When you want to lose a significant amount of weight, it's easy to fall into all-or-nothing thinking ...
You rationalize: 1. ) You have to follow a super-strict diet to succeed and/or 2.) If you fall off the wagon and eat junk for a day or two, you've blown it altogether.
This train of thought can be very detrimental to your weight loss efforts, but it's all too easy to fall into. So what's a "loser" to do?
- Step One: Loosen Up
The first way to avoid all-or-nothing thinking is to shake the idea that you must follow an extremely restrictive diet to lose weight.The fact is, most people who successfully maintain weight loss don't diet. They make healthy, permanent lifestyle changes, such as cutting back on calories, practicing portion control, and reigning in emotional eating.
Successful "losers" focus on weight management, not just weight loss.
- Step Two: Give In... Just a Little
Severely limiting your food intake or completely cutting out your favorite foods sets you up to binge. Temptation becomes much less powerful when you can have just a taste of something "bad" now and again instead of telling yourself it's off limits for good.This can be daunting at first. But you will become accustomed to satisfying your craving with a smaller amount of your trigger foods and you'll learn "when to say when".
- Step Three: Stop Saying the "D Word"
We "go on" and "go off" diets after every holiday season; we say "I start my Monday." only to be off it by the weekend. Nobody says "I start my new way of life Monday." But that's exactly what we need to do. An effective diet isn't just for Christmas, it's for life.To find a way-of-eating that works for the long haul, be leery of any plan that restricts entire food groups or that relies on one type of food (e.g. soup, pre-prepared entrees) as its mainstay.
We need variety not only for nutritional reasons, but also to satisfy ourselves. Believe me, because I've been there: Go on a diet that requires you to eat foods you don't like -- or completely omits your favorites -- and you will eventually dread every meal.
