The longer you diet, the harder it is to keep things interesting and fun. However, interest and engagement in your diet over time plays a huge part in your success in weight loss and maintenance.
Here are just a few innovative and “out of the box” suggestions to keep things interesting:
Give Yourself One “Free Day” Each Week
Sometimes an all or nothing strategy makes it incredibly hard to sustain adherence to the diet over time. You end up feeling deprived of the foods you love and you easily get tired of eating only “diet” or “healthy” foods. The suggestion is to take one day out of the week – Sundays tend to be a popular day to do this – and allow yourself the allowance to eat anything you want just for that day. This allows you to enjoy foods once a week, like that glass of red wine, while still keeping to a strict diet for the remaining six days.
This strategy only works if you are super strict about keeping it to a day only. The temptation of extending the day to the next day is very tough and you’ll need extra will power to get back on the wagon so to speak the next day.
Social Pressure: Make Your Diet Public!
The more people that know you are trying to lose weight the more you feel accountable and the more support you receive. Whether it’s posting on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or telling your colleagues at work or school, letting others know about your diet goals adds a little extra push of motivation for you to lose the weight. In the end you need to lose the weight for yourself and do it because you want to, but having the support of others around you can be incredibly helpful and rewarding.
Many HealthyWager participants actively post about their progress on social media. Check out the #HealthyWage hashtag on Instagram!
Weigh Yourself Every Single Day at the Same Time
Weighing yourself daily does two things:
1) it keeps you informed of progress you have made or not made on a regular basis, and
2) it creates a routine of mindful accountability during your dieting.
If you want to go one step further, track your weight through an online tool or spreadsheet. The reason you want to do it at the same time is because it throws out the randomness of your weight fluctuations and ability for you to make excuses.
The mornings are probably the best time because then you are motivated by a good reading and extra motivated if the reading of the scale is not what you wanted or expected!
Add Some Spice to Your Diet
A lot of times the reason the more “healthy” options are not exciting is because they lack flavor or some of the more unhealthy options we eat. A quick fix to that is to add spices and more flavor components without adding calories to your foods. Spicy foods, such as peppers are also said to boost your metabolism and makes the body feel fuller than foods that do not have spices.
Do you have any unconventional tips or strategies that you use?
