How Long Should I Diet? Is The Answer Obvious
New dieter's alway asks "How long should I diet?" The usual answer is to stick with the diet until the ideal body weight is reached. However, this is simply not true.
Anyone who loses a few pounds by dieting seem to gain them all back (and more) after they go back to their eating habits, no matter how long they sustained the diet. Naturally, they'd like to know exactly how long it takes for a diet's effects to stick for good.
If you're asking how long you should diet, then there's good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that there is no diet duration. Going into a diet isn't temporary. Dieting involves a change in lifestyle, and by that, it's meant to last your entire life. How long do you need to stick to your diet? As long as you'd like to stick to your ideal weight!
Here's the good news: it's actually easy sticking to your diet. The primary reason why a lot of dieters fail after a short time is because they try to make all these drastic lifestyle changes all at once. Believe me, no one's that strong. You should go through your diet slowly and steadily. Below are some tips that may help you stick to your diet more easily.
Take small, but keep growing.
Start your diet by doing small easy feats. A good way to start off your diet would be to cut off all forms of soda and replace this with water, natural fruit juice, or low-fat milk in the first couple of weeks. A typical can of soda contains around ten teaspoons of sugar (definitely quite a lot, don't you think?). Sticking to your diet will be more doable if you're in charge instead of following every 'diet guideline'. Once you achieve one sacrificial task, impose another manageable limit. Then another, and another. Changes in your lifestyle should never come in bulk. It's easier to manage them when you achieve one task at a time.
Exercise it really does work.
Dieting on its own can help shed all those extra pounds eventually. But with exercise, weight loss will be exponentially faster. Exercising for at least an hour every day for five days a week can prevent you from gaining all those pounds back in case you'd revert to your old nasty eating habits. Go to your preferred gym and try incorporating cardiovascular exercises, strength training and flexibility routines throughout your workout. Also, incorporating fun exercises like dancing, kickboxing and Yoga can also encourage you to stick to your diet.
Don't be so hard on yourself.
Remember that any kind of food, no matter how fattening or "sinful" it is, can fit into a diet as long as it's taken infrequently. Make sure you balance out your intake with more healthy food.
There will always come a time when even a flawless diet is bound to be disturbed. Missing a workout on a busy schedule from the office or drinking a toast for a friend's wedding is just some of the many instances which are quite impossible to avoid. But don't get so worked up over these stumbling blocks. Try getting back on the right track as quickly as possible. If everything goes well, your weight will still continue to drop.