9 Simple Tips for Creating Your Own Diet ...

By Jennifer

If none of the diet plans on the market appeal to you, but you want to start a weight loss journey right now, why not create a diet of your own? It’s not as difficult as it sounds, and in fact, it might be even more effective than a pre-packaged or already-made diet. What do you need to know to create a diet? Keep reading! Here are 9 simple tips for creating your own diet, one that’s sure to include what you want, because you made it!

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1

Have a Goal in Mind

It’s impossible to even begin to create a diet or a weight loss journey without having a destination, or a goal, in mind. Set a goal weight, and give yourself a reasonable amount of time to reach it. If you’re not sure what your goal weight ought to be, use the free, customizable tools at myplate.gov.

2

Know the Math

When creating a diet, it’s important to remember that every diet, whether it’s to lose, maintain, or gain weight, is a simple math equation. If you want to create a diet to lose weight, the calories you consume must be FEWER than the calories you burn.

3

Know Serving Sizes

If you’re counting calories, it’s important to know what a serving size is, so you can count them accurately. For instance, what the label on the box says is a serving of cereal is often about half of what we actually eat… which is fine, as long as you’re counting the calories in both of those servings!

4

Keep a Journal

Especially when you’re first starting out, it’s important to keep a food journal. You’ll soon see which times of day you’re eating the most, what sorts of foods you tend to eat most often, and where you can easily shave off extra calories. It can be a paper journal in a notebook, or a free app you can download for your iPhone.

5

Know Your Weaknesses and Your Strengths

Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel when you create a diet. Know what your strengths are, and keep those. Also know where your weaknesses are, and address them.

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Warren Buffett
6

Know How to Shop

Did you know that the healthiest foods, such as fresh produce and whole grains, are all along the perimeter of your grocery store? It’s true! The bad-for-you foods, including fat and calorie-laden processed foods and junk foods are all in the inside aisles. Stick to the outside edges of the grocery store, and you’ll make wiser choices, and skip the chips.

7

Plan Ahead

Creating your own diet means planning almost every meal and snack ahead of time. That’s because most restaurants don’t cater to dieters; in fact, it seems, with their fat-rich foods and double-sized portions, they want us all fat! Make a menu plan for the week, and stick to it.

8

Don’t Focus Too Much on One Thing

When you first thought about creating your own diet, chances are, you thought of cutting or adding one particular thing. I’ll cut carbs! I’ll eat grapefruits! Sadly, this won’t work. A successful diet, even the one you create on your own, has to address nutrients and ingredients and food groups as a whole. Adding or subtracting one item or nutrient won’t help, and is actually sometimes dangerous.

9

Add Movement!

When you’re creating a diet, be sure to add exercise. Regular, strenuous, heart-thumping exercise, for one hour a day, four or five days a week. Sure, it’s possible to lose weight without exercise, but it’s a lot more difficult, and you won’t get the results you want… who wants to be a skinny flabby girl?

See? Creating a diet isn’t impossible, or even very difficult! Now that you’ve seen all the pieces you need for creating a diet plan, do you think you’ll tackle the process? Why or why not? Please share!

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