Making a diet is easy, planning what to eat and when is easy, deciding what foods need to be cut out is easy and creating a plan for your weight loss is also easy, sticking to the plan which has been created, not so simple. I have been speaking to my friend Marc, a successful dietician about how best to stick to a diet plan and what tips and tricks there are which can help to stay on track when the times are hard.
I thought I’d share some of these diet hacks, straight from a professional, for anyone who is looking to trim down in time for summer, or any time for that matter.
Bitesized
According to Marc, the most important step when creating your diet plan is to break it down into bitesized chunks. Many people will create a 6 month plan for how they will change their life and often fall at the first hurdle, in order to avoid this, the diet should be broken down into steps. For example, if the plan is due to last three months, this should be broken down into 12 separate weeks. The only goal in mind should be making it 7 days, at the end of the 7 days it will be important to review the week and then go again.
Slow and Steady
Many people go to extreme lengths whens starting their diets and completely revolutionize how they live. Marc says the problem with this is that such a radical change increases risk of failure and it is far better to gradually ease into a diet. Changing habits is difficult and in order to be successful with a diet, it is vital that bad foods and habits are reduced piece by piece and replaced with better and more healthy options.
Alternative Thinking
Diets are often seen as a temporary solution and whilst this can help in terms of weight loss, Marc’s suggestion is that a radical shift in thinking and living is a far better way to go. People who yo-yo in weight are doing untold damage to their bodies and apparently far too many people have the idea that they will diet for a certain event, before going back to their old ways. Marc’s notion is that it is better all around to completely change the thought process and attitude towards healthy living in order to permanently stay in shape and live a healthier life.
Buddy Up
One of the most successful ways in which people can lose weight is through using the buddy system and losing weight together. Marc says that the benefits of this way of losing weight is that through the help of a friend, people can stay focussed and be held accountable for their weight loss. The idea of not wanting to let another person down is often what drives the dieters to success and even more so when it comes to gym time, there are less excuses to be found as a result of the agreement which each party has entered in to.
