Diet, dieting, I’m going on a diet or hearing someone tell you, you need to go on a diet gives you a negative feeling and you want to stay away from it.
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As far as possible!
That’s because the word “Diet” has gotten a bad rap.
You hear of people going on a diet, they lose a bunch of weight then after a few months, they gain it all back. Has this happened to you? How many diets have you been on?
It works for a little while, then you gain it all back?
This day and age, people like to say, “I’m not on a diet, I’m making a healthy lifestyle change”.
That sounds good and all, but if you’re a Foodie like me with a voracious appetite, that’s not going to last very long. You first need to go on a “Diet” to train your mind and body for that “Healthy Lifestyle”.
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DIETING IS JUST LIKE PHYSICAL TRAINING, IT GETS YOUR BODY IN THE RIGHT CONDITION
Many people join a gym, exercise, go to Zumba classes or even hire a Trainer to help them get into good physical condition. After your first workout, you’re in physical pain. Your muscles hurt, you can’t walk, you have all kinds of aches and pains. This pain keeps coming back every time you workout. If you persist and don’t give up, then after awhile, the pain goes away. It’s the same with dieting. It’s not easy. You’re hungry, you have cravings and you suffer but if you persist and stick to it, eventually things get easier!
YOU MUST CHOOSE A HEALTHY DIET PROGRAM
There’s all kinds of diet programs out there. There’s programs where they send you the food. Bad processed food, where you need to microwave them before you can eat them. Sure, you’ll lose weight but can you stick to it? Can you afford to keep buying their food? What about programs that have expensive pills, supplements, protein shakes that you have to keep on purchasing in order to maintain your weight loss? I say stay away from those programs! You want to choose a weight loss program that teaches you to eat Wholesome foods. Foods that are not processed. Veggies, fruits, lean proteins and cuts out sugar.
That’s exactly the program I was on. However, I had to pay $1600 for it. I want to share it with you without you having to pay that exorbitant amount.
I’ve created an eBook based off that plan. Click on the book below to get more information and how you can get it.
HOW TO STICK TO YOUR DIET
YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD REASON WHY YOU WANT TO LOSE THE WEIGHT
You need to have a reason that you’re passionate about. Do you want to look good for that old boyfriend you found on Facebook? Does your health depend on it? Do you want to do it to stay healthy for your children, your husband or your grandchildren? Do you want to do it for more self confidence? Maybe you’re single and you want to start dating again? Or maybe you just want to do it for yourself, there’s no better reason than that!
As for me, I lost 65 pounds years ago by exercising and cutting back on my food intake. However, over a period of 8 years, I gradually gained some of it back. I was okay with it for awhile until I saw myself in a couple Facebook posts that friends posted and I was shocked on how fat I looked! I’m finding out that being older and in menopausal stage, it’s not so easy to lose the weight, I needed a structured program. I’m a bit vain so I like to look good and wear pretty clothes but my clothes weren’t fitting anymore. I made up my mind that I was going to do this and really stick to it!
KEEP YOUR MIND BUSY
Your new diet is going to be painful. You’re going to want to quit. You’re going to have cravings and you’re going to go into Detox from sugar. You need to have a game plan to keep your mind busy so you can get through those moments of trouble. What is it you like to do? What are you passionate about? How about that business you’ve been talking about starting? Maybe learn a new trade and take some classes? For me, I chose to create this blog. I’ve always wanted to start one but never got around to doing it, plus, I didn’t know how. So, I decided to learn and just start it. Now, it consumes my mind! It’s all I think about…LOL…Just keep your mind busy and that’s half the battle right there.
STAY ACCOUNTABLE. CHOOSE A FRIEND TO TEXT YOUR DAILY PROGRESS
This is huge! You will definitely need this to succeed. Find a friend or family member who would like to do this with you or who would be supportive enough for you to text daily. First thing in the morning when you wake up, go pee then get on the scale. Make sure it’s a digital scale. Go on it 3 times and average it out. Then text your friend what your weight is. You’re going to do this everyday. You can either keep a journal of what you weigh and what you eat or you can go a step further and text your friend your food choices as well. I have a coach that I text daily. She came with the program I signed up for.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
Your body needs to be a well oiled machine and your oil is water. Drink half of your body weight in ounces. It also depends on how much you weigh, if you weigh 600 pounds, there’s no way you can drink 300 ounces of water! I weighed 200 pounds when I started and they recommended I drink 90 oz of water. It was tough for me at first but I made a schedule for myself to make sure I got it all in.
KEEP YOUR ENERGY UP
Make sure that you’re taking a good Whole Food Multi-Vitamin Supplement and also a Vitamin B complex to help you keep your energy up. This is vital or you’ll feel weak and may even lose your hair along with a bunch of other problems. Also, get plenty of sleep. Go to bed at a reasonable time and try to shut my mind off of that new task you took up to keep your mind busy!
KEEP TEMPTATION OUT OF THE WAY
The hardest part for me in the beginning was seeing foods I love out on display, especially sweets. It was worse at work, I’m telling you, the struggle was real! I had to finally ask my co-workers to put their snacks away where I couldn’t see them. They had no problems in doing so because I asked nicely. You could do the same. At home, ask your family members to help you out and do the same thing. My fiance is very supportive of me and he waits to have his ice cream and snacks when I’m not there. Or he’ll keep his chips and candy at work. Now though, he could eat all those things in front of me and I’ll only ask for a bite!
PREPARE YOUR FOOD IN ADVANCE
It’s very important that you plan ahead and prepare food for work, otherwise, you’ll get hungry and may buy food that’s not good for you. I work 10 hour shifts and if I work 2 or 3 days in a row I make sure I prepare enough food for 2 meals for each day and have it packaged and ready to grab. You can’t be lazy, you gotta make yourself do this. You gotta keep it simple though so you don’t burn out. One of my favorite and easiest things to do is buy a package of ground chicken, put it in a bowl then add salt, black pepper then a bit of garlic powder. Mix it up, then make golf ball sized meatballs. A pound of ground chicken will make about 12 meatballs, a meatball is about one ounce each, so that makes for 3 meals. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350’F . Once they’ve cooled, store them in ziplock bags, 4 meatballs in a bag, so they are ready to grab and go. As you get going, you’ll learn what works for you.
That’s it. That’s what I got for you. If you have more ideas on how to stick to a diet, please comment below, we can all learn from each other.