6 Tips to Help you Stick to your Healthy Diet

Working hard to cut stubborn fat and get your physique on point? Losing weight and shedding excess body fat is no easy feat but the benefits to getting lean are undeniable.

If you feel like you’re constantly falling off the progress path, with holidays, family parties or various social gatherings getting in the way, this guide is made for you.

Maintaining a healthy diet (and lifestyle) takes hard work, but with the right strategy in place you can stick to it and be more successful in the long run.

Here are some of the 6 top tips to break those habits, improve your lifestyle and get the pro athlete physique you’re working towards.

Let’s go!

6 ways to stick to your healthy diet

  1. Set clear goals

Figure out exactly what you want to achieve on your journey and make realistic but specific goals. Include numbers, detail, how you will keep track and give it a deadline. The thing with cutting fat and achieving your best physique is that it’s not an overnight job – sustainable loss takes time.

One specific goal could be to reduce your soda consumption from daily to something like three times a week. This is specific, measurable, and results focused.

The best way to start is to focus on small changes that add up over time. When you start accomplishing your smaller, specific goals, that’s where momentum increases and the larger goal becomes clearer and more attainable.

  1. Eliminate junk foods

You can’t eat healthy if you have processed and high-fat foods around the house. The nutrition choices you make can have a massive impact on your progress. As a general rule of thumb, weight comes down to 70 per cent diet and 30 per cent exercise.

Fueling up on the right foods can help to make sure you stay on track. This means making nutritious food choices and including lots of lean protein, healthy carbohydrates and nutritious fats in your diet. Not sure what these are?

You’ll want to include lean protein foods like:

  • Turkey
  • Chicken breast
  • Beans, chickpeas and lentils
  • Lean beef
  • White fish
  • Plain Greek yogurt

Healthy carbohydrates include:

  • Oats
  • Sweet potato
  • Bananas
  • Quinoa
  • Brown rice

Not forgetting good fats, such as:

  • Avocado
  • Cheese
  • Whole eggs
  • Fatty fish
  • Dark chocolate
  • Peanut butter
  1. Indulge a little

The key to successful weight loss is to not be drastic. What we mean by being drastic, is following a seriously strict diet, where you cut out all your favorite snacks and don’t let yourself have any type of food you actually enjoy.

While you might drop the pounds fast, it’s not sustainable and you’re more likely to gain the weight back once you stop dieting. What you should do is indulge, just a little, and eat healthy most of the time.

Two or three scoops of ice cream, for example, won’t kill your progress – just like eating a salad won’t instantly help you drop weight – but it will keep those sweet cravings satisfied and improve your relationship with food. Eating a whole tub of ice cream? That’s a no.

  1. Create a game plan before visiting a restaurant

Sticking to a healthy diet while eating out can be tough. Temptation takes over and you may opt for something a little less healthy than you’d like.

That’s why we recommend having a strategy in place before you get there. Check out the menu in advance and pick what you’re going to order before, looking for a meal that’s packed with veggies and lean protein.

You could also try drinking lots of water before the meal, so you feel fuller and can make healthier choices.

Stick to your Healthy Diet - Regular Exercise

  1. Focus on being consistent

Sticking to your healthy diet isn’t all about being perfect and making no slip-ups along the way.

Research shows that the amount of self-control we have is restricted1. Exhausting it through being too strict with your diet could make you overdo it when further challenges come up. You may be tempted to overdo it if you’ve been putting your body through a strict, cutting diet and then face a situation like a party, with lots of food and drinks.

In the end, fat loss relies on long-term consistency, not temporary changes. It’s all about what you’ll stick with week after week. Have that treat, just not too much of it. Be prepared by stocking up on healthy foods and planning how you’ll tackle that yearly reunion or birthday party. The more consistent the diet, the more likely you can maintain your weight loss.

  1. Have tasty but healthy substitutes

If you ever feel like eating something sweet but don’t want to sabotage your healthy diet, there are tasty alternatives that can satisfy those cravings.

We all get urges to eat unhealthy foods, especially if we’re trying to be healthy. In fact, it’s said that around 50% of people experience food cravings, which may disrupt a healthy diet plan2. Check out these healthy food swaps that can fulfill that urge without causing too much damage:

Swap:

  • Fruit juice for fruit itself
  • Crisps for popcorn
  • Mayonnaise for hummus
  • Milk chocolate and other desserts for dark chocolate
  • Ice cream for frozen yogurt

If you’re on the go a lot, try to avoid grabbing something quick. Carry high-protein substitute snacks around to help keep your cravings under control and curb your appetite3.

Whatever your weakness, if you can find a substitute that will satisfy your cravings, you’ll feel much better.

What if you fall off track?

If you end up having a weekend which is a bit unhealthy, it’s not the end of the world.

Remember, one day of unhealthy eating isn’t going to ruin weeks of staying on track and hard work in the gym. It really is no big deal – so don’t give up!

Lapses happen and we all experience them. There’s no need to beat yourself up or overtrain in the gym the next day. Yes, get back to exercise, but it could be any form of movement, whether it’s a long walk or playing sports.

Just try to get back on track right away, remind yourself how much you’ve already accomplished and know that you have the commitment and motivation to get back there.

No matter how good your intentions, it’s not feasible to follow a healthy diet plan without any slip ups. There will be points where you fall off track, but food isn’t a reward or a punishment – and your relationship with it shouldn’t be like that.

The bottom line

Improving your diet for better overall performance and health is not an easy task. But finding out what works for you in the long term will help you make the best progress. These tips should help you stick to your healthy diet plan and cut the stubborn fat.

For an extra edge, try Instant Knockout Cut. It can give you the energy you need so you can get the best out of your body, control calories and shift stubborn fat.