Nutrition & Recipes
How to Be a Successful Dieter
Jun
If you’ve ever wondered why some people make healthy eating look easy, I’ll tell you right now that it’s no complicated schedule or hidden secret. It’s the complete opposite, in fact. Simplicity is key. So is consistency. If you’re wondering what it takes to be a successful dieter, keep reading.
How to Be a Successful Dieter
These tips are simple and straight forward. Done with consistency, these actions and focuses become routine and before you know it, you won’t even have to ask yourself “Is this healthy? Is this what I need right now? Is this going to get me where I want to be?”. You’ll just know that you’re on track.
To be a successful dieter you need to…
Focus on How You Eat Just as Much as What You Eat
How do you eat? I’m not talking about how many times you chew your food or if you prefer a spork over a fork. I’m talking about how aware you are of what you’re eating, while you’re eating it, and how it’s making you feel.
Successful dieters know that counting calories is just a tool. Mindfulness and awareness is the skill required to make sense of that calorie counting without getting overwhelmed or anxious. It’s also the skill it takes to leave calorie counting behind.
And like any other skill, it takes practice to get comfortable with and get better at. Here’s how to practice mindfulness:
- Slow down. Have you ever finished a meal before you really realized you were eating it? How about a bag of popcorn? Same. Sometimes it feels necessary to eat quickly – between meetings or before leaving the house. Question for you: how satisfying are those meals?
Not very satisfying at all. Rushing through a meal means you don’t have time to notice the flavor, the texture, the smells or just the simple joy or sitting down for a meal. You finish up feeling unsatisfied which means you’re more likely to reach for a snack (that you might not need) later on.
Plus, eating quickly doesn’t give your body enough time to realize that it’s full. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain and digestive system to communicate back and forth and signal “I’m done”. So next time you sit down for a meal, set a timer for 20 minutes. If that feels waaaaayyyy to long, take note of how long it does take you to finish a meal. Tomorrow, try to stretch that 1-2 more minutes. - Eat distraction free. How many times have you scarfed down a meal in your car, on your way somewhere while talking on the phone? First of all, that’s dangerous. But I’m not your Driver’s Ed teacher I’m your Coach so moving on…
It is impossible to fully tune in to what and how you are eating when you’ve got 10 other things going on at the same time. Which again, leaves you unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Whenever it’s time to eat, try to put away as many distractions as possible. Put your phone away. Close down your emails. Pull over to the side of the road. Fully experience your meal.
*One bonus that you might find out when you start to really tune in to your meals is that processed foods and drive thru – foods that you know aren’t what you ought to be noshing on anyways – don’t really taste that good when you actually pay attention. - Get comfortable with hunger. I don’t mean live your live with a growling stomach. I do mean…start to gain an understanding of your hunger cues. Too often we rely on the clock to let us know it’s time to eat – whether we are hungry or not. If you ignore the clock and instead focus on what your body is telling you, you’ll find that your body is pretty good at knowing what it needs.
Start by doing hunger check-ins every 2-3 hours. You don’t necessarily have to eat, although if you’re hungry, by all means! But you should start to ask yourself “On a scale of 1-10, how hungry am I”. A bit of hunger is just fine. Your brain is hard-wired to tell you otherwise because back in the day, hunger meant possible starvation. In our world today though, there’s food everywhere. And hunger isn’t such a necessary physiological panic button. In fact, noting that hunger and sitting with it is a good way to feel more in control and gain a better understanding of how you can respond.
Take Responsibility Instead of Just Focusing on Rules
Successful dieters don’t collect rules. They understand that healthy eating isn’t good versus bad, this versus that. Instead, they take on the responsibility of learning about food and nutrition and making choices based on what they know.
There is an endless number of diet rules out there and a lot of them are contradictory.
Eat every 3-4 hours but don’t eat past 8 pm.
Carbs are bad for you. No wait, fats are bad for you. No wait, red meat is bad for you.
Hold the sugar but not the fruit.
Don’t get me wrong. There is no universal truth that makes nutrition and healthy eating simple and straight forward for everyone. And to confuse things even more, most of what we’re bombarded with in terms of healthy dieting and nutrition comes from big business – people focused on making money, not necessarily making you healthy.
That all said, there are some truths that stand strong for most people – like the fact that unless you are allergic to them, eating lots of vegetables is pretty good for you. And that staying hydrated can do wonders for your body. And that protein is necessary to build muscle. The more you learn about them, the more power you have to make healthy decisions for yourself and your family.
Instead of relying on rules, dig in. Develop strategies that provide guidelines for healthy eating rather than strict “this vs that” rhetoric.
Have a Plan and Stick to It
People who have a plan and stick to it tend to get better, faster results that are long lasting and future focused. Why? Because with a plan, very little is left up to chance.
A meal plan benefits you in a number of ways:
- Increases the quality of your overall diet. People with meal plans tend to cook more at home – which means that they’re eating more whole foods with less added fat, sugar and salt (tricks of the restaurant trade).
- Gives you increased control. Two key components of healthy dieting are variety and balance. Eating a wide variety of nutrients and using portion control to maintain calories and balance helps you to get all of the nutrients you need on one plate.
- Prevents decision fatigue. It’s much harder to stay on track when you’re presented with a menu full of delicious and decadent looking options. That’s not to say what you make at home isn’t delicious or decadent, but you control what goes into your meal at home. That alone saves you calories and the necessity to make hard decisions (like skipping dessert).
Create your Ideal Plan. Then, create contingency plans: if/then plans that you have in your back pocket when the Ideal Plan goes off track (which it will every now and then).
Stay Calm When You Fall “Off Track” (and get right back on)
You have a plan. It’s perfectly designed. You’re doing amazing at checking off every single box, every single day, for weeks! And then life happens – you get sick, a family member gets sick, you move, go on vacation, career change. And all of the sudden you feel like you’ve fallen completely off track.
First and foremost – everyone (and I mean everyone) experiences this. It’s called life! And it’s going to continue throwing you curveballs. The trick is to roll with it, even if it means skipping a few checked boxes, and getting back on track when you can.
Here’s how:
Get back on track as soon as possible. Don’t wait for tomorrow, or Monday, or the 1st of the month. Do it now.
Don’t over compensate. In fact, don’t compensate at all. You’re playing the long game. Focus on right here, right now (not yesterday).
Do a Kitchen Makeover. Create an environment that supports your goals, not one that makes you work/think harder for them.
Get back to the basics. Instead of planning a “detox” or feeling like you can “fix it”, just get back to what you know works: stay hydrated, eat lots of vegetables, consume protein at every meal and move more.
Build Your Meals Around Protein and Vegetables
Speaking of vegetables and protein…
When it comes to healthy eating and successful dieting, simplicity is key. And this is as simple as it gets. Fill half your plate with vegetables. Eat protein at every meal.
Why vegetables? Veggies are nutrient dense – packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and water. They take up a lot of space for very little calories.
And protein? Protein is the building block of muscle and your body doesn’t store it the way it stores carbs and fats. You have to eat it regularly to reap the benefits. And the benefits are real. Protein helps to build lean muscle which raises your resting metabolic rate and burns more calories even at rest. It is filling and takes longer to digest which means your body uses more energy just to break it down and absorb the nutrients.
Together, protein and vegetables give you a wide array of nutrients that your body can then use to thrive!
You can use my healthy eating grocery list to widen your selection of veggies and protein (and carbs, fats, fruits and flavor boosters too, for that matter). Join my private, women-only Facebook group to download the PDF!
Learn How to Work in “Fun Foods” so You Don’t Feel Like You Need a Break
One of the biggest challenges for dieters is that on-again, off-again feeling that the weekend brings. Most women find it easier to stick to the plan during the week. You have a set schedule, a routine with work and home and travel, and at least early in the week your typically not too mentally fatigued to make the healthier choice. But as the week wears on and the fatigue and stress of the week gets real, most of us hit Friday Happy Hour with a sense of “finally, I need a break!”.
There’s nothing wrong with an indulgent meal on the weekend. But when one meal turns into after dinner drinks turns into brunch cocktails turns into nights out and lazy mornings, then all of the hard work you’ve put in all week is for naught.
Instead, start to work in fun foods and slightly-more relaxed meals throughout the week so that you don’t hit the weekend feeling overly restricted and at a loss for will power. A small bowl of fruit and dark chocolate, a glass of red wine with dinner, a fun lunch out with your girlfriends mid-week…these are all really rewarding ways to feel like your healthy lifestyle is completely manageable 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Moves More to Support Her Healthy Lifestyle
Diet alone isn’t going to give her the energy, the strength, the confidence or the body that she wants to have. Movement in the form of purposeful cardiovascular exercise, strength training/resistance training, and general activity throughout the day are key components of a healthy lifestyle and 100% support your efforts in the kitchen and at the kitchen table.
While you can lose weight by diet alone, working out and movement in general improves your mood, your quality of life, and longevity. Plus, you’ll get better results faster when you accompany healthy eating with a great fitness program.
If you have any questions at all about getting started with a great fitness program, or you want help diving deeper into healthy eating and nutrition accountability, schedule a free Strategy Session on the calendar here and let’s connect!
