10 tips to stick to your diet
- Danielle de Haas
- Jan 22, 2017
- 3 min read
10 tips to stick to your diet..
Firstly, I don’t often refer to ‘it’ as a ‘diet’ – I usually call it a meal plan. I don’t believe you should put that restrictive word on it (unless comp prepping).
I have so many tips on sticking to your meal plan/diet but have narrowed it down to 10 for now (in no particular order):
BE PREPARED!! This is probably one of the most important tips I can give. As the old saying goes – ‘By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’. Always prep your meals and bring them wherever you go. Sometimes this means you may have to cook for a few days at a time. I would recommend having some meals prepared and frozen for those emergency situations.
Write down your goal and then write down a list of reasons why you want to achieve that goal. Every morning – have a look at that list to remind yourself of where you’re heading. You can also pull this list out at vulnerable times during the day, as well.
Similar to number 2. – Know your motivation. I have a client who is a mother and her goal is to get healthier to be alive and well to see her 2 year old daughter grow up. When she gets tempted by unhealthy foods, she asks herself whether she’d rather eat that food or see her daughter growing up. When you have a powerful motivation like this, and remember what choice you’re making whenever you face temptation, it’s easier to be strong when you’d otherwise cave in.
One step at a time. You don’t have to change your whole diet overnight. If you are someone who has very unhealthy eating habits, I would recommend changing one thing at a time. For example if you drink soft drink – change that to water. Once you are confident with this, switch other things in your diet. This small and gradual process makes it much easier to stick to a healthier way of eating.
Eat your food with no distractions - sitting down, slowly and enjoy every bite. Appreciate your food – think about where it has come from and the process it has taken to get on to your plate. Be grateful for the food in front of you. It is much more difficult to allow yourself to eat off plan, eat mindlessly or binge if you are doing this.
Stay accountable. Report to another person daily, via text, call, email – whatever. Let them know whether you have or have not used good eating habits and followed your meal plan. Stay accountable to yourself by weighing yourself once per week, but more importantly is to take photos every week to compare.
Teach yourself the difference between hunger (that empty feeling in your stomach when you haven’t eaten for a few hours) and craving or the desire to eat (which you will feel in your mouth or throat). Ultimately, you want to just label what you’re feeling (hunger, craving, tiredness, boredom, or a negative emotion) and tolerate it without eating. In the short-run, have a list of powerful distractions to turn your attention away from food.
Have tasty substitutes for your weaknesses. I have a client who absolutely loves chicken parmas, so, we came up with a recipe that fits in with her meal plan. She therefore does not have to give up her favourite food and in fact now prefers the healthier version more - for a multitude of reasons.
Reward yourself. Changing unhealthy eating habits is hard - sticking to a meal plan can be hard. Small rewards can provide an incentive to keep going. But make sure your rewards are NOT food-related. Set small goals along your journey and reward yourself when you reach them. It could be a massage or a new piece of clothing. Celebrating your success will fortify your resolve to continue.
Get creative! Cook your food in a variety of ways. For example; chicken breast – you can poach, oven bake, pan fry, steam, grill. You can add on herbs, spices, salt, pepper. You can make fresh sauces using tomatoes or whatever you’d like. Creating variety and flavours when cooking will help keep your taste buds interested and help to stay on track.
It is very rare to come across someone who hasn’t at least ONCE, fallen off track on their diet or meal plan. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It is not the end of the world. Remain positive and think about all of the things you have been able to accomplish beforehand. Understand what threw you off track and learn ways to deal with that in the hope it won’t happen again in the future.
Good luck!
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