Simplicity for Weight Loss Success
A common reason for failure in dieting stems from the complicated nature of some diets. It’s no secret that the weight loss industry is huge. People make a lot of money selling products and services that promise to help you shed those unwanted pounds. However, many of these products and services are unnecessary and sometimes counterproductive.
Weight loss programs that demand you eat certain foods at certain periods during the day, require you to maintain a journal, and are constantly sending you to the store to pick up your latest dietary needs are simply exhausting to follow through with! It’s no wonder that each year millions of people start a diet with good intentions and ultimately quit out of frustration. But guess what?! Dieting doesn’t have to be complicated!
If you’re the type of person who is inclined to fail when embarking on what seems like a daunting task, start focusing today on keeping your dieting simple. Here are a few rules to help send you down the right path:
Rule #1: Don’t have too many rules!
That’s right, don’t overwhelm yourself with a ton of diet regulations that are hard to follow through with. When people impose a ton of rules on themselves, they will inevitably break one eventually. When this happens, they become discouraged and ultimately break all of their other rules out of frustration! So lose all the rules!
Rule #2: It’s all about portion control!
Everyone has one of those skinny friends who seemingly eats whatever they want. I can tell you the secret to how that person stays skinny: they just don’t overeat. You could literally eat a diet consisting of nothing but Big Macs, and as long as you only eat 3-4 of them per day, you’ll absolutely lose weight as a result of only consuming 1,500-2,000 calories per day. Now, I’m certainly not advocating a Big Mac only diet. Sure, you could conceivably lose weight doing it, but the effects it would have on your overall health would more than negate whatever weight loss you achieved. However, the point remains that you needn’t big a big red “AVOID” sticker on your favorite foods and desserts. Eat what you like, just don’t eat a lot of it!
Rule #3: Request a take home box.
Almost every entree at almost every restaurant contains way too many calories. One trick I like to do is request a take home box before they even bring out my meal. I decide how much of the meal I’d be comfortable consuming and I put the rest in the box before ever eating a bite. Usually a restaurant-portion entree is enough food for two people or for one person to have two meals. Take that thing home and make it tomorrow’s lunch! Not only will you lose weight, but you’ll save some money too!
Notice how simple the diet advocated in this article is: eat what you want, just don’t overeat! Anyone can have the discipline to follow through on a plan like that. Practice awareness in your eating; ask yourself before each bite, “do I need to eat this?” Doing so will help you realize when you’re approaching your limit.
Happy eating and happy weight loss!
