Why diet preparation?
You’re committed to making positive changes in your health and your waistline. Congratulations! I applaud you for making improvements for your well-being. But what is your diet preparation? Because if you tell yourself that you’ll start your diet on Monday, but you haven’t properly prepared, you’ve already set yourself up for failure.
Diet preparation goes deeper than getting mentally ready for a diet. It’s about evaluating your life, your needs, and your weak spots, and letting those things influence your planning. Embarking on a weight loss journey without diet preparation is like a sports team practicing offense while ignoring defense. Imagine how that will play out on game day.
Here are 5 steps that are essential to do before starting your new diet plan –
Purchase snacks for on the go
What happens if you’re away from home, it’s 3 pm and you start feeling your blood sugar dip? You’re feeling hungry and cranky and you just need to eat something. This will be a big problem if you don’t have any available diet friendly snacks. Next thing you know and you’re at the vending machine, or getting a pick-me-up Frappuccino. Now your diet plans have gone bust.
Don’t go into a diet only thinking how dedicated you are to clean eating without planning for an obstacle. Diet preparation includes identifying such problematic scenarios and preemptively creating a remedy before they occur. In this situation, having diet approved foods on hand might be the difference between success and failure.
Know how to navigate restaurants
Nothing makes a diet worse than feelings of isolation. You don’t want to turn down every social opportunity for fear of not finding diet friendly foods. So the best thing is to have a plan for restaurants. I’ve previously talked about healthy ways to dine out. Use this as a guideline. Make a list of restaurants where you can eat diet approved foods. Think about requests you can make to stick with your meal plan. While you won’t be able to make every restaurant work, asking for things like sauce/dressing on the side, veggies instead of potatoes or for baked or grilled instead of fried is a good place to start.
Write down your perceived end-goal
Why do you really want this? It’s not enough to just tell yourself that you want to be thinner. Diet preparation includes letting your brain and your heart understand how much you have to gain by succeeding. Maybe you want to have more energy to enjoy your life. Maybe you want less joint pain so you can enjoy activities you once loved. Perhaps you want to feel confident and strong in your body. Maybe you desperately need to heal the feelings that you are hiding with food.
The perceived gain from your healthy transformation has to be very clear. Write it down so that you can reference it when you’re feeling lost. Otherwise, when you hit a difficult bump in the road (which will eventually happen), you’ll be very likely to abandon your game-plan.
Plan for emotional eating
You very likely eat at times to deal with difficult feelings. While the psychological side to overeating has to be addressed, you need to plan for emotional upheaval as a factor in your diet. You may be completely motivated today, but what happens when a difficult situation makes it difficult to perceive your diet as a priority? Understand that you may emotionally eat at times, so plan for better quality options.
For instance, let’s say that you tend to binge on salty chips. Perhaps keep some salted nuts in your home instead. Nuts have good quality fat, some protein and are better for blood sugar than chips. You will do less long term damage to your diet by eating nuts, the salt may make them as satisfying as chips and it will be easier to get back on track the next day.
What is your favorite binge food? What might be a less damaging substitute for that foods? It might sound counter-intuitive, but finding better quality binge foods can be integral to diet success.
Arrange rewards that aren’t edible
Diet shouldn’t equal deprivation. But many people feel deprived after a few weeks of dieting because they don’t build in a reward system to replace edible rewards. Before you even start your diet, think about what you would find rewarding and plan for some non-edible rewards. Perhaps you take the money you usually spend on sugar filled high-end coffee drinks in a week and buy yourself a gift. Or you take a day’s excursion to a place you’ve been wanting to go as a reward for sticking to the plan. Maybe, instead of eating after work, you give yourself an hour to completely pamper yourself, whatever that means to you. Food is an easy reward, but it isn’t the only reward you can give yourself. Finding other ways to nurture yourself is integral to a successful diet.
Diet preparation is different than procrastination
One of the first steps in diet preparation is picking a day to begin your new eating plan and sticking to it. But once you’ve scheduled your diet, make sure to do the work to maximize your chance for success. Because the first step in dieting isn’t exercising or eating a healthy meal. The first step in weight loss success is actually developing your real world strategy for navigating potential pitfalls. This will increase your odds of a long-term win.
Purchasing snacks for on the go and planning for emotional eating are both good advice for me. It’s these type of things that trip me up on any diet plan. In general, planning is important.
Emotional eating is a big one for a lot of people, Donna. It is good to admit that because then you can plan for it better.
Great advice, Erica! I particularily liked that you mentioned emotional eatting. That is one of my downfalls when I am watching what I eat. Great advice to purchase snacks before hand. I need to remember that one.
Yes, snacks are so important. You don’t want your blood sugar to plummet and have nothing to eat!
I have never had to diet to lose weight but I have had to diet to gain weight and that is something seldom considered. Your tips here can be used for that purpose too. it’s all in the planning. That emotional eating also applies because when I’m stressed I’m more likely to lose my appetite so having some favourite health foods, like roasted nuts on hand would certainly help.
Yes, you don’t need to want to lose weight to eat healthy. These tips can help anyone who wants to make health their priority.
Sounds like good advice for people planning to go on a diet. Fortunately I have never needed to lose weight and hence don’t need to take the steps you recommend.
Hi Catarina. As I said to Lenie, you can use this just to help yourself eat healthy or with any other goal you have. They aren’t completely exclusive to weight loss.
A timely post. Adds substance for all those New Year’s resolution makers who want to eat healthier. Personally, my biggest issue is restaurants. My natural tendency is to order what I liek the most and it isn’t usually the ghelathiest choice.
The thing that makes a lot of restaurant food taste so good is extra sugar and salt. And I think that it is perfectly fine to order your favorite when you are out for a special occasion. But it becomes problematic when a special occasion becomes a common occurrence.
Oh these are so good! I think the snack thing is the biggest challenge for me. When I get too hungry, I tend to mow through whatever I can get my hands on. Pre-planning snacks would really help cut down on that.
It is the same way for me, Meredith. I need to have healthy snacks available or I’ll eat anything if I get hungry enough!
I don’t eat out often, so consider it a splurge these days. But on the weeks I might eat out more than once, it’s good advice to be more mindful of what you are ordering off the menu.
Yes, like I said to Ken, it is fine to splurge if eating out is a rare occurrence for a special occasion. But if you start eating out more often, that is when it pays to be mindful.
Every one of these is a great tip Erica! When I was a working slave and my company car was my second home I literally lived on fast food and packed on the pounds as a result. Of course there was a fair amount of emotional eating included as well, but it certainly would have helped to have advice like this to shift my thinking. Thanks so much!
I imagine that it was a challenge to eat healthy when you were so busy. It does take extra planning when you are in that type of situation. I’m glad you got out of that lifestyle and have a little peace in your life these days.
Great post as always!
I agree that clear strategies need to be put in place otherwise the diet is likely to fail. All women know exactly what needs to be done and some do not follow it through.
I like that you mentioned;
1. Identifying your weak points
2. Carrying snacks when out and about
3. Rewarding yourself with non edible treats.
Thank you, Phoenicia. Following through, as you say, is the hard part. I’m glad that some of these tips resonate with you.
Again a wonderful post which pertains to me.
My doctor put me on a new diet, my cholesterol is through the roof, and I am a borderline diabetic. So posts like this are very helpful. Thanks for sharing, it will help.
I wish you much success with your lifestyle change, William. The first steps are always the most difficult, but as you continue to adjust your diet, your cravings shift as well.
I so need these preparation tips for healthy dieting. i have been planning to diet since the start of this year but I have not really started it yet! When it comes to dieting… I procrastinate a lot and I want to change that.
Shifting your eating habits can seem overwhelming at first. Picking a date and getting ready for it is a manageable first step. With time, any change becomes easier and less life disruptive. I wish you luck with a new, healthier lifestyle1
Love those tips… I need planned snacks for sure! Just started back on my cleaner eating and tracking my food and it’s eye opening. Planned snacks, check.
Glad you found the planned snacks helpful, Alison! It definitely can make a difference.
It is unfortunate that we have to have a plan for “starting out next diet” There is irony there. If we engage in consciously shifting our view of food and eating and make changes that stick then there is no such thing as a diet. One day we will get there I hope. Your post is really well organized and have some great points.
I think for many, just consciously eating is such a big step. It seems scary at first, and one of the biggest obstacles in helping people past their fear. But I do find it frustrating when people choose restrictive eating plans that can’t possible be maintained for life. That is just setting yourself for failure and people really do need to understand the difference between healthy weight loss and unhealthy. The diet industry doesn’t really help as there is so much misinformation.
I never manage to keep a full diet, because the transition seems too harsh and I end up straying away from it. These are some really good tips!
Nicola, you should try just taking small steps. Like, I will add a vegetable to every meal or I will focus on eating healthier snacks. If you aren’t ready to commit to the whole thing, maybe a change or two at a time can help you slowly build to a healthier lifestyle.
Great advice! Honestly, I went into my diet this year with expected failures. Not that I wanted to fail… I just feel like my diets fall apart the moment I eat something I shouldn’t because it’s all “Well, I’ve already screwed this up so oh well”.
I also started off with just working on eating less. Half my problem is over-eating and not just what I’m eating. Figured it would be easier to just keep eating my regular routine, but dialing it back. It’s working REALLY well – we started in mid December to avoid that whole New Year New You resolution routine.
Great post with awesome advice!
Glad to hear that is working for you, Kim. I’m so passionate about helping people understand that you can’t totally screw it up by just a couple bad choices. It is the big picture that matters.
These ideas are all excellent. Just gotta stick to it, that’s where I have a problem!
Jenny, even if you stumble, keep moving yourself forward. You don’t have to do it perfectly for it to be worthwhile.
Great tips! I really like the tip about planning for emotional eating. That is one thing I need to work on. I’m definitely using that one in the future!
Emotional eating is a reality for so many people. I’m glad you found that tip helpful, Willow!
I absolutely agree that you should purchase snacks before starting your diet! If you don’t have something quick and healthy to grab you are setting yourself up for failure. Thanks for these tips!
These are some great advice. All too often, we jump into diets that we’re not ready for and quickly flounder. I love the idea of prepping beforehand to make sure that the changes can stick.
I totally understand the wishful thinking in that it will all work out. But if you aren’t prepared for obstacles, the obstacles can easily win.
These are really good tips, especially the arrange rewards that aren’t edible one. It seems like that is always my go to thing, if I have been good and eating like I have planned I will throw Chocolate into the mix and it just throws it all off. Planning ahead is a sure way to stick to my lifestyle change.
Why does chocolate have to be so tempting? Forgiveness goes a long way too. If you slip up, recognize that you are human and keep moving forward.
I think purchasing snacks for on the go is such good advice. Whenever I am out and about is definitely when I eat the worst food.
I’m glad you found that helpful, Alana. I’m the same way if I get really hungry so I have to be prepared.
I am not going on a diet but trying to eat healthier and feel healthier, so these tips are helpful. Thanks!
Any tips for eating healthy when your fiance does not? It is hard to resist temptations in the kitchen.
Elizabeth, I’m in a similar situation as you. I eat very differently than my husband. We keep out food separate from each other. That way I don’t see his food when I go into the food cabinet. Also, make sure to have healthy foods that you find rewarding in the kitchen. For instance, I really like Larabars which are much healthier than, let’s say, a bowl of ice cream. So if I’m feeling really tempted, I’ll eat a Larabar. Hope that helps!