8 ways to make dieting easier
It’s just before 2017 and it’s time to start the new year off with a bang. It’s time to start training hard, eating right and getting a routine in place so you’re able to lose that stubborn belly fat. I know exactly how you feel, you’re excited, you’re ready to take on the world and you’re confident you’re going to get the results you want.
I’ve been in your place before, but the difference is i’ve failed a fair few times when trying to lose the stubborn fat and tried to get lean, what I want to do is share with you simple tips you can use to make getting lean just that little bit easier.
Don’t think about it as a diet
The worst thing you can do first of all is go into the mindset that you’re now on a diet. When you tell yourself you’re going to be on a diet you’re expecting that there’s going to be a start and an end date to this. The thing is you shouldn’t be thinking about it from this becasue you’re expecting to go back to the way you used to eat in the past and that’s not going to work because that’s what caused you to put on weight in the first place. Instead think about this as a healthier lifestyle that you’re going to adopt.
No, it’s not going to be dried chicken breast and brown rice for the rest of your life, but having a lean source of protein and a good source of carbohydrates at lunch every day is something you should be eating instead of going to pick up a burger from Mcdonald’s.
Start small
The biggest mistake us guys make is wanted to do everything at once. “Tomorrow is Monday and that’s when i’m going to change everything” “I’m going to cut all of the crap food out, i’m only going to oats for breakfast, chicken for lunch and turkey for dinner, I’m no longer drinking…” You get the point. I know how exciting it can be to make changes in your life becasue you’re sick of having that belly fat, but if you try to restrict everything at once and just go balls to the wall you’re going to burn out quickly and fall back into old habits.
Instead of trying to change everything pick something you can do every day for two weeks. That might just be having a healthier breakfast, drinking more water or adding an extra serving of veggies to your dinner every night. Remember this is a lifestyle change not a 6 week restriction diet.
set specific rules
Write down a set of rules that you’re going to follow no matter what. When we write down rules we create for ourselves we’re more likely to follow them. When you get to create your own rules and put them on paper where you can see them every day, it gives you ownership over those rules and you’re more likely to stick to them. If you’re somone who snacks at night and it’s something you need to eliminate write yourself a rule saying I don’t eat any food after 7 p.m or I don’t eat anything after dinner time. Rules can be very powerful and I use them constantly in my life, not just for health and fitness but in all areas of my life.
change your environment
You’ve just come home from a busy day at work and you’ve missed dinner, you’re tired and you want something quick, you open the fridge and there’s not much in there, but there is a can of coke, you grab it. You open your pantry and you’ve got a bag of your favourite chips sitting there waiting for you, oh yea! Once you’ve finished your chips and coke you’re now feeling like shit, you aren’t happy with what you’ve done and you know it’s not going to help you reach your goals.
This wouldn’t have happened if that food wasn’t around, and that’s why your environment is so important. Cut out all of the crap from your house, if it’s not in your house you’re less likely to make the time to go to the shop and actually buy it. When you go grocery shopping if that food doesn’t come back with you it’s way easier to make a healthier choice when you do come home and you’ve got quick sources of food like beef jerky, pre cooked meals and frozen veggies that take two minutes to prepare for those times where you do come home and you just need something super quick.
focus on can’s rather than can’ts
If you always look at what you can’t have you’re going to want that food more. Us guys just want things we can’t have, we want that girl who’s “out of our league” we like a challenge and always want to try and challenge ourselve to get it. So if you’re focusing on the foods you can’t have you’re going to think about them more and then want to eat them more. Think about this; if I said don’t think of a pink Elephant what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Pink elephant, and now you can’t stop thinking of a pink elephant. Instead of thinking about the food you can’t have, focus on what you can have like: You can eat way more lean meat, you can eat a lot more of your favorite vegetables, you can enjoy a nice coffee any way you want it every morning. Focus on can’s and be grateful for what you can have.
prepare ahead
Choose a specific day or days as to when you’re going to prepare and cook your meals. If you have a day off from the gym on Sunday’s and you aren’t doing much, dedicate an hour in the kitchen to just preparing your food for the week. There is nothing better than preparing ahead of time because your chances of mucking up are greatly reduced. Those times when you have low willpower like when someone brings a cake into the office but you already have lunch, it’s way easier to say no.
get accountable
Find someone who’s going to be able to keep you on track. It might be someone who’s got the same goal as you, or it might just be a friend or family member who wants to help you succeed. The more you can get yourself accountable the more likely you are to hit your goals. No one wants to fail infront of other people and we can’t hit our goals alone. When you have someone who’s going to kick your ass when you’re feeling lazy or when you start to fall off the bandwagon it’s much easier to stay on track.
track your progress constantly
It’s so much more motivating when you can see your progress. I like to weight myself on the scale every morning and write down my weight, then at the start of every week i’ll measure my waist line to see how i’m going. If i’m getting leaner and losing weight on the scale it motivates me to stay on track. I take progress photo’s at the start of every month to compare to last month. This is a big motivator because you can’t manipulate your waist line or your photo’s. Yes the scale may be easy to manipulate but if your waist line is going down and you’re looking leaner in photo’s then you know you’re on the right track.
If the results aren’t changing? Then you also know that you’ve got to change and make improvements. You can’t hide from the truth and you can’t know how you’re really doing if you’re not tracking your results.
Losing stubborn fat doesn’t mean you have to restrict yourself to all things fun and go balls to the wall. Don’t waste time and keep failing like I did when I first started wanting to lose fat. Follow the advice I’ve given you above and I promise you your journey is going to be so much easier.
Do you want to make a change for 2017?
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