PrintBy Valerie Berkowitz
eDiets Contributor
For most people who lose weight and keep it off, it’s all about understanding yourself, making priorities and maintaining motivation. It’s about making eating and health the essence of your being.
Eating healthy foods becomes a natural inclination, and you cannot imagine eating any other way. Know your diet strengths, limitations and weaknesses and work within realistic situations so that you build yourself a win-win dieting situation.
If you are unrealistic or try fooling yourself, you will only hurt yourself and your chances of achieving your desired weight. For example, thinking that you will eat foods you do not like just because it is on your plan.
Many people center their lives around food, but now the focus on food must switch to an increased awareness of eating the appropriate quantities and types of food, breaking current social and emotional ties and increasing your awareness of potential diet pitfalls.
Using the checklist below will help you determine your readiness to start your new diet plan or assess your level of commitment with your current diet plan. Are you ready to start a diet? Answer the questions in the checklist to determine your readiness and ability to succeed.
| Yes | No | |
| Will changing your diet be a top priority? | ||
| Are you willing to forgo certain types of food or beverage? | ||
| Will you change your eating behaviors? | ||
| Are you willing to make changes to your social life? | ||
| Are you currently involved in a huge life project? | ||
| Can you spend 15-30 minutes a day on yourself? | ||
| Do you have the time to make a list of situations that have side-tracked your diet in the past? |
The answers to these questions will help indicate how much effort you are willing to give to your diet success. The more effort you devote to your weight loss, the better results you will see.
If you answered “yes” to these questions, you are ready to lose weight and very likely will maintain your weight loss. If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you must decide whether you think you can succeed without giving it your all.
Maybe you’d like to try, but your expectations will be realistic as it may not be as “easy” as others who answered “yes” to all the questions or maybe you get support from the eDiets Support Boards until you are ready to give it your all.
Tools like this easy checklist can be extremely helpful when trying to assess your commitment to your weight and maintenance goals. You can also use similar charts to aid in making behavior changes within different areas of your life.
You may want to include more specific targets, like eating more vegetables. The chart can include a list of the veggies you like, when you will buy the veggies and when you will eat them, i.e. as a snack or at dinner or both.
Facing a diet dilemma is only a small problem that can be fixed if you try to fix it. Understanding diet dilemmas and problem solving will allow you to overcome hurdles that have kept you from getting to the finish line.
Valerie Berkowitz, MS, RD, CDE, CDN is co-author of “The Stubborn Fat Fix” and Nutrition Director for The Center for Balanced Health. She is certified as a lifestyle counselor and certified by the American Dietetic Association in adult weight management. Valerie has been practicing for over 20 years and for a few of those years moderated eDiets online communities. Her specialty is helping people recognize underlying reasons that weight loss may be more difficult than it has to be. Valerie is the mother of three children, soon to be four, and strives to make eating a balanced and fun experience for everyone.
Are you ready for the new you? Join Valerie’s “Getting to Know Thyself” meeting Monday, March 22nd and Thursday March 25th at 1:30pm and 9pm ET to learn how to diet successfully and discuss issues that will enlighten you about obstacles you may not have admitted to in the past.
Sign up with eDiets today and get 25% off our expert fitness and nutrition support, as well as access to everything you need to make your weight-loss goals a reality!
