. The word ‘consistent’ comes from the Latin word which means ‘to stop, to stand still, or take a stand.’
It means to hold your position without wavering. And this is exactly what we want to do with weight loss.
The Missing Step That Will Make You Successful
Theres a missing step that I can show you right now thats hindering your weight loss success.
Don’t Miss: Kylie Jenner Weight Loss Diet
The Alternative Is To Understand That Losing Weight Is Not Rocket Science
It doesnt require you to cut out foods drastically from your life to make dramatic changes to the way you eat.
If you have been following my blog or listening to my podcast for a while, you would already know the fundamentals quite well.
Weight loss is all about energy balance. Eating less energy than what your body is expending.
That means reducing portion sizes of your current foods increasing your protein intake so you maintain muscle while losing weight.
Reducing the amount of energy youre consuming on a day-to-day basis, increasing your activity levels throughout the day, and performing some kind of resistance training exercise three to four times a week.
That is it.
Its less about what kind of specific foods that youre eating. Its more about how you follow these simple, fundamental principles.
And turn them into habits which you can execute in a consistent manner throughout your life.
Issues only creep up when people have to go out in the weekends to eat, when they have to go on vacation and stressful periods.
How do you maintain these habits even then? These are the challenges that need to be addressed.
What Are 5 Healthy Eating Habits
5 Good Eating Habits to Achieve Your Health Goals
- #1 Choose Water. Set a goal to drink water instead of sugar-sweetened drinks. …
- #2 Eat Slowly and Mindfully. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to send out signals that you are full. …
- #3 Stick to One Serving. …
- #4 Eat Fruit and Vegetables. …
- #5 Swop to Wholegrains.
Also Check: Keto Diet What Can I Eat
Get Out Of The Downward Spiral Of Inaction
Sometimes when you get derailed from your usual routine for more than a couple of weeks, you may find it hard to get back on track. You may encounter phases when you feel that you have plateaued and anything you do leads to the same results with close to zero progress. It is normal to get into a downward spiral of inaction during those times.
When this happens, take a break for few days and then work on getting back on track. Remember, action precedes motivation. Get out of your comfort zone and get going. If you have your purpose and smaller goals in check, then taking actions will, in turn, motivate you to be more consistent.
Taking action leads to progress that motivates us to take more actions. And the cycle of taking consistent actions continues. Execution leads to motivation.
Keep A Daily Gratitude Journal
Our eating habits are sometimes connected to our emotions, whether we realize it or not. When we’re stressed, we may use food to help cope with the stress. I work with clients on keeping a daily journal of things they’re grateful for or even just a journal to write in when stressed so that they’re better prepared to cope with the stress by acknowledging it and utilizing other tools, rather than reaching for food as a coping mechanism. Lauren Manganiello, RDN, a yoga instructor on Long Island, New York
Also Check: Hills Prescription Diet For Cats
