Several Best Diet Tips
12. Have Positive Expectations of Success:
If you’re skeptical about your ability to lose weight, either because you’ve tried and failed in the past, or you think you’ve got “bad genes”, or you just don’t believe that your plan is going to work out, you first need to get in the right frame of mind. Any action you take with a defeatist mindset isn’t going to get you the results you want.
Examples of positive expectation are planning a trip to the beach and showcasing your new body, booking a trip on a cruise line, or buying a pair of pants in the size that you want to become knowing that you’ll soon fit into them. Part of the fun of losing weight is buying a new wardrobe and getting a new look.
When you shift from thinking that you’ll probably flop on your new diet to thinking that you’ll probably reach your goal, you’re putting out a different sort of energy and you should be more pleased with the results you get.
13. Don’t Get Caught Up In Fads and Gimmicks:
Each week it’s possible to find a new diet sensation making the airwaves, and some of them sound really good. Of course, some of them sound really weird, like only eating green foods, or centering on one food in particular, like pineapple or peanut butter. There are also ones that are very short term, like a 7 or 17 day diet plan.
But diet hopping rarely gets you the results you want, and the grass will always be greener on the other side of the diet you’re currently on. The important thing is to stick to the tried and true methods for weight loss, like eating foods that contain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that will help you slim down, and increasing the amount of exercise you do on a weekly basis.
You’ll find that by ignoring the fads, you’ll crash less, save yourself from wasted time, and grow more confident that your time-tested methods will get you from point A to point B if you just stick to them.
14. Find a Good Reason to Make These Changes:
A strong why can get you through the toughest part of dieting: the start. Overcoming inertia can be really hard, but if you come up with a clear enough reason for why you want to lose the weight or get healthier, it increases the likelihood that you’ll be able to stick with it for the long run.
If you’re losing weight to live longer so you can see your grandkids, that’s a pretty big why and will go a long way in providing the motivation you need to make changes. If you’re trying to slim down to fit into a dress by a certain date, this might provide the short term push you need to do a crash diet, but it typically doesn’t last long after the event passes, and can contribute to yo-yo dieting.
One good reason could be an upcoming trip you plan to take, and you want to make sure that you’re fit enough to do a lot of walking, hiking, and other activities while you’re on vacation. This can be a great way to stick to a diet, especially if your trip is further into the future, and the good times you have on your trip can keep you staying healthy and happy after it’s finished.
15. Start Slow to Prevent a Relapse:
Small, subtle, gradual changes are the ones that are best absorbed by the body and mind. Stark overhauls might shock the body into changing for a little while, but more often than not you’ll end up regressing back to your old ways, and any progress you’ve made will be lost.
You can start with one or two things that you’ll barely miss. For example, stop drinking beverages with calories in them and replace them with water. Keep everything else the same until you barely notice that you’re not drinking sodas and juices any more. Then move on to the next thing you want to remove and replace in your life.
Over time, these positive changes will add up, and your body won’t reject them the way it does when you stop doing everything it’s used to, start doing everything it’s not used to. The best part is you’re not likely to relapse back to your old self and your progress will be legitimate.
16. Have a Strong Support System In Place:
No man or woman is an island, and if you are trying to lose weight without letting your family and friends in on it, you might be cutting off a support system that could help you on your way. Many people find that a workout buddy adds accountability and makes exercise more fun.
A personal trainer can not only show you the proper form, and the right exercises to do, they can also offer you positive tidbits to keep you focused when the world around you is distracting you. If you want to cut through all the mumbo jumbo and get nutrition suggestions customized to you, a consultation with a nutritionist can work wonders.
Just be sure that your family and friends are supportive, because many times those around you don’t like it when someone they know starts making positive changes. You might get negative feedback from those closest to you, which can be disappointing and enlightening at the same time.
17. Take a Holistic Approach Health:
Take the whole body into consideration when you are looking to lose weight. It’s easy to get into the mode of less calories in, more calories out, but you’re more than just a mouth and stomach. All of your organs are designed to work beautifully together, and you don’t want to sacrifice the health of an internal body part for the appearance of an outer one.
Even things that you wouldn’t connect to weight loss can have an effect on the body and the mind. Good oral hygiene, keeping up with your skin, nails, and hair, all go into the way that you view yourself, and your self esteem.
Focus on feeling good and the weight loss should be a natural byproduct. We all know which foods make us feel bad after we eat them (even though they may taste great for a moment while eating them), so by treating yourself as good as possible you’ll naturally slim to your healthy body weight and size.
18. Take Tips from Other Cultures:
Americans take a lot of flak for being one of the most obese countries in the world, so sometimes it’s good to see what’s working for different cultures living abroad. Sometimes it may involve dialing back technology and doing things the way our ancestors did. Other times it’s about taking a more spiritual approach to weight loss.
For example, in the Okinawa prefecture of Japan they follow the Confucian phrase of hara hachi bu, which means eating until you are 80% full. This is a great way to prevent yourself from overeating, and has been attributed to long lifespans in that region, as well as BMI’s that are in the healthy range.
Countries that walk more as part of their natural lifestyle have the lowest rates of obesity, and studying indigenous tribes that are still somewhat nomadic you very low levels of obesity and fewer instances of chronic diseases. These are just two examples of ways to improve your health by looking at what others are doing in different regions of the world.
19. Break Away From Unhealthy Traditions:
Cleaning your plate may have been something your mother told you to do because her mother told her to do it, but it can lead to dysfunctional eating behavior later in life if you can’t seem to leave food on your plate.
Some adages of the past like eating three square meals a day don’t work for everyone. You might be better off eating four or five meals throughout the day. There’s also new studies that debunk certain foods being good for you. Your parents may use a lot of bad fats in their cooking and baking. Changing their recipes to include these new findings is key.
If you come from a culture whose food consists of heavy, starchy foods, it might mean that you have to update them so they contain healthier ingredients. Many chefs out there have already put a new spin on traditional dishes so you can enjoy the flavor of your country without sacrificing your figure.
20. Drop the Guilt Associated with Food:
Feeling guilty about the food you eat, or about being fat is actually helping you to stay fat. You’ve got a strong focus on what you don’t want, which yields more of the same. You don’t have to drag yourself down so low that you hit rock bottom in order to make positive changes in your life. Realize that you’re not alone if you’ve got some weight to lose, and in fact the deck is stacked against you.
It’s easy to buy and eat foods that are bad for you. It’s easier to not get exercise than to get moving. It’s simply the way our society is set up. So you shouldn’t feel guilty if you’ve let yourself go, you should feel encouraged for wanting to get yourself back on track. Your loved ones will thank you, even if they don’t verbalize it.
The feeling of encouragement is much more motivational than guilting yourself into eating better and exercising. It can even lead to feeling inspired to do those things, which is the feeling you’re really after.
21. Give Yourself a Clean Slate:
No matter how many times you’ve tried to lose weight and failed, try to block it out of your mind. Try to unlearn the bad dieting advice you’ve gotten in the past, and focus on the here and now. If you’ve got a lot of weight to lose, don’t get overwhelmed by the long road before you, just do what you little you can each day, and as the days accumulate you’ll start to see the changes you really crave.
