Getting Ready for a New Diet

We make our resolutions every New Year’s Eve, full of enthusiasm and maybe a few drops of wine, determined that this year is going to be our slimmest year yet. Come springtime, most resolutions are forgotten about and we fall back into our old routines – dessert after dinner, fast food, a bag of chips here and there. It’s a well-known fact that gyms are busiest in the months of January and February and then as the year continues, newbies stop going and their gym membership card grows dusty in their wallet. And yet, there are some who achieve their aims, whether they wanted to drop a dress size, or fit into that pair of jeans from when they were a teenager. How do they do it? There are a number of factors common to all successful diets:

Goals

Know why you want to diet. Many people will just decide, “I need to lose weight!” While that is a key aim of all diets, it needs to be more specific than that. Do you want to lose weight for a specific reason? Maybe you want to lose weight for a special occasion, or for health reasons. It is best to narrow down your goals, in this way you will have better focus. One of the main factors that contribute to achieving your goals is knowing exactly what they are. Defining your goal is the first step towards achieving your goal.

Visualisation

Say your goal is to fit into a pair of jeans. Picture your new svelte self comfortably wearing them. Focus on every detail of this picture, until it is crystal clear in your mind. Imagine how great you will feel when you can fit into those jeans. You can now use these feelings and images to motivate you whenever your diet feels impossible to follow.

Planning

Once you’ve decided on what you want from your diet, the next step is to devise a plan to achieve it. It is important to set a goal that can be realistically achieved. For instance, deciding you want to lose fifty pounds in a week is unrealistic, whereas losing that same amount in a year is doable with effort. Make sure the diet that you choose to follow has shown results similar to what you want to achieve.

The right diet for you

It is tempting to get caught up in the spin surrounding the latest fad diet. But these are often designed for a specific lifestyle, one that may or may not fit in with your current lifestyle. When you make a decision to diet, it requires a lot of change in your life. By attempting to change your whole lifestyle at the same time as starting a diet, you are overloading yourself and setting yourself up to fail. It is best to choose a diet that fits in with your current lifestyle.

Diet and exercise

A good way to enhance the effects of your diet is to combine it with a fitness plan. By exercising you will be burning fat and increasing your health while your diet helps you to keep the weight off. As well as making you look better, exercise will make you feel better by increasing your natural endorphins. When you feel better you are more motivated to achieve your goals.

Team up with a friend

Going it on your own can be difficult, especially in those moments when temptation strikes. See if you can find a friend who has similar weight loss goals to you and team up with them. You can give each other support and strengthen each others commitment to your diets. So when you feel that cupcake on the coffee shop counter tempting you, you can imagine how disappointed your friend would be if you succumbed to it and you can pass it up.

By following these tips, you will be fully prepared to achieve your dieting goals, and the best part is, once you achieve you goal, other goals become much more doable. A successful diet can be the first step on the journey to a new you!

References
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/4-ways-to-get-that-diet-going
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/get-ready-to-diet/

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

This is courtesy of Goodtoknow Diets, the experts in exercise, low calorie food and healthy living.