How to maintain a diet without giving up?

[Anonymous]

Girls, I'm sure most of you have been in this situation at least once. You tell yourself you'll go on a diet. Tomorrow. And then the next day it's the same story. It's like when I eat a candy, I have to start all over because I messed up. That's as if I would drop my phone and go throwing it around because it fell already anyway. I want to do a smoothy diet for at least a week. Did you experience this too while dieting? Were you able to do it anyways? How did you do it? Let me know! :)

Fitness is boss!

No sweets, duhh..

Body cleansing

Smoothies all the way, your body needs vitamines

Nope, I ate all the shit in my refrigerator after I messed up

[Anonymous]

1) I don't buy any food that I know is unhealthy. If it's not in the house, then I'm not tempted. :)

2) I eat foods that are healthy, but that I enjoy as well. It won't work if you hate the food you're eating and can't maintain it. I looked up some new recipes. New ways to cook vegetables, lean meats, fish, make salads, etc.

3) I drink a glass of water before I eat. I'd recommend drinking a lot of water in general.

4) I eat until I'm not hungry, but not until I'm stuffed/full.

5) I tend to eat 4-5 small meals instead of the standard three meals a day.

6) I allow myself one small cheat a week of a sweet I really love (like ice cream), 'cause otherwise I'd go crazy lol.

Oh also, one thing that helped is just thinking about food in terms of how useful it is to me. Empty calorie foods and drinks like candy and soda don't seem worth it to me when I know I'll have to run for half an hour just to burn that off and it's not even giving my body any good nutrients.

Hope this helps a little.

[Asker]

The problem is that I know how to do it but I just give up because I don't have the balls to keep it up. Same here, no ice cream would be so painful haha

[Asker]

Thank you though!

[Opinion Owner]

Yeah, it can be hard to keep up. The girl down there mentioned MyFitnessPal, and I use that too. It helps keep you within caloric limits, and accountable. Also, for working out I mark on a calendar every day I successfully work out, and it seems to help. You could do that for a diet; mark everyday that you stick to it. Oh, and if you have some supportive friends they can help keep you on track too. Good luck. You can definitely do it! You just gotta find that inner strength and keep it up for a month so it becomes a routine, and then it's easier to maintain.

[Opinion Owner]

Aw cool, thanks for MH! :)

[Asker]

No prob haha

[dymphnak]

I detach myself emotionally from the food. Before the thought of ohgodthatlooksamazing jumps in my head, I push it aside or walk away quick. It's more difficult when you absolutely have to confront it (like when around friends consuming sweets) but I just think of how good I will look later. I keep fitspo photos on my phone, and dump all bad stuff from the pantry, fridge, etc. coldly, without giving it a second thought. I give myself a few treats a week, but try to level it out with healthier foods later or a quick run/jump on the trampoline.

[Asker]

Haha well I have to make myself mentally stronger then I guess!

[dymphnak]

It definitely takes time but it's worth the results, 14 lbs off in 8 months for me! Good luck with the diet.

[Ghosty]

Not a girl last time I checked, but try hang up some motivational pictures of your dream body. Start taking pictures after each workout (works best for me), DON'T even buy stuff that you shouldn't eat. NEVER go shopping groceries while hungry. Tell your parents if you live at home what your plan is, she'll help you to watch it. Find a exercise buddy.
But the 2 MOST important things are:

i) A diet means that you should eat NORMALLY, just reduce the junk. I could slap everyone whos "diet" is like eating 2 apples and a salad a day. That's stupidity. Your body needs it. Around 2400kcal (for women.) are burnt a day just by staying alive. So please, please, eat.

ii) Exercise. Diet is 40%, working out 60%.

[Asker]

Haha thank you! I'll keep that in mind :)
But I don't want to gain muscles. A few months ago I did 2 hours cardio a day and I did lose weight, but gained so much muscles :(
Would it be allright if I ate a lot at breakfast (for example; 2 eggs, bread, yoghurt and some juice) and then drink smoothies the whole day through? I has vitamines in it, so shouldn't it be okay?

[Ghosty]

You know there are 2 types of slim.
1) I'm slim and look like I was born that way
2) I'm athletic slim and I worked for it.

Rumours are men prefer the 2nd by far. Trust me it looks SO much better when girls have a fitness body, formed legs, butt etc. Than just thin.
2 hours cardio is to much. Don't challenge your body so hard, that will stimulate it to build muscle volume. Search YouTube for example "fitness blender". They have great home workouts for women! Do them every 2nd day, if you can keep up.

[Asker]

Woah, thanks this info is great. But I'm really a short person (as in height) and I've seen women that are short and athletic, I didn't find it very appealing. And I allready have curves, butt, big boobs and all that. So I'd rather go for the more natural look, if that makes sense. You do sound like a fitness coach though haha. I will try to do it.. I find those motivational speeches also very useful.

[Ghosty]

As for the food:
No it's not enough. Those are barely 1000kcal. You need all the different parts of nutrition. This isn't covered at all with your mealplan.. Try to have (at least) 3 normal meals (Try not to eat after 8pm.), meat, salad, fruits etc. Trust me. Maybe it sounds wrong since some people minds go like "less food = less problems". But you need to get the fat, carbs, proteins, all the vitamins, magnesium etc etc. You can't get everything just from smoothies&breakfast. But smoothies are great to deal with random hunger that mostly comes at 2-4 hours after you had lunch.

[kheserthorpe]

I've found the easiest diets ones that are strict, based on whole foods, high protein, and enough of a calorie deficit that i can fit in a couple cheat meals a week and still drop weight fast.

[Izzy2102]

I never even buy anything that is unhealthy, so if i want it, i can't have it. Have a glass of water or tea before you give into a craving. Many teas surpress appetite a bit. And certain cravings respond to certain deficies inur diet that day, u can reduce it by certain kind of food

Other than that look for healthy alternatives. Some yoghurt with berries is great, make ur own pizza and it can be healthy, there are many healthy pancake recipes, same for cake or brownies. Just use natural ingridigents, its much cheaper anyways. And processed food is addictive so its bad in both ways