So you Wanna Start a Diet?..Steps that will help you start your healthy lifestyle today...

So you read my story, felt inspired, or it possibly gave you the kick to want to start a diet. First, lets not call it a diet, because by definition a Diet is:

a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.- From Dictionary.com

I do not agree with this. Diet's are not long term. Yes, the term DIET should be used to limit certain foods for a health risk or reason, but if your trying to lose weight it should be more of a change to a healthy lifestyle vs. a DIET.

 

Diets DONT WORK. Ive tried the 400 cal liquid diet, the NO CARB diet, using pills, diuretics, etc. If you ask me about weight watchers, it does work and may help to supplement and give you the push to the healthy lifestyle...But lets be honest...I do not want to be counting points my whole life!!!! And then after you get excited and really work towards it and do not see the results, you start to give up..

Here are some tips to get started on your new healthy lifestyle:

  

1.  Get your mind right!!! & Find a Focus   

 What i mean by this is stop stressing about losing weight and actually do it. Pick yourself up and formulate a mental plan. Imagine how you want to see yourself in a month or so. Set a goal. Do not set it so high. It should be 5-20 pounds in a time length of 1-3 months. 

  

     2.   Have high expectations for yourself, but not for fast rapid results

Its not going to happen overnight. Not in a week. Maybe not even in two. Sometimes you see results the first two weeks and then all of a sudden it stops. Your body is not a sports car. Its not going to burn the calories so fast just because you changed up your eating habits and visit the gym. IT TAKES TIME. Keep the motivation up and you will see the pounds sweat off. Being stressed about it isnt going to help either. The more you stress about not having results, the more your body is holding on to its fat because of STRESS.

    3.   GET RID OF THE HATERS 

I mean this in the nicest way possible. Get rid of all the negativity around you or better yet do not tell anyone you are on a lifestyle change. WHY? because 9/10 someone is going to criticize, try to give you their advice, and pretty much make you feel a little awkward about the situation. The sad part is, you know these people. They are your family members, close girlfriends, even your significant other could be a repeat offender of this. Whoever it is make it clear that this is what your going to do, and if they are not going to be supportive...BUHHH-BYEEE!

If you decide to keep a secret, when you come out with it make sure you say the same. 

    4.  Start changing your eating slowly...

Instead of completely cutting out EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING, which will only make you miserable and hate the world and all the skinny girls in it, start slowly cutting off stuff the things you know you shouldn't be eating. You know what im talking about. Soda, junk food, cookies, pastries, (anything that does not have any nutritional value) PIZZA DOES NOT HAVE A NUTRITIONAL VALUE LOL. 

After you've decided what you know you cant eat, and are ready to give that up, look into your fridge and cleanse yourself of all these bad things. Start buying the stuff you should be eating, Whole grains, veggies, fruits, lean meats & fish. 

To keep yourself from bouncing back, have a cheat day. Yes i said it, have a cheat day, where you could eat something that you've been missing, and a dessert. After all, food is like an addiction. You cant just stop cold turkey. You need to ween off of it and its all about how much will power you have. On cheat day, do not go eating everything under the sun. At least have 2-3 things your supposed to be eating, then have dinner & small dessert. 

  5. Head to the GYM!!

Join a gym. Go back to the gym. Get started and get moving! Do cardio for at least a half hour. NOW LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR ABOUT CARDIO......

30 minutes on the treadmill on the same stance and same pace is not going to cut it!!!!!

You need to trick your body. Variations is key. Get on that treadmill and set your incline to 1.0 and change your walking speeds. start walking, then briskly walking, then speed walking, then who knows JOGGING! If its too much to the point you want to pass out, then slow it down. But dont stop. Keep variating. I will later post some examples of what i mean.

If you use the elliptical, bikes, stair master. Do the same. Do not stay at the same pace. 

TAKE A CLASS! At first I hated doing this because I didn't want anyone else to see how weak I was. But um hello! Your at the gym! If you cant get a workout around your peers then where else can you do it? Remind yourself that everyone is there for the same reason you are. TO BE FIT. There should be no judging or criticizing. And who knows, classes at times introduces you to moves & free weight ideas that you can do out of class. SO TRY IT!

I would hold off with the free weights unless you really know what your doing. Taking a conditioning class should be done. You don't want to lift too much weights or do too much reps in which you end up bulking yourself up instead of slimming down.

LASTLY DO NOT GIVE UP. This is not supposed to be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it!

Hope this helps to all my new followers! 

Comment if you have any questions, concerns or other ideas you'd like me to post about!