Tips for Staying Motivated on a Diet

This post is from over a year ago and posted on my old blog. Things have been kind of crazy around here as my editor (aka my amazing hubby) has been swamped at work, plus we just got back from a wonderful Labor Day camping trip. I plan on posting my last August writing challenge piece this Friday, so stay tuned!

I also just want to say thank you to my sweet husband who cheerfully reads all my posts before they go up on the blog and edits my many typos and grammar mistakes. I love you, darling! <3

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Okay, I hate diets. I hate depriving myself of good food. I get about 2 days into the diet and ask myself, is this really worth it?

If any of you relate to that, then this post is for you.

My husband and I are currently on a low carb diet, so I feel the pain and deprivation. But these tips below
do help (some). Hope you find them helpful!

1. Choose your diet carefully. There are a gazillion diets out there, so do your research before starting. Also,
read up on any side effects of the particular diet/cleanse, as well. Kris and I decided to eat only low carb foods,
but eat tons of protein and fats. This helps to cut cravings and keep you full. Some diets require a ton of willpower.
If you are the kind of person who can give yourself an order and follow it, then go ahead and do that juice
cleanse!

2. Throw the temptations away. Say you are going off sugar - then get rid of the boxes of sugary cereal,
chocolate bars, and bottles of ketchup. It’s easier to stick to your diet when you don’t have temptations
begging you to “just have a bite”.

3. Have a meal plan. If you don’t have a plan, it makes it that much harder to stick to your goal. If five o’clock
rolls around and you’re starving, you’re much more likely to grab a no-no snack then spend an hour cooking
something you can eat.

4. Make snacks. Meal planning is done and you’ve done good so far with breakfast and lunch, but come
2:30-3:00 and you get the munchies. Have quick snacks that you can grab that taste good and are quick
like chocolate drops (with coconut oil, honey, cocoa, etc.), veggies and dip, nuts and raisins, a 70-85%
cocao chocolate bar, yogurt, or fruit smoothie.

5. Have a “cheat day” once a week. This may slow down your weight loss, but it keeps you sane. :-) We
have potluck every Sunday and it would be terrible to have to pass up the delicious pasta dishes and chocolatey
desserts, so we decided Sunday would be our cheat day. This doesn’t mean we’ll be stuffing chocolate
into our mouths, drinking pop, and eating donuts all day. It just means we have one day to relax and put
our hair down.

I hope you find these tips helpful - they’ve worked (so far) for us! :-)