How Long Should I Diet? 0
By Peter Hilford
Among the many things a new dieter asks is “How long should I diet?” The common answer is to stick to the diet until the ideal rate is reached. But this is simply untrue.
Anyone who loses a few pounds by dieting seem to gain them all back (and more) after they go back to their eating habits, no matter how long they sustained the diet. Naturally, they’d like to know exactly how long it takes for a diet’s effects to stick for good.
There’s good news and bad news for the new dieters out there. The bad news is that there is no such thing as diet duration. Dieting is a lifestyle change by itself, which means you should stick to this diet for life. If you want to stick to your ideal weight, then you’d better stick to your diet.
Here’s the good news: it’s actually easy sticking to your diet. The primary reason why a lot of dieters fail after a short time is because they try to make all these drastic lifestyle changes all at once. Believe me, no one’s that strong. You should go through your diet slowly and steadily. Below are some tips that may help you stick to your diet more easily.
Small steps, but never stop growing.
Start your diet with small achievable sacrifices. A good way to start your diet would be to avoid all forms of soda and drink more water, natural fruit juice or low-fat milk for a couple of weeks. (Did you know that a can of soda can contain around ten teaspoons of sugar?) If you’re in charge, then it’ll be easier for you to stick with your diet than having to follow every ‘diet rule’. After getting used to this sacrifice, impose another manageable limit then another, and another until you reach all your goals in the weight loss process. Handling lifestyle changes would be easier to achieve if they come in small chunks.
Key factor exercise.
Dieting is fine on its own, but if you want to lose weight faster, you’ll need to put in at least an hour of exercise five days a week. Exercise will also keep those pounds from rushing back if for some reason you reverted to your old eating habits. Naturally, going to the gym is the best way to stay fit – incorporate cardiovascular exercises, strength training, and flexibility routines into your workout. Choose something that you find fun – dancing, kickboxing, Yoga, whatever – so that sticking to your diet will be even easier.
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Always keep in mind that no matter ‘sinful’ a kind of food may be, it can always fit into your diet as long as it’s taken occasionally. Just eat more healthy food than ‘junk’ foods to balance your intake.
Furthermore, you should keep in mind that no one can stick to a diet flawlessly – there are always temptations. Missing a workout session on a very hectic schedule and drinking a toast on a friend’s wedding day are just one of those days that you need to lay down those limits. Instead of feeling sorry and giving up, get up and get right back on track as fast as you could. If everything goes fine then your weight will drop continuously as if nothing happened!
About the Author:
If this article interests you, The Author Peter Hilford has been a diet enthusiast for many years and has put together some helpful diet information on his website about How Long Should I Diet. This article may be freely distributed without modification and provided that the copyright notice and any author’s name’s remain intact.