Why do most people slip back into their unhealthy eating habits as soon as the weekend lands? Or when there’s are food-centric occasions like Christmas or team dinner at work?
It's true that 4 out of 10 dieters start their diet on Monday and go back to their regular eating habits by Friday. Let's change that with 5 tips to sticking with your new health regime. (1)
Individual fitness goals vary from person to person but whether you're aiming for weight loss, the office tournament or even a marathon, getting into shape and eating clean is never easy and requires consistency & commitment. More than 42% of people say it's difficult to stick to their new plan including healthy eating or workout.
In fact, studies show that nearly 40% of people give up on their health goals within the very first week and more than 60% quit within a month. (2) So why is it that only a small percentage of people who go on a diet and do exercises to lose weight at home, stick to it?
There is no simple answer to this question. Starting weight loss exercise routines at home or a healthy routine calls for a major overhaul. While some have commitment issues, others have a demanding professional life or simply lack patience.
So today we'll take a look at 5 easy-to-follow yet effective tips on how to make healthy eating a habit:
5 Tips To Stick With Your Healthy Eating Habits
1. Take Slow And Small Steps
Most people don’t know what to do before starting a diet and so they start too big, too quickly. This is what makes sticking to a weight loss plan challenging. To avoid this constant struggle to lose weight, start by making small changes like:
- Drinking plenty of water instead of soda.
- Eating fruits and nuts instead of chips and cookies.
- Having veggies and soups instead of french fries and burger.
- Switching from regular coffee to green coffee.
- Having protein bars over the chocolate.
- Using DIY slimming body wraps at home
These less drastic changes are easier to sustain over a long period.
2. Don’t Stay Hungry
When you starve yourself, you end up binging. This happens because your blood sugar levels go low and you start craving either refined flour or sugar. To avoid this, don’t stay hungry when you get hungry as you will be much more likely to indulge in sweet treats. Plan your meals to include healthy snacks throughout the day or take small meals every few hours
3. Learn To Differentiate Between Hunger And Cravings
There is a big difference between the hunger pangs you get when you haven’t eaten for a long time and the desire you feel when you want to eat something just because you are tired, bored, sad, or stressed.
4. Shift Your Focus From Your End Goal To Your Behaviour
You need to have an unwavering focus and discipline in order to follow healthy lifestyle tips. Make it a game and challenge yourself to win. How many spoons of rice can you replace with veggies over the coming few weeks? Can you skip the elevator and take the stairs for an entire month to control your weight? Can you switch your morning cup of tea with a superfood smoothie to cleanse the Colon?
Healthy eating isn't too difficult, right?
5. Eat Mindfully
Eating mindfully is the key to developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So, take the time to relish your food and appreciate its capability to support and sustain you. This will improve your chances of developing lasting changes in your life and help you make clean eating a way of life!
Bonus Tip: Dump The All Or Nothing Approach
This mindset of following one strict diet or fasting for fast weight loss makes most people go back to their old eating habits and experience the yo-yo effect. Allow yourself some small indulgences once in a while - split a dessert, have just one cookie instead of to and enjoy a small piece of pizza once in a while so you don’t blow it up after two weeks and end up having one jumbo burger.
It's our strong emotions that take over our rational thinking and divert us from achieving our health goals. There are many healthy recipes you won’t believe are so delicious! Collect them, print them and pin them so you don’t end up asking yourself, “Why do I always give up on losing weight?”.
