4 Strategies for Staying On Track with Healthy Eating
Nov 11, 2015
In the world of diet plans and weight loss, much emphasis is put on how to achieve your goal weight. At Stop, Drop and Move, while we want you to reach your weight loss goals, we want you to adopt a healthy lifestyle even more. If you lose the weight and return to an unhealthy lifestyle, the weight will return and probably multiply. Our goal is to get you to adopt a healthy lifestyle while you are losing weight, so that when you reach your goal weight, you are able to keep the weight off.
In order to keep the weight off, we must address the issue of staying on track. Being successful doesn't mean you eat perfectly all of the time. It doesn't mean that you never splurge on foods that are sugary sweet. It doesn't mean that you don't, occasionally, go on vacation and eat and drink what you otherwise would not.
Being successful does mean that you have a healthy balance in your life. Being successful with weight loss and healthy eating means that for 80% of the time, you are eating for your health. The other 20% is found in holidays, birthdays, occasional splurges, vacations and other celebrations.
To help you understand how to stay on track, I am sharing with you 4 strategies:
1. Remember your why. When you know why you are doing something, the how of doing it follows closely behind. Oftentimes, we have to be reminded of our goal. It is important to keep your goal in front of you by writing it down and seeing it every day - or however often it takes to keep it in the forefront of your mind. Make sure your why is strong enough to motivate you through the tough times. Make it specific and meaningful.
2. Strive for progress not perfection. If you are trying to be perfect, you will be disappointed every single time.
No one is perfect. Not even you. It's just not going to happen. Instead of perfection, strive for progress. Journal your weight, measurements, what you eat and drink, along other markers (BMI, body fat % and skeletal muscle %), so that you can see the progress you are making or the lack thereof. This will work well to push your forward. Also, by charting your progress with these numbers, you will learn how your body works when you are losing weight and eating healthy.
3. One day at a time. All you can do today is all you can do. Looking too far ahead can push you into feeling
overwhelmed. Break down your goal into smaller goals. Do what you can each day to move closer to what you want to achieve. You can't lose 10 pounds in one week, but you can do what you can today that will facilitate weight loss and healthy living today. Tomorrow, do the same thing.
4. Lifestyle not diet. When you are focused on a healthy lifestyle, all that you do comes into play. Evaluating each activity, thought, belief, etc. must be put to the test - does it contribute to a healthy lifestyle? If the answer is no, then it has to go. Do you have a list of things that don't contribute to a healthy lifestyle? Work on them one at a time. Remember, it's progress that counts, not perfection.
Adopting the mindset of lifestyle over diet can take pressure off of you as you design the life you want. Taking it one day at a time also helps to eliminate stress. Don't look too far ahead. Do today, what you can do today. That's all you can do. Let tomorrow take care of itself.
Keeping your goal in mind will serve to move you in that direction. Remember, you will go where you are looking, so look to the future - look to the things you want out of life and as long as you are moving forward, you will get there.
Use these strategies and get ready to enjoy success in your life!
If you have found this article helpful, please feel free to like, comment and share!
Moving forward,
Robin
