Are you ready to start improving your eating habits and meeting your health goals?
Starting a diet plan can help you meet your weight loss goals and make you feel healthier and more energetic. In fact, research shows that the foods you eat can improve your mood and even lowers your risk of disease.
But the first step to seeing results from your diet is to follow a diet plan. People who follow the right diet plans set themselves up for a greater likelihood of success. So, if you’re starting a diet plan, you need to know what you need to include in it.
We’ll get into everything you need to know below. Keep reading to learn more about how to create and follow a successful diet plan!
1. Set Goals for Your Diet Plan
Without a goal in mind, you might find it harder to create and stick to a specific diet plan. As a matter of fact, people who don’t have goals are much less likely to see positive outcomes.
That’s because goals provide motivation. If you know why you’re doing something, you’re a lot more likely to continue doing it even on the days you don’t want to do so.
Your goals will also help you determine which of the types of diet plans you’d like to start. Here are a few common goals people have for going on a diet:
- Losing weight
- Gaining weight
- Becoming healthier
- Increasing energy
- Fighting off health conditions
- Building up muscle
Before you undertake a specific diet plan, you should discuss its potential effects of it with your doctor. For example, losing weight isn’t always healthy for everyone, so you need to make sure your doctor thinks it’s safe for you to lose weight.
Make Your Goals Realistic
One of the keys to attaining your dieting goals is to make them realistic. Otherwise, you might find your objectives too difficult to achieve and give up in the middle of the journey.
You know your goals are realistic when they follow the SMART model. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. “Specific” refers to what you want to achieve. Lay this out as clearly as possible.
“Measurable” points to your ability to know when you’ve reached the goal. For people on a diet plan, this could be gaining or losing a specific amount of weight.
“Achievable” means you know it’s possible to accomplish this and you have an action plan in place. “Relevant” refers to the goal being related to a purpose. Finally, “time-bound” means you have a timeline over which you’d like to reach this specific goal.
Last, make sure you include some flexibility in your goals. Don’t fault yourself for not meeting your objectives right when you thought you would. Remember that all positive changes are progress, and adjust your goals as needed!
2. Use Science, Not Willpower
Many people starting a diet plan believe that they’ll be able to succeed based on willpower alone. But our bodies contain powerful instincts that were built into us out of a need to survive. Hunger is one of those instincts, and when we eat less, our cravings for food become more intense.
So, if you base your diet plan on willpower alone, you may find it harder to stick to it. Instead of working against your body’s automatic reactions, work with them. Focus on eating food that’s whole and fresh until you feel full. Limit your amount of eating in between meals.
Further, don’t eat 3 hours before you go to bed. All your body functions slow as the day winds down. As such, you won’t need as much energy to get through the next few hours. If you eat too much before bed, then, the body will store your food as fat.
3. Don’t Just Count Calories
For a while, many people championed a calorie-based approach to dieting. Under these approaches, people starting a diet plan would count the number of calories they consumed in a day. Then, they would track the number of calories they burned off in exercise.
The basic idea was that if you burned more calories than you consumed, you would lose weight and be healthier.
There are a few issues with this form of dieting. First, not all calories are equally bad for you. Nuts, seeds, and chicken, for example, serve as a crucial part of getting the nutrients you need. On the other hand, some caloric foods, such as sugar and flour, cause insulin spikes, which actually make you more hungry.
So, instead, focus on eating healthy, balanced meals and getting plenty of exercise.
Learn how to battle sugar cravings today!
4. Starting a Diet Plan That Suits You
People often associate diets with eating flavorless foods that they hate. In reality, though, this can influence whether or not their diets work. Those who hate what they’re eating are more likely to fall back on their unhealthy eating habits.
So, as you build your diet plan, it’s important to find foods that fit your sense of taste. To do this, think about the foods you already like to eat. Then, see if you can make healthier substitutions for some of the ingredients. You can also identify some recipes you’d be interested in trying.
Get Started on Your Diet
Starting a diet plan doesn’t have to be as daunting of an endeavor as it seems. In fact, following the steps listed above should help you get on the right track!
Studies show that people who join groups are more likely to complete their health and fitness goals. So, if you plan on exercising in conjunction with your diet, find some gym partners or join a running group!
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