Lose Weight - How to Stick to Your Diet

Lose Weight Now! How To Stick To Your Diet - Finding the motivation to succeed at a weight-loss plan- 8 expert tips

By: The Aging Diva on Health Goes Strong


Advice from the experts: How to keep making the right food choices to lose weight.
One tricky thing about motivation — one size does not fit all. It's very personal because we're each inspired by different things, and we have to find a method custom-made for us. Here's time-tested advice from weight-loss experts. Some of these tips are bound to be a perfect fit for you.

#1 Make sure your motivation comes from within. Whether it's running a 10K, losing 20 pounds or kicking an unhealthy habit, do it for yourself. A Belgian study published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology put two groups of subjects on an exercise program. One group's goal was to be more attractive to other people. The other group's goal was to improve health and longevity. Over two years, group two ate healthier and lost more weight. "You have to feel mastery, confidence and progress," Ryan says. Choose a goal you can accomplish. Make it something concrete that you can aim for, but not so high that you're doomed to fail.

#2 Formulate your Plan B. "A forgiving goal system is at the core of motivation, because inevitably life gets in the way," says Martin Binks, PhD, the director of Behaviorial Health and Research at Duke University. Inevitably, we fall off the wagon, and that, says Binks, is when "failure thinking" starts; we tell ourselves we can't do it, and we just give up. The solution is to set a backup goal at the outset. If your aim is to work out five days a week, have a backup goal of three times. Then, if you miss a session or two, you're not a failure; you're still meeting your minimum goal. That gives you the motivation to do what's needed to get yourself back on track.

#3 Be a team player. Find a workout buddy or a weight loss group. "Join a fitness class or hire a trainer where you're paying for several sessions up front and scheduling it in," suggests Jeanette Jenkins, president of Hollywood Trainer. "That way you're accountable to someone." Whether it's a trainer you pay or a friend you agree to walk with regularly, you've made a commitment, and you're letting someone down (or forfeiting some dough) if you don't follow through.

#4 Switch it up. "The big trick is maintaining motivation," says Pamela Peeke. "People think their initial goal will keep them going forever. It won't." The goal can be anything from entering a mini triathlon to looking good at your college reunion or feeling good when you pitch yourself for a promotion: what's critical is to keep dangling a new carrot out in front. How often do you need to switch goals? "Generally, people run into problems after six months," says Peeke. "That's when you have to find other ways to motivate yourself." The new goal can be playing in a tennis tournament or running your first 5K to fitting into a favorite pair of pants for an upcoming cocktail party.

#5 Outsmart your brain. Your reptilian brain may sound primitive, but it can overpower the "smarter" parts of your brain. When you crave something, like a big serving of fries smothered in catsup, your reptilian brain can take over. Mary Jane Ryan, author of Adaptability: How to Survive Change You Didn't Ask For, explains why. "The reptilian brain does not have long-term memory. It can't remember that you want to eat healthy. At the moment of choice, it goes for pleasure."

To overcome its urges, you need to outwit it by surrounding yourself with reminders of your goals that will alert your higher brain to keep you on course. "Put pictures of the little black dress you want to wear everywhere; hang the dress in your bedroom, not in the closet." For one of Ryan's clients, the biggest temptation to eat is when she's in the car, traveling between sales appointments. A stuffed bunny on the seat reminds her that she wants to feel thin and beautiful when she has sex with her husband, not embarrassed to get naked. Nobody else notices the bunny, but it keeps her on track.

#6 Accent the positive. It's more motivating to focus on what you can have than what you can't, so treat yourself to fresh berries regularly, buy yourself an artichoke even if they aren't on sale, or toss yourself a big salad with the exact mix of ingredients you love – a sprinkle of almonds, a few Kalamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Get into the habit of savoring these treats and you'll be less likely to reach for the ice cream.

#7 Have two types of goals. It's important to establish goals that involve both the process – the fact that we're eating well or exercising – as well as the product or result. A process goal is exercising for half an hour. A product goal is seeing the amount of weight you can lift increase. If the product goal — added strength or lost weight — seems long in coming, you still feel successful because you've adhered to your regimen. Just being at the gym is a victory.

#8 Mint yourself a mantra. Pamela Peek, M.D., keeps her clients on target by having them come up with a mantra. This works, she says, because it floods their mind with the reasons they made changes, blocking out destructive thoughts. For one client, who is trying to avoid diabetes medication by eating well and exercising, it's "Who wins today – the needle or my sneakers?"