Image by storyset on Freepik

So you’ve been struggling with changing your diet. It has become an uphill task where you know you need to, but you can't. You know these soft drinks are bad for you, but you can't stop consuming them. You know you need to lower your caloric intake, but you keep going way over it.

It is also possible that you know nothing about all of this, and you just love the nice sugary taste of food as it touches your tongue.

But what if I told you that you’ve been carrying all that heavy weight too quickly? What if I told you there was a better way?

All you need to do is do better than you did yesterday.

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What did you eat yesterday?

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Food illustrations by Storyset

It starts with knowing what you are eating. Tracking your daily intake is the first step, the problem is that you have a lot you are doing within the day, and diet tracking starts to feel like a waste of time once you get to work, and you have to answer to your stressful boss. You are exhausted from all the assignments, or the clients start coming in.

You need to get quick energy to set you free, and it's cheap and available.

Have you ever heard of strategic placement in business? Well, how it works is that vendors who sell food to you know just how busy your workplace is. They know your boss is tiring, they know your client will make you feel exhausted, and they close every morning around busy workplaces and classrooms waiting for you.

In a way, these++Underline++ businesses are trying to provide you a product as quickly as possible so that you can get back to work, but eating high glycemic junk food that only provides quick energy and is made with saturated fat (increasing your risk for heart disease) is exactly what you want to avoid.

The whole process starts with tracking. Knowing what you put in your mouth so you can gradually start doing something about it.

A lot of times, people who do weight loss programs will adjust their diet in such a way that it is not manageable over a long period, and that is what you want to avoid ultimately.

You don’t want to be a tyrant to yourself and jump into a plan that gives quick changes but is not sustainable.

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Can you make that better?

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Image by storyset on Freepik

The goal is not to make a strict diet that you cannot manage but one that will work for you over time. For the diet plan to work, however, some things have to go. The sugary snacks? Out the window. The carbonated drinks? Gone. The weird candy cravings? You can do without them.

If you are at the point where you still think you cannot do without them, then there are options for you to replace them, but you have to be very mindful of these options.

There is not enough evidence on this for me to conclude which is why I am going to be loose about this. You want to try what works for you, and in some studies, they have found that artificial sweeteners were not helpful in weight loss, while some other studies found the opposite.

Diet drinks contain a lot of additives and sweeteners that do not add to daily calories, but they do nothing to address the sugary cravings. So, to me, they are not a good long-term strategy for losing weight and keeping it off. The studies that have been done are also likely to be affected by the industries involved in making these drinks.

The trick will always be discipline. You will not see results if you try to run away from it. In fact, the more you run away from self-control, the fewer results you will see.

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Eyeballing

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There are many images explaining how to eyeball what's on your plate and know how to ration your food. But it becomes very tricky when you consider that the food may have been fried with oil. You are not sure of the oil that was used, and you also don’t know how to portion your food.

The only way to work past this is to get into the habit of reading about food information. Google has been a good resource for me in my bodybuilding journey. I have been trying to build muscle while keeping the fat off. A quick glance at the caloric value of the food you are about to eat and making adjustments will help you see the results you are looking for.

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Results

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If you have been putting all of this into practice for several months and you do not see results, there might be something wrong with your diet plan, workout plan, or discipline plan.

Sticking to either plan requires discipline, and it comes with time. Discipline is real self-love... it is the only proof that you love yourself.

If you are struggling with discipline around food and you do not know what to do, what should you do?

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You can send me a message on WhatsApp at +2348134530293, and we can have a conversation, or you can speak with a licensed therapist.

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Conclusion

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Inkscape.org

In conclusion, changing your diet can be a daunting task, but it is important to remember that progress starts with small steps. Tracking your daily intake and being mindful of what you eat can be a great starting point. It's also important to create a sustainable diet plan that works for you in the long run.

Avoiding sugary snacks, carbonated drinks, and weird candy cravings is a good place to start. Artificial sweeteners and diet drinks may not be the best long-term solution for weight loss. Instead, it's important to practice discipline and self-control to see results.

Reading about food information and making adjustments to your meals can also be helpful.

Inkscape.org

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References

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• NCBI
• Google
• Penn Medicine