Biggest Diet Problems
There are a few common diet problems that we all have to fight, whether its a battle to lose weight or just eat healthy. I have put together a list of what I think are the top diet problems to overcome and some suggestions on how to overcome them.
1. Time: Its not easy to eat healthy, measuring, weighing foods and counting calories takes a great deal of time and effort. You also have to consider all the time spent preparing and shopping for meals. Its a lot easier to pick up fast food on the way home than to do the right thing. One thing you can do to over come this problem if you have the money is to use a service that will prepare and deliver meals to you.
2. Snacking: The common enemy of all good diet plans. You are hungry, you look around and see some chips and think oh just one won’t hurt and then just two won’t hurt. The next thing you have eaten half the bag and figure you’re screwed and may as well eat the rest. Others take one or two nibbles of something at a time but all those little nibbles add up. Its best not to buy these types of things that you have a weakness for. A lot of snacking is caused by boredom as well so keep busy.
3. Motivation: Its hard at times to keep motivated and working towards your weight loss goals. If you miss a target it may seem like you are doing everything for nothing. A support group can help you with motivation. Much of the success of many commercial diet plans lies not in their plan but their weekly or monthly meetings.
4. Holidays: Like it or not most holidays are not diet friendly. Being in a room full of people feasting on a holiday meal when you are dieting can be like a smoker trying to quit being in a room filled with people smoking. The best policy might be a bend but don’t break approach and sample things in small quantity.
5. Poor Nutritional Education: Eating the wrong things you believe are good for your diet can be a major pitfall. Some consumers are easily swayed by products that are labeled light, diet and heart healthy when they may not be. You have to read the ingredients and dig deeper to see what your really eating in terms of fat and calories!
6. Fad Diets: You have seen them advertised and maybe even searched for them online, those lose 20 pounds in three weeks fad diet plans. These type of fad diets often go viral on the Internet as most people love the idea of a quick fix. They only time a fad diet might work is if you just want to drop 10-15 pounds. What you really need to be successful is not just a diet plan but a overall lifestyle plan if you want to lose weight and keep it off.
7. Money: You would think that eating less would cost less but this is not always the case. Fruits and vegetables which are the staple of any good diet plan can be very expensive when they are not in season locally and you may also be taking supplements which are costly. There are commercial diet plans like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig which have a proven track record but many can not afford them. Best thing you can do is learn all you can for free either online or borrow a book from your local library on Atkins or the Dean Ornish diet. A good diet book will have the knowledge you need and you can look for support from a online forum or chat if you can’t find anything local.
8. Not Eating Enough: Yes it may seem ironic but not eating enough is a problem for many dieters. Not only is eating important for metabolic reasons but not eating leaves one miserable, tired and eventually sick. There is no way to stay on a diet once you become sick. The trick to dieting is to reduce calories while still getting your daily nutritional needs meant. You may want to take supplements to make sure you are notmissing out.
9. Boredom-Depression: I have lumped these two together as they kind of go together. If you are bored or depressed you generally eat more. This is especially true of snacking. Everyone has experienced going to the kitchen again and again kind of mindlessly just because you are bored. Many diet problems are from bad habits. No easy solution to boredom but best thing is not to stay home alone with a fridge full of ice cream. Join a group for support
10. Diet Pills: We all know or have read about some prescription diet pills that have been withdrawn from the market but over the counter and herbal diet pills have also recently come under fire from the FDA. Most of these miracle pills will not help you lose any real fat. If you do find you have lost weight most likely it will just be water. Pills are not going to change things for you long term, stop looking for that miracle and go back to the old fashion tried and true methods for losing weight.
to be continued (this will be a ongoing thread, feel free to comment and add your own)
