Dieting can be one of the hardest things that many people do with regards to their health. If you’re not mentally prepared for what a diet entails, you may not be as successful as you would like. However, diets can vary as much as people, which means that your idea of what a “diet” is may not actually be what’s going to help you to get healthy and lose weight. While many people think about all that they can’t eat while dieting, a proper diet is just as much about what you should be eating and how you should view fueling your body. To help make this easier, here are three things you should try that may make the idea of dieting easier for you to manage.
Try The 80/20 Approach
Strictly setting what you can and can’t eat often sets people up for failure with their diets. For a diet to truly be helpful to your health, it should be something sustainable. And for most people, eating completely cleanly each and every day isn’t sustainable. Knowing this, Brittany Smith, a contributor to MensFitness.com, recommends trying the 80/20 approach. This means that 80 percent of the time, you’re committed to eating healthy and sticking to your diet. For the other 20 percent, you give yourself permission to splurge a little and eat something that simply makes you happy. By switching to this way of dieting, you may find that the 80 percent of strict dieting is easier to handle.
Eat More Smaller Meals
One of the worst things about traditional ideas of dieting is being hungry all the time. Not only does this make you feel miserable, but it’s really not the best way to make your body leaner and stronger. Rather than eating too few calories, Hallie Levine, a contributor to FitnessMagazine.com, recommends spreading those calories out throughout the day by eating a larger number of smaller meals. By doing this, you’ll never truly feel hungry, which can help to keep your metabolism moving all day long. Along with this perk, you will also never break from your diet due to being so hungry that you just need something to make you feel full.
Practice Portion Control
One of the main things that makes eating difficult is knowing when you’ve had enough of a certain food. While almost all foods are reasonable to eat in a small amount, practicing portion control can be very difficult, especially when you’re not being particularly mindful about things like snacking. To help with this, Brierly Wright, a contributor to EatingWell.com, suggests using smaller plates or bowls to help you practice portion control. By giving yourself a smaller amount of food to begin with, it will help your mind realize when your body has had enough to eat and will help you avoid overeating simply because there is more food in front of you.
If you need some help sticking to a diet, use the tips mentioned above to help you begin gaining more self control with regards to food.