It’s no wonder the word “diet” seems to have negative connotations. It’s associated with struggle, continuous failure, and bland food. People see it as a temporary state of unhappiness needed to bring around desirable results like weight loss. There’s an entire industry based on fad diets which don’t promote a holistic or healthy approach to attaining the body image you want.
The key is to really understand the word “diet”; however, not as a verb, but as a noun.
A diet is a description of your food and drink consumption habits. So technically, everyone has a diet, it’s just the question of what your diet looks like. You can live on a diet of nothing but fast food and processed snacks, or you can maintain a healthy and varied diet which nourishes your body.
If you are looking to lose weight, you shouldn’t be “dieting”, meaning that you are going to make a short-term change in order to meet your goal. Rather, you should be altering your current diet and forming long-term habits that you will be able to sustain for the rest of your life.
Starting a radical change to your diet can bring great results, but it should be done in an informed and healthy way to ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need. Start with professional help from a doctor or qualified nutritionist who will be able to put you on the right track. They will first evaluate the current state of things, take into account preferences and sensitivities, and then be able to recommend a course of action.
Most health professionals will start with a weight loss meal plan that can help you drop pounds fast. Make sure they understand your lifestyle, preferences, and final goals before this step so that they can incorporate that into the plan for you. Once you have this approved meal plan, it’s important that you stick to it religiously, especially in the first few weeks. It will help you get used to this new lifestyle, give you an appreciation of your new diet, and see noticeable results.
Afterwards, with the guidance of your health professional, you might find yourself experimenting with new ingredients or dishes to add variety to your diet while still making healthy choices. This will prepare you for creating your own meal plans down the road that will be made with a good “food conscience” avoiding the risk of undermining your efforts so far. You will be able to independently make choices about what to select from a restaurant menu or what to put into the shopping cart without having to reference a guide. Why? Because it will already be second nature to you!
Remember that you might find that the diversions from your original meal plan can bring negative effects, and if so, just go back to what you know works. Once things have stabilized, try something else and watch for its effect on your body. Throughout this process, you learn about your personal health as well as the power of your will. You’re like an engineer, tweaking your latest invention to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Except that in this case, your body is that machine.
Though a meal plan is a solid first step in addressing weight loss, the best results come to those who couple this with other initiatives like exercise and paying attention to mental wellness. These play a large part in the success of weight loss as they can help target the source of unhealthy behaviours and treat them while nourishing the body with healthy fuel.
As you now see, “dieting” is no long-term fix for weight loss. However, adjusting your day to day diet just might be…
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