Are you unable to stay on a diet longer than a week? Here’s how to make it a bit easier.
Choose the Best Diet Plan
Advertisements for diet plans often use the same language, which can make it difficult to choose among them.When comparing programs, look for the things that appear to be unique to each diet — if possible.
Try to pick a diet program that has the strongest track record for success among its dieters. Look for customer testimonials and any statistics on how many people reach their goals and maintain them long term.
Also find out what kind of support the program might offer dieters to help them stay on track contend with feelings of hunger and get adequate nutrition.
When hunger is kept in check and a wider range of foods are allowed, it can be easier to stay on plan.
Set Modest Goals
All too often, people get overzealous about weight loss goals when embarking on a new diet, and that’s almost a sure-fire recipe for burnout.
If you can right size your goals, you’ll reduce the likelihood of getting frustrated and quitting when the going gets touch.
Also if you can change your goals to have more of a focus on fitness than weight, you might find it easier to stay motivated. Another appraoch would be to aim for a particular waist measurement or even the ability to fit into clothing you haven’t been able to wear for a while.
Reward Yourself
Finally, remember to reward yourself — within reason — when you reach milestones toward your ultimate goal, since incetives are good for motivation.
Setting unrealistic weight goals tends to go hand in hand with trying to deny yourself everything that might even remotely fattening, which is probably the most common mistake among dieters.
The more you deny yourself, the greater the cravings get and eventually they can overpower you and result in a massive binge.
Some diet plans attempt to prevent this by enabling you to cheat once a week, within reason. Alternatively, you could try to take just one bite of things that aren’t on the diet plan, as long as you don’t go overboard — stick to that single bite. Don’t let periodic indulgences turn into something frequent.
Pace Yourself
During the first week of a new diet you usually lose a lot more than you might in subsequent weeks — and a fair amount of that initial weight loss is actually water, resulting from the reduction in carbohydrate intake.
One you get to the second week, the pace of loss typically slows down; it’s easy to get impatient and either quit out of frustration or get too ambitious and try to lose weight faster.
Atttempting to speed up your weight loss increases the risk of regaining it and then some. More gradual loss becomes easier to maintain once you reach your target weight.
A healthy pace of weight loss is about one to two pounds per week; if you can try to weigh yourself only once or twice a week, that will help you from feeling like you’re not making enough progress.
Stay on a Diet for More Than a Week
All of these pointers have something in common: Finding a middle ground and getting support can help you stay on track.
Readers, what has your experience been with dieting?
