how to stick to your diet – Every Step Fitness

Tuesday Tip: Sticking to your ‘diet’ 🥗

Diet (i.e food you are eating for your nutritional goals not a fad ‘diet’) adherence is the most important element of successful fat loss and long term maintenance. Here are some tips to help:

#1 Eat what you like

All diets can result in fat loss, if you have a calorie deficit. Increase the chances of sticking to it by choosing foods close to what you currently enjoy. Ideally that is a balanced diet containing a range of whole foods and the ‘treat’ foods you enjoy. If you like carbs don’t cut them out, if you hate kale don’t eat it etc!

#2 Be realistic

We often have unrealistic expectations of how long it will take to achieve results. A recent study found 50% people with unrealistic expectations of their goals dropped out within a year. You can still have a big goal, just realise it will take time to get there, so aim for small losses week by week.

#3 Environment

Set yourself up for success – don’t keep tasty, energy-dense foods in the house. If you must have them then keep them out of sight and out of their packaging. Packaging plays a huge role in food association; remove the trigger (packaging) and you remove the association, reducing the chances of you eating it.

# 4 Track progress

People often give up because they feel like they’re not making progress. Take measurements, log the weights you’re lifting, measure steps, etc. (NB If you’re relying on bodyweight then take averages over time rather than focusing on individual weight fluctuations).

# 5 Identify your hungry times

Identify when you’re hungriest – morning? Night? Lunch? Eat more when your hunger is high and eat less (or don’t eat) when you’re not. Use hunger as your guide not time of day.

#6 Set a moderate deficit

The more aggressive the deficit, the harder it is to stick to. Start with a moderate deficit of 15-20 % below maintenance cals. Remember it’s your average calories that count; if you’re within your cals 4 days and over on 3 your deficit is gone. Focus on being under on average over the week (in practice it’s easier to just be within your calories daily but this isn’t always possible).

Happy Tuesday 🤗