As a bariatric surgeon, I have seen how struggling to maintain your diet is one of the biggest obstacles to losing weight. If you find yourself frequently cheating on your diet — or at least thinking about it — I want to offer you some suggestions that I believe can help you to make healthy choices even when your cravings are strong. Keep reading to understand how to stick to your diet.
1. Clear Your Cupboards of Unhealthy Snacks
It is a lot easier to avoid temptation when salty and sugary foods are not right in front of you. If you have these snacks in your kitchen, accessibility makes it so much easier to break your diet, whereas if you did not have them in your home, you would need to leave your house to feed this craving.
If you also have trouble preventing yourself from buying sugary/salty foods when you see them in the grocery aisles, you may want to avoid that responsibility altogether. Many stores now offer grocery delivery services, which can be a great way to keep unhealthy foods out of your home.
2. Have a Meal Plan
In order to stick to your diet, you need to have a schedule that you can follow. Eating healthy is much more manageable when you have a tangible plan in place. When you don’t know what you are going to eat at mealtimes, you are more likely to grab some less healthy food.
3. Manage Your Stress
Many people turn to “comfort” foods when they are amid a stressful situation. If your urge to snack peaks whenever you have anxiety, you should develop other coping strategies to get through these moments. Whether that means exercising, talking to a loved one, or just removing the source of anxiety from your life altogether, find what works best for you.
4. Find Ways to Reward Yourself That Don’t Include Food
One reason that overweight people have trouble sticking to a diet is that they look at certain foods as rewards. If you spent the day cleaning your house, gave an amazing presentation at work, or have a birthday, your default mentality may be that you deserve a reward in the form of food or alcohol. You absolutely ought to do something nice for yourself, but the trick is to think of new ways to treat yourself. Activities like a massage, a pedicure, going dancing, or seeing a movie are all ways that you can reward yourself without indulging in extra calories.
5. Remember That a Lapse Is Not the End of Your Diet
Nobody is perfect! Even successful dieters give in to temptation from time to time. The trick is to not feel defeated by a setback. Some people get into a mindset where if they eat tortilla chips during the day, they feel that they’ve already been so “bad” that they might as well just eat ice cream at night. A weight loss journey might not always be a steady path, but the more you stick to your plan, the sooner you can achieve your goals.
Get Help at Endobariatric
At Endobariatric, we want you to be successful in losing weight, which is why we continue our relationships with our patients long after your gastric sleeve surgery. We provide counseling and an organized diet plan that our patients say significantly decreases their urges to cheat. To learn more about how gastric sleeve can transform your life, please schedule a free consultation.
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“Changing lives…one sleeve at a time”.
