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18 Ways To Stick To Your Diet

What are some ways that you can stick to your new diet? We have all seen the statistics of poor adoption rates for diets, if you are on your second, third or more diet you are not alone. Adhering to a diet obviously need s some effort, knowledge, and willpower but it is not impossible. If you start out right and are aware of your tendencies, common pitfalls and then apply strategies to effectively avoid them then you can succeed in losing weight permanently. Here are some strategies you can use.

Although these strategies will work with any diet, there is an added benefit to sticking with the proven best possible diet or way of eating, the Mediterranean Diet. Get Going Many dieters sabotage themselves by waiting for the perfect time to start their now program. This common strategy of delaying the start of a diet is based on the perception that a diet has to be painful and uncomfortable, something to be avoided. Pausing or procrastinating also implies that there will be some perfect time to begin, when the only perfect time is right now. So don’t wait for the New Year, after your birthday, or for summer, start today. .

. Be Realistic Psychologically if you expect yourself to be “perfect” with your new diet it is unlikely you will stay with, and very likely you will become quickly discouraged. Understand that the change will create a sense of deprivation, specifically for the salt, sugar and fat that our bodies crave in far greater amounts than is good for us. What is realistic is to form a plan and stick with it . Don't Let One Slip Up Throw You Off Course Special events, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, anniversaries, holiday parties; there many opportunities to give in and break your diet. My weakness is wasting food, generally when my kids haven’t finished off what I prepared and I know that it won’t be eaten as leftovers, I take a few bites because it is wasteful to throw it away. Those are the toughest times to say I won’t just finish off that little bit, so my strategy is to be aware of that temptation, the observation of it makes it easier to stay true to the Way of Eating. Also, in the Mediterranean Diet group we don’t play the blame game and say someone cheated or call them a cheat, if we do slip we can just say I will do better the next time. The experts say don’t compensate by skipping a meal which is not an issue if you are Intermittent Fasting. Just improve each day.

. Feast and Fast Cycles The experts also say that is devastating to “feast and fast” which is true unless you have a specific plan for Intermittent Fasting, which is actually the best approach to sustained weight loss and related health benefits. The “devastating” part is that people who feel deprived will overeat to compensate, whereas the truth is compensating can be fairly easily managed. So fast and feast if you are Intermittent Fasting, but avoid it is you don’t have a plan and schedule. Make Choices Instead Of Rules The guilt associated with breaking a rule is worse than the positive feedback one gives themselves when making a healthy choice. There is good reason why teachers talk to their students about making good choices. Moving toward healthier eating and drinking is very positive, break a rule is not. Including healthier choices over time will evolve into a habit that once established makes those choices easier and easier to make. Fill in some text

. Mindfulness and Pacing Drinking lots of water will help with overeating as your stomach feels fuller and the water is good for you as well. Eating slowly has been proven to help with losing weight, chewing your food well also helps with digestion. The idea with the Mediterranean diet is to slow down and enjoy your food, savor the meal, and eat slowly so you will feel full or satiated before you overeat Eliminate Processed Foods If you remember the Mediterranean diet rules of drink lots of water, don't drink your calories, and focus on vegetables before any other ingredients you automatically use more produce than processed foods. In fact not eating processed foods is going to be one of the prime elements for a healthy diet, as generally processed foods and fast foods have high calories and low nutrition. Whether you are adopting the Mediterranean diet or Intermittent Fasting most of your calories should come from vegetables, so eat those first.

. Socialize Properly Until you get to the point where you feel comfortable not consuming food during social events, it is probably a good idea to avoid social situations that are focused on food. This will be difficult as most social events have a food aspect to them and most places you'll be there will be a lot of peer pressure to eat what is provided. Once you have established the fact that you are a way of eating that doesn't include whatever is available and is very specific and that you won't give in then peer pressure will get easier and easier to ignore. Focus on a Few Small Changes With the concept of progressive extremism you change one thing at a time but change it all the way; instead of trying to do everything all at once can be overwhelming. Making all the changes necessary to fully adopt the Mediterranean diet and Intermittent Fasting all at one time is possible but it may be easier to take one piece of it and then establish that as a habit and then add in the additional initiatives until you have fully embraced this Way of Eating. .

. Stop Counting Calories Counting calories can do more harm than good because it is not sustainable, in fact it is difficult and challenging and you don't really get the end result that you would expect from counting calories. Many common diets rely on counting calories for your weight loss but with a Mediterranean diet it is quite a bit different as we use portion control and filling up on vegetables and water instead of counting calories with better results. Provide your body with good nutrition from balanced meals with reasonable portion control and a balance of carbs, protein, and healthy fats, like olive oil. Set SMART Goals Having a goal that is smart that is Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Timely is one of the best ways that you can ensure you fully adopt a diet. Having specific measurable goals that can be achieved by determining what you will measure and getting into the habit of measuring and recording the improvements. Write down your goal and make the choices needed on a continuing basis to achieve the goal in a timely manner, starting now. .

. Pay Attention To Your Body's Hunger Cues With Intermittent Fasting in particular paying attention to your body and the hunger cues is critically important. Until your body becomes fat adapted it is going to crave fat sugar and salt. You can override that craving and it will easier to do so the next time. This is especially true when adopting intermittent fasting, once you have fasted for forty eight hours which is the optimum time for a autophagy then you will realize that your body doesn't really need a constant stream of meals and snacks and that giving your digestive system a chance to rest is very healthy for you. Planning and Meal Preparation Meal preparation and planning is critical to success with these Ways of Eating. If you have your meals on hand all prepared then you're less likely to go out and get fast food or some other kind of food that is not as healthy for you and if you set your portions in advance and just eat those portions that can also help with sudden indulgence events and ensures that you're eating the right foods in the right amounts at the right time. Effective planning and putting into practice having your planned meals will make the process of keeping to this diet much easier. .

. Journaling One of the things that we focus on in my Where's My Stomach course is keeping a workbook and logging your meals and how you feel and to just make sure that you're checking in and writing down the information that's critical to your successful adoption of this way of eating. Referring back to this and sharing with others can really help make small improvement or choices on the way to sticking with the diet fulltime. Your Body Will Fight You Understand that your body is a record of the past and will drive you to eat comfort foods that are usually bad for you in portions that are also not good for you, particularly in times of stress. Given that it is helpful to ways to comfort yourself other than with food or drink rewards, as well as to celebrate of little successes or achievements without food or drink. One might celebrate by visiting with a friend, listening to a favorite piece of music, or taking walk in the park. The fact is your body will fight you and you need to win that battle. .

. Long Term Thinking In order to be successful with the adoption of the Mediterranean diet it is true that you have to do things that are simpler than you expect and easier than you expect that you have to do them for longer than you expect. We know from the research that changing our habits which can take anywhere from 21 to 30 days or more so during that time you have to be very focused on the benefits of making the changes and use the strategies described here and elsewhere. . .

. Nutrient Needs, Eat To Live Not Live To Eat You'll find that people who take care of themselves in other ways with regular exercise or some form of meditation or yoga will also tend to have a healthier lifestyle. The reverse of that is that once you commit to adopting that Mediterranean Diet and or Intermittent Fasting your body will start to crave that healthier lifestyle. It is the perfect time to make sure that you're doing the other things that you need, sleeping well, exercising, drinking lots of water, and finding positive ways of relieving stress. Aikido Works, Your Aikido Does Not Work Master Aikido Teacher (Shihan) Hiroshi Ikeda would often tell us in seminars thatAikido works, your practice of it does not necessarily work. We will all have different outcomes to for the every on our weight loss and health journey. Just be confident in the knowledge that with a good plan you will get results, just have reasonable expectations and celebrate the little victories along the way. In this society of convenience and quick fixes sometimes one must be patient to get the outcomes that matter. In Aikido we continued to practice doing the moves the right way and improved over time. Sticking to your new Way of Eating requires your take the long view, as that’s how long you want your diet to last. . .