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“Just one more bite of that donut.” “Just a cheat day won’t hurt”. “Let’s us have one unhealthy piece and I’ll eat a lot of salad for dinner.” Finding yourself muttering one of these phrases while on a diet? Is it hard for you to stick to a healthy diet? Taking one step forward and two back while trying to lose weight?
Losing weight and maintaining a healthy and strict diet doesn’t always go hand in hand. Chances are that you will often start off with the maximum motivation only for it to fizzle away with the course of time.
If you have been questioning yourself how to start a diet and stick to it, we have got your back.
Questions You Need to Ask Yourself
Given the fact that planning a diet and sticking to it for effective weight loss does require a lot of determination and motivation in the process, there are a few questions that you need to ask yourself before proceeding with it.
“Why do I want to or need to lose weight?”
“Are my weight loss goals realistic?”
“Is the diet plan I chose something I’ll be able to stick to?”
“Am I healthy during the process?”
“Should I consult a doctor?”
“Am I tracking the progress correctly?”
These are some of the common questions that everyone trying to lose weight should most definitely ask themselves before and while indulging in any of the diet plans. If you find positive affirmations to them, chances are that you are doing it right, if not, it’s time to take a step back and assess the situation at hand.
How to Stick To A Diet?
Often times, we are stuck in like a “withdrawal” of sorts when you are deprived of the unhealthy junk that you have been consuming for a few days and trust me, sugar deprivation withdrawals are possibly worse than any of the drugs.
But, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t train your mind and body to get attuned to the diet and stick by it throughout. Trust me, it’s not rocket science, all we need to do is motivate ourselves and remind ourselves of the reason why we started it in the first place.
In here, we are going to share some amazing tips and tricks you can opt for to stick to a healthy eating diet for losing those extra pounds.
Check Out These Effective Ways To Stick To A Diet
1. What Made You Start?
The only problem that majority of the people face throughout the process of the diet is that they lose sight of what got them to start in the first place. If you are trying to stick to a healthy diet to lose weight, it is important that you have your motivation sorted.
Reminisce about what made you start in the first place. I have seen people who start this to ensure that they live longer because the excess weight was weighing them down and their health as well. Having a powerful motivation is often the key to be able to start a diet and stick to it.
There is also a conducted study (R) that delves into the insights of how motivation and self-regulation contribute to the weight management and have concluded that the same does play a critical role in the process.
2. Are Your Expectations Reasonable?
As much as eating healthy and eating well is beneficial for the body, it is completely futile to expect that you can eat junk food one day and then switch to eating just salad the next.
Not only is it unrealistic, it is not going to do any good to your body. Every body requires time to adjust and make amends to the changes it undergoes and the same is true for the weight loss as well. This is the reason why experts suggest losing weight gradually.
One of the key factors to stick to a healthy diet is to have realistic expectations from the process. If your goals aren’t realistic, chances are that you will end up being demotivated when you don’t achieve the goals in the end.
Take one study (R) for example, in which the participants who had unprecedented weight loss goals over a course of 6-12 months were found to be the ones dropping out of the weight loss program before the others.
3. Practice Mindful Eating
Wondering how stay on a diet? If you are having second thoughts or even just losing the motivation to keep going on with the process, chances are that you are not enjoying the food you are consuming.
It is not uncommon for someone to dislike the “healthy” food when all they have been eating is junk and the unhealthy food all their life. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that healthy food isn’t good in taste. That is possibly the most common myth.
One of the best ways to stick to a healthy eating is to ensure that you practice mindful eating (R) (R). Instead of scrounging through the eating process, just sit down, relax and eat the food in peace and enjoy the taste. This also helps promote better gut function and is key to better weight loss.
4. Before and After, Maybe?
As mentioned before, motivation is the key to your weight loss results. There is nothing better to keep you on track with the diet that your motivation.
But, did you know one of the easiest ways to go about with the same? Having a visual cue is the answer. When you have a base for comparison of the “before” and “after”, it becomes a lot easier to have the unstirred motivation to stick to a healthy diet without getting off track.
Irrespective of what or how you start your diet, make sure that you click pictures for the “BEFORE” and then compare how much you have lost over the course of time. If you end up losing a substantial amount, it acts as a positive drive for you to do better the next time and keeps you on track with the diet.
5. Start with Baby Steps
As we did say before this, losing weight is gradual. You can’t just make big changes and drop everything in a whirlwind and expect it to not backfire.
If you are looking around on how to maintain a diet, the most important way to go about with it is by sticking to easier and smaller steps rather than taking huge jumps.
That is definitely not how it works. Instead of just going cold turkey, start with easier steps like switching up the diet coke with water or even infused water, if water is too bland for you.
Make your body adjust to the changes gradually so it doesn’t inflict negative impacts on the body. When you start with small steps, it becomes easier for you to achieve those goals and stick to them. Once you get accustomed to them, it is not impossible to work up for the diet altogether.
6. It’s time to Change the Grocery List
Yet another one of the important factors that can help you stick to a healthy diet is if you change up your overall grocery haul. Instead of getting those unhealthy snacks, make healthier choices.
Not just that, yet another important thing to keep in mind is to cut down everything unhealthy you have at home. You would be surprised to know that one of the most common reasons why people fail to start a diet and stick to it is because they give in to their desires.
When you don’t have the supplies to curb your desires, chances are that you will have to eat what is available and that is healthy eating.
7. Did you Inform Your Partner?
This might seem like a bit unrealistic and over the top but it does actually work.
When you are starting a diet, get a buddy who would accompany and help you through the process by being your reporting buddy.
Every day, make a rundown of the things you ate and whether or not you adhered to the diet and report it back to that person.
Doing this can help you stay accountable and be on the right path and successfully stick to a diet without failing.
8. Do You Plan Your Diet?
Planning diets can be tiring, I mean, a lot tiring. But, when you sit down and do so yourself, chances are that the same will impact your motivation and possible future results as well.
When you know your diet plan (R) yourself, there are fewer chances for you to back out of it.
If possible, plan the diet and the meals beforehand. If you do this, chances are that you will not have enough distractions to get detracted. This works like magic and does actually impact your weight loss goals.
Long term diet planning (R) at the beginning can seem tough, so start with a day.
9. Eat What You Love (but healthy)
The one thing that majority of the people do wrong is that they fail to eat things they love. Eating healthy doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat bland and non-tasty foods that you don’t like.
Doing so is the sole reason we get cravings for something unhealthy and end up losing track from our diet.
Instead of eating just salad and leaves, eat something that you actually love eating and which is healthy as well. There are a number of healthier food options which actually taste good, and some which you crave as well. Stick to eating those to be able to adhere to the diet better.
10. Put the “Cheat” Behind
“Ugh, I have already eaten a few unhealthy foods, what a few more is going to do?”
How many times have you found yourself chanting the same thing while on a diet? Quite often, right?
Well, it is often one of the most common reasons people lose sight of their weight loss and diet goals and end up indulging in more unhealthy foods because what a few more is going to do, right?
Wrong!
This mentality is one of the major roadblocks as to why you are unable to stick to a healthy diet.
Instead of finding “excuses” to give into your desires, fight through them and compensate for the unhealthy things you have eaten by eating more of the healthier food in the spread.
11. Start Working Out
Yet another one of the effective and accessory ways to boost the process of sticking to a diet is by starting to work out.
Exercise not just makes you feel better physically but mentally as well. Irrespective of everything, if you wish to start enjoying the diet process, start with some exercises, especially when it’s done with partners or in groups because the energy boost is next level.
Working in groups is amazing for your motivation and will keep you on track on how to stick to a diet without giving in to the desires.
The combination of diet and exercise (R) together is very effective in providing better results.
Read More Cardio Exercises for Weight Loss
12. Pack Your Meals
If you wish to stick to a healthy eating, one of the best ways to go about with the same is by packing the meals up.
You will be tempted to eat out and forget lunch boxes or even not have the desire to make something healthy to take along with you and that is common but if you wish to stick to a healthy diet for weight loss, makes sure to make healthier choices (R) too.
If required, meal prep and store the food for the week and pick up the assigned package of the day. This is not just efficient but is also effective in terms of providing you with healthy nutrition.
13. Switch to Healthy Snacking
One of the most common reasons behind being unable to start a diet and stick to it is because of the snacking options.
You could eat a healthy and hearty salad for lunch but then there are chances that you will end up snacking on something unhealthy which cancels out all the nutrition from the salad.
So, what even is the point, right?
Why would you even want to eat something unhealthy as a snack when you could eat fruits and nuts, right?
If you want to know how to stay on a diet, start snacking healthy (R). Nuts and fruits make an amazing snack. If you are out and about, carry your snacks with you.
14. Starving Isn’t Going to Help
Starving is never the answer to your weight loss goals. It is of wrong notion that eating less or not eating at all projects better weight loss results, that doesn’t happen at all.
Are you aware of the famine state of the body?
It is a state in which the body, under starvation, goes into a flight or fight mode and starts storing the fats in the body to ensure that the body functions in the drastic conditions too.
This ends up affecting the normal body functions and metabolism (R) and in the end, doesn’t contribute to your weight loss goals.
Instead of starving, stick to a healthy diet and eat in regular intervals of time for the maximum benefits.
15. Stay on Track During Travelling too
“Nobody sticks to a diet while travelling. Psst.” Quite a common happenstance, right?
Well, the will to stay on track with the diet and the overall prospects of travelling is completely on you and your level of determination with the diet.
If you wish to stick on to a diet that is providing you with effective results throughout the process, chances are that you would want to keep on following that during the travelling trip as well.
Losing track of the diet during travelling can often take down all your hard work you have done throughout the days preceding that which is the last thing you want.
16. Consume a Balanced Meal
Your body needs every kind of nutrition to keep it healthy and working in a meticulous way.
If you have been just eating one form of nutrition, chances are that your body is not in a balanced state to take notes of every prospect of function and metabolism.
One of the best and easiest ways to stick to a healthy diet is to ensure that you consume a balanced meal (R). If you are cutting down carbs from your diet by a sustainable amount, it is necessary you compensate for it with consuming a healthier amount of protein as well.
17. Don’t Go Overboard With the Fruits
“Eat more fruits to lose weight.”
How many times have you heard it and how many times have you thought of becoming a fruitarian?
Does it happen quite often?
Fruits are actually an amazing way to lose weight, if you consume them correctly and in right amounts. Overconsumption of fruits often tends to end up in increasing the deposition of fats in the body.
Confused how?
Fruits contain fructose sugar which when found in unprecedented amounts in the blood stream is converted into fats and stored in the body (R).
If you want to stick to healthy eating, consume fruits in a limited amount. Snack on them every now and then but don’t base around you entire diet based out of it.
18. You are Just Thirsty
Our body does this funny thing where it ends up signaling that we are hungry when in reality, we are maybe just thirsty.
It is not uncommon to witness something like this with yourself because it is quite commonly witnessed around.
If you just ate and you feel like you are hungry just an hour or so later, chances are that you are probably thirsty (R) (R) and mistaking that with your hunger pangs.
Instead of snacking without need and snacking unhealthy, drink a glass of water and see if the hunger pang withers down or not.
19. Keep Track of How Far You Have Come
It is very important to keep track of your progress if you want to learn how to stick to a diet.
As we mentioned, motivation is the key to everything and witnessing positive results throughout the process is often an amazing source of motivation for a lot of people trying to find ways to stick to a healthy diet.
If required, maintain a food journal (R) to keep track of what you are consuming in a day. Sometimes, even an application can help you keep track of the daily activities and consumption. Study has showcased the importance of food journals effectively as well.
20. Take Care of Your Mental Health too
As unrelated and off the topic as it might sound, it is actually very important to keep track of your mental health as well.
You must be asking, but how does mental health and sticking to a diet pan along?
If you are not calm and relaxed, chances are that it will reflect on your eating habits too. Studies (R) (R) have shown that we tend to eat more and eat unhealthy when we are stressed.
In order to be able to stick to a healthy diet successfully, make sure that you make amends with your mental health and keep your stress levels in check too.
Having proper hours of sleep also contributes to this and helps you gain a better routine in life when it comes to your diet.
In order to stick to a healthy diet, you need to focus on multiple things that affect this in the first place. Make sure you make healthier choices when it comes to the diet and even stick to a schedule. Keep your motivation intact and see to it that you don’t give into your desires.
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