Tired of Dieting and Getting No Where?

Dieting takes effort! Many people have felt that they’ve been dieting their entire life to manage their adult weight.  Whether eating behaviors stem from the way you are raised, needing that comfort food, or rewarding yourself for that incredible workout you just did.  We frequently hear about how someone was raised; clean your plate before you leave the table, there are starving people around the world, and even every time you go to someone’s house that it’s rude to not eat when offered food they cooked.  So how do you switch it up and break your childhood eating habits?  There are several ways to break the pattern for us and even our children. 

Here are some helpful tips that will help on your journey to weight loss and maintaining your weight.

Eating at set times every day creates a natural rhythm.  This can help you from those distracting moments like eating out of boredom, stress, or just because it’s there.  When you train your body to know when to expect the next meal or snack it frees you from being focused on the food.  When you think of how busy your life is and how dieting takes effort, remember how you ate as a child.  

Eat real food, not just foods that make you feel better.  By eating whole foods, you will feel better and healthier along with resetting the way you eat.  Teaching you to change how you eat. Eat unprocessed foods.  Food will taste better once you remove the added sugars.

Special occasions don’t mean overeating.  Some foods are tempting and trigger foods for many people.   Eating a moderate amount of things is fine, have a bite of that dessert for that special occasion.  Remember that dieting takes effort – just get back on track the next day.

Give yourself permission to stop when you’ve had enough to eat.  You do not need to eat everything on the plate.  Eat slowly so that you can learn to recognize when you have had enough to eat.   We have all eaten everything on our plate in a restaurant and for most of the restaurants in America, the portions are too generous.

You must drink water.  Water is essential for your body.   Drinking lots of water  help keep hunger at bay and hunger is often thirst in disguise. It is also a wonderful metabolizer for the body and helps to flush out adipose cells.   

Because dieting takes effort, following these hints can help you through your most challenging times and it’s ok to leave yourself so room to sometimes allow just a taste of your favorite item.   Look at those items as treats and don’t let them distract you from your ultimate goal.