Ten tips to make your diet stick

IT'S a new month. Are you feeling motivated to start a new diet? Body and Soul have ten tips to help you stick to it.

diettips

IF you've set yourself a weight-loss goal, make sure you achieve it with these tips to make any diet stick.

Try new foods. It’s the new year so choose one a month. Try it 10 times and you will like it. Become familiar with smell, taste, texture and flavour. The wider the range of foods you eat, the more nutrients you will be ingesting.

Reward and recognise your achievements. Focus on the positive. Use the strategies that kept you on track to help implement the next challenge.

fruitandvege

Get started straight away. Ban procrastination. This time next year you'll have wish you started sooner!

Set yourself up to succeed. Identify the challenges and find the solutions to overcome them. Write down the strategies you will use. Don’t leave it to chance.

Choose a time and day to shop. Write it down in your diary so you don’t end up with a bare fridge.

Divide up tasks. Take it in turns to cook, shop and wash up so it isn’t an overwhelming task.

Have frozen meals ready to defrost. That way you won’t have to resort to unhealthy takeaway options.

Allow some treats. But don’t go overboard. Have one scoop of ice-cream rather than two, gourmet yoghurt on berries rather than cream, fresh fruit with your squares of dark chocolate.

excercise

Modify your cooking methods. For example, try oven-baked potatoes brushed with oil rather than deep-fried chips. Crumb your schnitzel and brown in the pan with a little oil, then finish dry-baking in the oven.

Make an appointment with yourself for activity. Start at a pace you can continue with, for example, walk three days a week at lunchtime and twice a week after work rather than walking every day at 5am, which you know you won’t continue in winter.

What are your best diet tips? For more health and fitness advice go to bodyandsoul.com.au