Many of us are able to follow a healthy diet for a short period, but few us can stick with it for a long time. It’s just too easy to slip back into a less healthy routine. However, there are a number of tricks you can use to make sure you keep to your diet and enjoy its full long-term benefits. Here are some tips to help your diet succeed—and last.
Escape Snack Attacks
Snacks are delicious but they are also diet-busters. Avoid keeping junk food and snacks around the house—at least unhealthy snacks like potato chips, candies, crackers and colas. If you’ve got junk around the house, it’s too easy to get tempted to eat it. But if the food isn’t there and all you’ve got are healthier alternatives, you’ll probably eat those instead.
Also try not to eat any snacks after dinner, as night snacking is the silent diet killer that has derailed many a noble effort.¹
Want Accountability? Make It Public
Another great diet trick is to make it public. When you announce your diet goals via social media or in person, making your effort public helps keep you accountable—especially if you set a penalty or consequence for breaking your diet. It’s embarrassing to have others know that you failed to keep your goal, and for that reason making things public can be a highly effective strategy to changing your diet for the long term.
At the end of the day, of course, staying honest with yourself is the first priority, but having others who are also keeping track can be a big boost.¹
Eat Kid Sizes
When you are out at the restaurant consider ordering kid-sized portions. It may sound funny but it’s also a diet pro tip. When you get smaller portions on a consistent basis your expectations will adjust, and you’ll be satisfied by smaller amounts. Lower amounts of calories translates into weight loss—especially when combined with fitness, so eating kid-sized portions at restaurants (and at home) is a win-win.¹
Think Nuts
Sometimes sticking to a diet can be made easier with strategic foods. Research seems to indicate that consuming peanuts or almonds can increase the feeling of fullness and reduce the desire to continue to eat.² This means that eating nuts or nut butters can make it easier to resist falling back into bad diet habits. One thing to beware of is that both nuts and nut butters can be very calorically dense, so enjoy, but don’t enjoy too much!
Weigh Your Progress—But Not Too Often
Weighing yourself is a classic part of any diet, but doing it too often can be a real downer, making it feel like you are not good enough and aren’t making enough progress. Experts recommend that weighing yourself around once per week is optimal and is the perfect mix of keeping close track of your progress without overdoing it.¹
More Fruits And Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are the integral parts of many of the best diets out there and the more you eat the more fiber and water your body gets, which helps build your fitness, overall health and weight loss progress. One good idea is to write down a list of three of your favorite vegetables and fruits and then look up recipes online which you can use to make delicious dishes and desserts. From there it is an exciting culinary adventure.³
Don’t Give Up
Diets are cumulative and long-term so the results don’t show up right away. Don’t give up and stick to your goals. What’s hard now will become easy with time. Watch motivational videos on YouTube of people who had diet success, make an inspiring music playlist, workout, jog and build up your self-esteem. You are going to make it: believe in yourself and your diet will succeed.¹
[1] https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-best-diet-tips-ever
[2] https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/100/suppl_1/412S/4576547
[3] https://www.onhealth.com/content/1/top_diet_weight_loss
