Increase your success with a new diet by choosing the right diet and taking the time to prepare for the diet before you actually begin. A little preparation before you begin dieting will make it easier to stick with your diet for the long term and help you lose weight and keep it off. If you are not properly prepared before beginning a diet, you will find it more difficult to stick with, and your chance of falling off the wagon will increase.
Step 1
Decide on a diet. It is important to choose a diet that includes foods that you like and will enjoy preparing. If you don't normally cook, a diet that offers prepackaged meals may work best for you. If you love to cook, choosing a diet that includes plenty of new recipes to try may improve your resolve.
Step 2
Make sure it is nutritionally sound. Any diet that excludes food groups, is extremely low calorie or promises that you will lose more than two pounds each week is probably not the most nutritionally sound diet. While getting to and maintaining your ideal weight is an important part of staying healthy, losing weight at the expense of eating enough protein, calcium or fiber will not improve your health.
Step 3
Gather your tools. Go grocery shopping before you start your diet. Make sure you have the food you need as well as plenty of options for diet friendly snacks and drinks. If you have to run out to the grocery store while you're hungry, you increase the chance of buying foods that are not diet friendly.
Step 4
Set a date. Some people do better starting a diet on a Monday, the beginning of the month or some other definitive date. If you're one of these people, don't be afraid to wait a few days to start. If you are gung-ho to get started, that's fine too, but do make the commitment that once you start, you will remain on the diet for at least one week. This will give you ample time to sample some of the recipes and assess how you feel objectively. Don't decide to go off the diet spontaneously, while you're sitting on the couch and your spouse is eating ice cream.
Step 5
Monitor your progress. Decide at the beginning of your diet how often you will weigh yourself and stick with it. Don't let the scale be the deciding factor, however. Monitor how your clothes feel, your energy level and how well you sleep at night. While the weight may not move as fast as you would like, if you are losing steadily and feel great while doing so; you have picked a good diet.
Tips and Warnings
- Don't switch plans. Commit to a plan and stick with it long enough to determine how you feel. Eating high protein one day and low fat the next will make it difficult to keep your total calories under control.
- If you don't have enough energy to exercise, or have trouble sleeping because of hunger pangs, the diet is not providing enough energy.
Things You'll Need
- Diet foods
- Scale
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