How to Stay on Your Diet

The hardest part about any diet is actually sticking to it. Even if you know all the knowledge required to make the change to a healthier lifestyle, if you don't put it into action and rigidly stick to it then it won't do you any good. Cheating on your diet by binging on unhealthy foods can set your weight loss goals back quite a bit; you may find yourself gaining weight week after week instead of losing it if you don't follow your diet. Unfortunately, cheating on your diet has also led many dieters on a downward spiral to ruin; after being unsatisfied with their weight loss they may decide to abandon their diet plans entirely and revert back to old unhealthy eating habits.

Resist the temptation to cheat on your diet as much as possible. Eating eclairs, pie, cake, or donuts may seem like a tempting thought at the moment, but how will you view it a week from now? The pleasure gained from eating unhealthy food is fleeting, and you can undo a lot of hard work in just a few moments of losing your sensibilities and binge eating. It's never worth it to cheat on your diet – the momentary pleasure you get from cheating will just lead to you being unsatisfied with your weight on the scale next week.

Try to find a sensible diet that allows you to eat a wide variety of foods that you enjoy. The more rigid or drastic your dietary change is, the harder it will be for you to stick to it. Eating the same foods day in and day out will quickly bore you, and you will find yourself craving something different; unfortunately, this “something different” is almost always something unhealthy. Try to pick diets such as the Mediterranean Diet that allow you to eat a wide variety of appetizing and healthy food so that you don't get stuck in a boring routine that will tempt you to cheat on your diet.

You should also consider making dietary changes gradually, as the more drastic the change is the harder it will be to adjust to it. Giving yourself an adjustment period such as eating healthily on weekdays and giving yourself the freedom to cheat on weekends is a good way to keep yourself eating healthy food at least five days out of the week – just don't expect magical weight loss results and don't discount the diet entirely if you aren't seeing the results that you want. Slowly begin to wean yourself off of your old habits of eating unhealthy food on the weekends until eventually it is no longer part of your diet.

Avoid keeping unhealthy food items that don't fit your diet plan in the house; try to get the support of your family members so that they aren't tempting you with their junk food that they enjoy. Keeping junk food around the house will just make the temptation worse; if you have to drive to the grocery store in order to fulfill your craving for cheesecake, it's much less tempting. Getting your family in on your diet so that they aren't keeping junk food around the house is very helpful in resisting temptation, and as a bonus they will be eating healthier as well.

Mike has been writing articles for a couple of years now. His latest passion is on Trout Fishing. He just created a page in his site on Trout Lures. When you get a minute and you love to fish yourself come check out his site.