Here’s how you can succeed at your diet…
There’s no two ways about it: dieting is hard! The fact that you have to eat less food than you’d like AND food you’re not too thrilled about can be a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Most of us start our diets strong, but we end up slipping because dieting is a long-term challenge many of us just aren’t prepared to keep up with.
But what if you could make a few small changes that would have big end-game results? Here are a few smart diet habits that will actually work, and which you can keep up easily:
- Trim your portion sizes — Instead of cutting back drastically, scale back a little at a time. Start off by cutting a couple hundred calories from each meal, and avoiding that second or third helping. Then trim back the size of your first serving, and focus on eating only the high quality food. Smaller portion sizes are vital to managing your daily calorie intake.
- Drink up — One of the best ways to avoid hunger pangs is to drink more! Often, when your body is thirsty, your brain translates it as hunger. You end up eating when you really should just have a glass of water. Try to drink at least 3 to 5 liters of water per day, and you’ll find that you’re far less hungry than you were.
- Log your food –– Keeping a food journal keeps you accountable to yourself, and it makes it harder for you to cheat on your diet. After all, if you see what you’re eating, you’re more conscientious of what you put in your body.
READ MORE: The Raw Food Diet: How to Make it Work for You
- Get more protein — Protein is the key to muscle gain and weight loss, but it’s also the most filling of the foods. Protein will take longer to digest than carbs, so it will stay in your stomach for longer. This means that it takes more time for your stomach to empty out, delaying those hunger signals from being sent to your brain. The more protein you get in your diet, the better!
- Keep sweets, but make them healthy –– Sugar is an addictive substance, one that your body will crave if you cut it from your diet completely. Instead of cutting it, find a way to eat healthy sugars and in very limited quantities. Fruits are the best source of natural sugar, as is dark chocolate. These sugars are healthy-ish, and will help you to satisfy your sweet tooth without breaking your diet.
- Eat every meal –– Skipping meals is the WORST thing you can do while on a diet! The more you deprive yourself, the more you’ll “suffer”. Not giving your body what it wants is already hard enough, so don’t make it harder by skipping meals. You can always have a lighter meal–a veggie/fruit-heavy snack, a protein shake, etc.–but always make sure to eat at the right times.
- Pack the meals with nutrients –– Stop eating food because you think it’s delicious, but start eating meals that will provide your body with the nutrients it needs. Eat more carbs just before your workout, and more protein after. End the day with a bit of healthy fat, and start the day with complex carbs. Structure your meal plan so that you are eating according to your energy requirements. It’s the best way to avoid being controlled by your taste buds and your food cravings!
Follow this advice, and you’ll have a very good chance of seeing that weight loss you want.
