Restart Your Diet
Did your weight loss resolutions survive the first few weeks of your diet? If so, congratulations!!! You beat the odds!! If not, good news—every month, every week and every day is a new chance to reset your commitment. You CAN start over and keep your commitment to better health. And we can help with these tips:
1) Take smaller bites. And we don’t just mean smaller bites of your healthy meals—but also smaller bites of your goals. If you have 20 pounds to lose, just focus on the first five pounds. If you have 50 pounds to lose, the same advice applies—just focus on the first five pounds. That’s a weight loss goal that’s simple to hit within a few weeks for some and no more than a month for most. Then celebrate yourself with gold stars or a movie night or whatever makes you feel good because you rock. Focusing on the big goals postpones the wins for way too long.
2) Up the protein. If you’re on a PWM weight loss plan then you already know how important protein is to ensure you lose fat and not muscle, and to keep you feeling full longer. Protein is also helpful in balancing the hormones which make you feel hungry. Just be careful that you get your protein from lean sources such as skinless chicken breast or fish.
Pro tip: PWM snacks have added protein so getting your daily supply of protein is simplified when you keep them on hand.
3) Be a goldfish. Rumor has it that goldfish have very little memory and wake up in a new world everyday, so if you eat too much on day one of February then be a goldfish and forget about it. Just forgive yourself and make a fresh start on day two. Honestly, do you know how many times the consultants here at PWM have helped people start over on their diets? And how many times we’ve seen those restarts blossom into awesome success stories? More times than we can count. You can be a success story too, even if your diet restarts multiple times. You can do it!
4) Find a new motivation. Seriously, there’s so much pressure at New Year’s to join the bandwagon and get on a diet, but did you really feel motivated? Did you have a vision of what your life would be like after you lost the weight? Some of us are lucky enough to have a big life event to motivate us like a wedding, a school reunion, or a milestone birthday. But if you don’t have a big event, then make one. Promise yourself a beach vacation where you can show off your new body, or maybe you’d prefer a shopping trip to St Louis or Kansas City for a new wardrobe. Whatever your motivation, make sure you can picture it happening or, better yet, print out a picture that reminds you of your event and post it on your fridge.
5) Be realistic about your deadline. A sensible deadline with some wiggle room for unseen events will set you up for success instead of failure. Yes, PWM sees plenty of heroes who lose weight every week but everyone who makes the commitment to become healthy is a hero in our eyes, even with a lapse or two. So make room for the lapses and don’t beat yourself up if you have to adjust your expected goal date.
6) Keep a diet rescue bag. We’ve all seen those “break glass in case of emergency” signs but hunger can feel like just as much of an emergency as fire. When your belly is demanding to be fed and all you have in your fridge is sweets, you’re probably going to eat the sweets. So make sure you have an emergency stash of healthy snacks such as pre-cut veggies or PWM chips, bars, shakes or other high-protein treats. Then you won’t feel deprived.
7) Start today. There is nothing magical about New Years or Mondays, and diets don’t have to start on any specific day or month. Even if it’s not your first start or your second or your third, the absolutely best day to start getting healthy is TODAY.