One of the biggest failures of the weight loss industry is that many plans don’t teach participants how to make lifelong changes. They focus on rapid shedding of pounds (leaving dieters frustrated with slow weight loss).
Inevitably, this often triggers a nosedive back into forbidden foods – hence, the lost weight is simply regained, leaving the dieter feeling disillusioned and discouraged.
No matter what type of diet plan you are following (or plan to follow in the near future), it is vital to approach it from a balanced, realistic state of mind.
Below, are 4 helpful steps you can take to avoid becoming frustrated with your diet and fat loss:
But first… let’s look at the definition of diet.
According to Oxford, the first entry for diet is:
The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
And the first entry for Merriam-Webster’s dictionary:
Food and drink regularly provided or consumed.
Diet simply means… what you eat on a regular basis.
In other words… your regular eating habits.
This is important because, as stated earlier, the weight loss industry has us thinking we should lose a bunch of weight as fast as possible, when we hear the word diet. That leaves us frustrated when the weight either doesn’t come off or doesn’t come off as fast for us.
So here’s the first step…
Step 1) Don’t fall for the hype.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you can follow a magical plan, drop the weight, and then return to your former eating habits.
That’s a sure recipe for failure.
Instead, view your diet as a lifelong process of making wiser choices that will benefit your body in many positive ways, including shedding excess fat.
Step 2) Avoid making radical changes all at once.
As tempting as it may be to empty your kitchen cupboards and start from scratch, most people don’t have strong enough willpower to instantly change their eating habits from totally bad to perfectly good.
Instead, strive to make more moderate changes gradually.
If you are following a specific diet plan that doesn’t allow modifications, at least cut yourself a little bit of slack for the days when you might backslide into old habits.
Step 3) Don’t worry about tomorrow and the next day.
Rather than worrying about how you will ever stick to your diet tomorrow and the next day and the next day and beyond, try not to put yourself under so much pressure.
As tempting as it may be to control every little aspect of your weight loss journey, it’s not possible to do it all right now.
Even more importantly, it’s impossible to predict and plan for the challenges you may face in the near future, so there is no sense worrying or obsessing about them.
Step 4) Focus on what you can do right now.
Today is the only thing you have the power to change.
Today, you can do your best to stick to your diet plan.
Today, you can make sure to squeeze in that workout, even if you are busy.
Today, you can feel proud of yourself for making some positive lifestyle changes that will benefit you for the rest of your life.
Everything else will take care of itself.
These four small steps can do wonders in preventing diet discouragement, and help you to stay committed to your fat loss goals for the long haul.
The key lies in moderate changes, patience, and unwavering belief in yourself.
If you need a little more motivation to let you know that you CAN do this, then watch this video: