Making Your Diet Work
Many people have gone on and off diets to no avail. Nine out of ten times they fail because of one or a combination of the reasons below. It is therefore important to watch out for errors you may be making, especially when you are already well in the middle of yet another diet plan.
Here are some common dieting mistakes and how you can work your way around them.
1. You are not fully committed to your diet. Half of the effort to lose weight comes from your attitude. If you are not ready to give it all your best, your dieting efforts will most likely fail. The best way to deal with this is to find a real source of motivation for you to lose those extra pounds. Find a good reason you truly believe in. Maybe you're doing this to have better health, or for you to be around for your kids long enough. In any case, you have to have a truly good reason to go on a diet and you have to keep believing in that reason.
2. You expect too much, too soon. If you have unreasonable expectations from your diet, you will one day realize that you're just not getting it. This kind of "failure" will make you disappointed and will most likely discourage you from going on. The key here is to be realistic in the goals you set for yourself. Most people will lose one to three pounds every week when they stick to a diet. Most of the weight loss will usually occur during the first few weeks and then their weight will begin to level off further in the plan. Learn to accept the fact that successful dieting results in a slow but steady weight loss.
3. You have an unrealistic plan. Extreme dieting measures will result in certain failure. Why? Because you haven't trained your body enough yet to go through drastic lifestyle changes. Going on a diet should be done in small manageable steps. If you want to go easy on carbohydrates, for example, try cutting down small amounts on a weekly basis so that you don't feel too much of the impact of a low-carb diet at once. Do it slowly, making small baby steps, so that you can ensure a better chance of being successful with your diet.
4. You can't forgive yourself when you slip. Accept the fact that as you go on a diet, there will be times when you will give in to temptation. Don't let falling off the wagon once make you forget all the efforts you have already put into your weight loss plan. In fact, you would probably be better off with your diet if you allow yourself periodic breaks from it. For example, you may want to treat yourself to a small portion of a sweet dessert after one week of going low-carb.