I'm having trouble sticking to my diet. Is there any easier way to make myself stay on it?

I’ll have to watch this one. If I knew the answer I’d be skinny by now. LOL.

hahah(:

Get rid of the things that tempt you. It’s easier to be good if the temptation isn’t so near.

2fundevogel, that is hard because that would make everybody in the house mad lol.

Will power. You need to just not eat the things that you know are fatty. You have to exercise every day, be it just a walk around the block, do some stretching and crunches at home. Just start taking care of yourself.

@Rayvin14 My mom used that excuse for a long time. If you have other family members that need salty or sweet snacks then they can keep them in their own private lockbox or secret stash. Or you could buy healthier snacks and just make them deal with it. Trader Joes has some great snacking alternatives. The one thing I have found is that keeping the sweets (and salts) away really does work. Just don’t do like me and keep a five dollar stash so you can walk to the market when you really want it. Then it doesn’t work, lol.

A good friend of mine once said “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”.

I have the same problem but as I see it the only way is NOT to have any temptation close at hand. But of course, on one hand there is that if you don’t live alone you will have to deal with other people bringing those temptations close to you or, this is a tricky one, sometimes we find ways to justify ourselves to buy stuff we are not supposed to eat when shopping. Like: “I know I am not supposed to eat cream cheese but my son loves it so much, I will get it from him! This time I will eat none.” “Yes, you’re right!!!” I should say to myself. lol

yess, i guess yall are right.

It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle change. Diets are temporary and fail. Fitness and health have to be maintained. You just have to develop the habits.

High protein snacks when you get cravings for sugar: hard boiled eggs, yogurt, string cheese, raw almonds. Lots of veggies and lay off the heavy amounts of dressing. Or creamy dressing. Lean protein is your friend: chicken, tuna, turkey, bison, most fish and seafood actually.

Also, no amount of exercise can undo a poor diet. It can reduce the negative effects of a “cheat meal”, but not if you have more than 1 cheat meal a week. And by cheat meal, I mean anything over 700 calories in one sitting, unless you’re a tall, muscular atheletic man used to eating 2500+ calories a day just to stay trim and not lose muscle.

Online food journals help you count calories. Websites like Fitday.com and TheDailyPlate.com can help you track and record calories appropriately. Watch your serving sizes—- weighing and measuring food is sometimes necessary.

It’s a lot of work. You have to want it. But it does get easy after a while, and after a few weeks eating well becomes second nature.

My dietician made up a diet for me based on my favorite foods. She explained the best way to eat my meals is split breakfast into two parts, eat half, then two hours later the other half, and same for lunch. Split the main part of dinner, but eat all the veges and 1/2 the meat first, followed by the fruit and the other 1/2 of the meat.

I am allowed to eat anything I want, as long as I promise to only eat 1 or 2 ounces at each session. In other words, limit the quantity, not the actual foods.

You’re going to be around fattening foods for your whole life. If you really want to make a change, you’ll learn to say no.

Clearly, the only diet that will work for you is one that will let you eat ANYTHING, but in small amounts. This way, the junk foods your family eats in front of you would not have the power it currently does.

And walk. Do you walk everyday?

Look at yourself in the mirror nude every morning.

@Spargett: Were you aware that the phrase you mentioned is closely tied to Pro-Ana groups?

@Spargett Asmonet beat me to it. That saying creeps me out.

Eat what you want, but cut the serving portions at least in half. Also, eat five small meals a day instead of two or three bigger ones.

Judi, you’ve been craftin’ junk for like 15mins.

You die?

Dear Rayvin,

I would suggest you to combine both exercise and diet. Do you know that exercise suppresses appetite. So, its a double advantage…..you would lose more calories if you exercise and diet

If you hate exercising, join your friend and get into a gym. You can do low impact exercises like cycling, cross-training etc. Start out by exercising for only 30 minutes. It can make a lot of difference

When it comes to diet, please avoid fad diets which promise that you will lose a lot of calories in a short time. Go for a long-term healthy diet which you would love and which is easy to follow. Just check this site to follow a healthy diet : http://mypyramid.gov/

Before starting your diet,visualise yourself thin, have a target, do it for yourself, see your body the way you want it, dancing is a good way to loose weight, do things that are fun to loose weight, happy upbeat music will up your mood and your desire to exercise. Drink lots of water keep a 500ml bottle with you all the time and top it up regularly.

Don’t diet as such, rather change your eating habits, most vegetables are steam able and they taste sweet and crispy, dish up your plate of food colorful and keep a container of fresh fruit salad in the fridge and keep a few tubs of plain yogurt in there as well, add a teaspoon of honey to it when you add the yogurt to the fruit salad it is beautiful and tastee.

Nourish your body and every time you put something in your mouth think of it as an offering to it.

Think of the harmful effects and artificial colorants etc in products and read labels.

Love yourself fit and beautiful again.

@Rayvin14 is there any chance you could involve the someone else, maybe someone you live with in your diet change? Do a bit of a ‘lets get healthy together’ thing? When I initially started going to the gym I had to go with a friend, we pushed each other and we were more successful at maintaining healthy habits because of it.

The following advice has worked for me:

You need volume and low-energy (low-calorie) density. So everything with lots of stored water and fiber is good: salad, vegetables and fruit. It’s good to eat slowly. The sensors in your stomach work with a 10-minute delay before your brain receives the signal “I’m not hungry anymore”. This is actually one reason fast food is so very very dangerous. On top of high-energy density the stuff is also easy to chew and swallow. No problem going to McDonald’s twice a month, especially when you also exercise. But that should be about it.

Have you heard about the slow food movement?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_food

Yes, this is a tricky one! I find the best way is to be prepared. Make sure you plan your meals for everyday, build in snacks for the times you know you will feel nibbly and make sure you have everything ready. I find that if I do not have the right food at hand when the craving gets me, I cheat. If the alternative is handy, I normally succeed. Unfortunately in How To Lose Weight Calories still count, but you can work into your daily plan. I guess what I’m saying is, plan everything. Have a look at a site such as: http://www.how-to-lose-weight-calories.com/

get a buddy.

There are so many things that you should be thinking about. Don’t just diet, but change your lifestyle. I am doing this myself right now, and it gets easier and easier. I often prefer the healthier foods now, but I still allow myself a coca cola and a burrito occasionally.

Some things to think about:
–A craving lasts inly 15 minutes, if you can preoccupy yourself with something else, you can get through it.
–The more you exercise, the easier it is to sleep, which may help you lose weight.
–Don’t be too hard on yourself, because you can’t always cut everything out, but you can allow it occasionally.
–Think of ways that you can replace some of the foods you like: if you like ice cream, buy frozen yogurt and berries, blend them together, and freeze them to make a healthier snack. This means you can eat more of them.
–Studies have shown that it doesn’t matter what you eat, but how much you eat. Start counting your calories. Try to cut at least a hundred calories, at first, from your diet. Like others said, it is about portion control. You can still eat a hamburger at home, but buy lean meat, don’t use cheese or mayonnaise, and put it on an english muffin!
–It also helps me, personally, to try to stay updated on different health blogs. This way I am constantly thinking about the lifestyle change.

The great thing is that once you get used to it, it won’t be that big of a deal.

Find some better snacks. I just got turned onto Kellogs Fiber Plus Bars. 130 cals, 5 G fat, only 7 sugars but they have a whopping 9 g of fiber. Eat one with a big glass of water and you will be full in no time. Plus, they are YUMMY!! Even my 12 yr. old likes them!

One thing’s for sure. Like someone mentioned, you always HAVE to have your diet stuff available all the time. The first time you’re hungry and there’s no diet food already prepared, you’ll go for fast food.

Keep your purse in the turnk of your car, so you REALLY have to think about what you are doing. I did that and lost 60 lbs.

@mattbrowne The slow food movement is fantastic. I first heard about it from a lecture given by Winona Laduke. Awesome woman.

When you wake up in the morning, drink a glass of water before starting anything else.
Cut out added sugars from your diet which will also lessen the cravings for starch and salt.
Anytime you feel hungry between meals and allotted snacks, drink glasses of water.
Anytime you eat something you don’t feel happy about, a splurge or backslide, whatever you want to call it then wash it down with a glass of water.
What @mattbrowne wrote about slowing yourself down, that really works.

There is no magic cure for diets – the most important thing to have is a positive attitude towards yourself, dont see it as a mission to lose wight, but rather a a lifestyle change for a healthier you – that way the pressure eases up a bit and you dont punish yourself for not sticking to your eating plan. Be realisitic in your goals.

Also excercise helps – however little it may be, it puts in that positive frame of mind and you wont want to ruin all of your hard work by excercising with a chocolate bar.
IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO BE HEALTHY – NOT SKINNY!!!

I have the same problem right now.
Specially since summer is coming up and all my friends look perfect in bakinis.
But i think you should go food shopping with whoever buys the things that are “tempting” you in the house.
Tell them you want a few healthy things for yourself and they should understand.

What types of things tempt you? I’ve been in the process of changing my eating habits for the last several months and I can totally empathize with you, its rough. But you should know that the first few weeks are the hardest. If you eat lots of fast food or sugar, you are basically addicted. For example, McDonalds (and many other restaurants, both sit-down and fast-food) adds sugar to everything. Between that and all the salt and grease, you don’t stand a chance. You basically have to go through “withdrawal,” and there will be physical as well as emotional changes as a result. If the rest of your family eats junk food, you might feel left out. You are also likely to be more hungry because fatty foods are heavier and stay with you longer. But its important to remind yourself that the longer you say no to junk food, the less and less you will miss it and the temptation won’t be so great. I would recommend learning to cook healthfully, if you don’t know how to already. Not only does cooking give you more control over what you eat, it teaches you how to gauge the nutritional value of food, and to appreciate just how much you are eating. Check out cookinglight.com. You can find almost any recipe that you can think of, except it has fewer calories and less fat. Think meatballs, mac and cheese, chocolate lava cakes, pasta, lasagna, burgers, baked fries, chicken dishes, tacos, sloppy joes, etc. As someone who really isn’t into things like baked ziti and chicken breasts with asparagus (bleh, too gourmet for me), it took me awhile to realize that my diet didn’t have to completely change or totally exclude dessert. You just have to learn to make dishes that you like in a more nutritious and portion conscious way. Make your “diet” something that will work for you for a lifetime and you will be much less frustrated. Days of celery sticks and salads aren’t satisfying and even if you lose weight, you will regain it in the long run because that is impossible to stick to.

This really does work. I have lost 20 pounds in the last 4–5 months doing this!

Why not buy yourself an outfit you really love, but a few sizes smaller than your present size.
Look at it each day, and maybe that will be a good enough incentive to make you stick to your diet.