Monday, June 1, 2015

Day 4 Weight Loss Habits: Boundaries, Not Diets



Wrong Approach in Diet

You've probably heard people say that diet plans to lose weight are bad for you and that you should "never diet again!". The problem is not usually with diets themselves, but with the rigid, perfectionist diet meal plans we use them.

If you're like most people, when you're on a diet, you try hard to follow it perfectly. Each day you strive to take in the exact number of calories, fat grams, or carbohydrates allowed by the diet plan.
But if you slip up and eat a delicious (but forbidden) food to lose weight fast, you figure you've blown it so you might as well eat more and more.

Soon you throw the entire diet meal plans out the window. This all or nothing approach never works because when you are off your diet, you cancel out the progress you made while you were on it.


Boundaries Define Your Diet

Like it or not, to lose weight fast, you have to follow some type of system. Your plan an be quite rigid and meticulous or as simple as deciding you'll eat less and increase your level of exercise. Instead of getting stuck on the word diet, learn to think of it as setting boundaries for your eating plan.

Picture your diet plan program as a road or a path. You can define the boundaries of your diet road based on the number of calories, points, or other factors you choose to follow. As you walk on the road each day, your goal is to stay between the sides of the road. Unlike strict or rigid diet plan to lose weight fast, boundaries stay flexible. They provide guidelines, but at the same time they allow for common sense and good judgement.

During times when you're strong and focused on your diet program, you move the boundaries closer together, making the road narrower. When you take a break from your program or work on maintenance, you widen the boundaries and allow more variety in your diet plan. But even on a really bad day, you never eliminate the road or get off of it completely.

Set Guidelines, Not Rules

Boundaries should give you benefits not punishment! They should provide guidelines for you to live by, but not burden you with rules. you can define your diet boundaries for any type of diet,  Atkins diet, Paleo diet, Mediterranean diet, or other weight loss approach. Depending on your weight loss needs, you can simply adjust the edges of your diet plan to match where you are in life. By doing this, you'll be far more successful than if you punish yourself every time you step off the road.


Weight Loss Habit Today

  • In your notebook, draw a line down the middle of the page, creating two columns
  • Label one column "Narrow road" for your diet plan. Label the other "Wider road" for your maintenance or alternative eating plan.
  • Under the titles, define your eating and exercise plans to lose weight for each of these roads. Then decide on ways you can be flexible with them without losing sight of the healthy road you want to follow

Read other weight loss habits article below:


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