The word diet makes a lot of us panic. It makes us think of something difficult, restrictive and ultimately unsustainable. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve put together a few tips to help you stick to your fitness goals.
Take it one step at a time
We’ve all been there. You wake up with a sudden burst of motivation to transform your entire life. You’re going to exercise 7 days a week, twice a day, eat nothing but fruit and vegetables and bring about world peace. We try to make all these changes at once and find ourselves completely burnt out after a couple of days.
The solution here is to take the gradual approach. Implement these changes to your routine in bitesized amounts. By not completely overhauling your life you are able to adopt new, healthier habits much more seamlessly. Start by aiming to get an extra 2,000 steps a day then you can work to include 2 servings of fruit and veg in your meals. The journey towards a healthier you can be daunting but you can break it down into smaller, less intimidating goals along the way that all add up. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Don’t gas yourself out just a few metres from the starting block.
Keep your calorie deficit moderate
We know that in order to drop some fat we have to be in a calorie deficit i.e. we have to consume fewer calories than we are burning. A lot of us take this to the extreme and overly restrict ourselves. Eating so few calories is ultimately unsustainable because you still need energy to function and depriving yourself too much will leave you tired, hungry and irritable. This will make it a lot harder to sustain longer term and may drive you to actual overeat further down the line.
Instead, opt for a more moderate decrease in calories to start. The recommendation is typically 500 calories below your maintenance, aiming to lose around 1% of your body weight per week.
Note: as you lose weight, the number of calories you need to eat will decrease. If your fat loss stalls for a few weeks, you may need to adjust your calories.
Prioritise protein and vegetables
For many, the worst part about dropping your calories is hunger. Some level of hunger may be unavoidable (particularly once you are nearing the end of your fat loss phase) but there are definitely things that you can do to minimise it. One of those things is prioritising protein. Not only is protein muscle-sparing (allowing you to retain more muscle whilst dieting) it is also super satiating. You’ll feel fuller for longer, reducing the risk of overeating.
Vegetables and fruits are also amazing when you’re on a diet because they are super lower in calories. This means that you can eat them in larger quantities, keeping you full whilst sticking to your calorie target. And vegetables don’t have to be boring! Sign up to our newsletter and be the first to get access to super tasty recipes.
You don’t have to hate everything
Following on from the last tip, you don’t have to hate everything on your fitness journey I promise. You don’t need to eliminate all the foods that you love. You can still season your meals. You don’t have to do a 1000 burpees a day.
Instead of giving yourself a laundry list of foods you can’t eat, focus on discovering new recipes so you can include more whole foods into your diet in a way that you enjoy. Choose a form of exercise that you don’t completely dread even if that’s just going for a walk whilst listening to your favourite podcast. Wear nice gym clothes and accessories to help keep you motivated.
You’re making positive changes in your life for your health, it shouldn’t feel like a punishment! Work with the things you love, not against them.
Don’t be so hard on yourself
My last tip for you is to chill out! We tend to take this all or nothing approach to fitness: we must perfectly adhere to our diet at all times or we’ve completely failed. This kind of thinking stops us from reaching our goals because some of us completely throw in the towel when things haven’t been perfect or overly restrict ourselves for the next few days to “make up” for it (which as we’ve discussed often leads to overeating further down the line).
Instead, accept that you’re a human being. Sometimes you’ve had a bad day and a chocolate bar is extra desirable. That is OK. You haven’t completely ruined all your progress. You don’t need to starve yourself for the next few days. You can just return to your regularly scheduled programming. Simple.
We hope these tips have been useful! Make sure you sign up to our mailing list for more health and fitness tips, tricks and guides.