Have you started a diet or exercise program only to fail after a few days. Your goal was lost among the daily activities of life. Your plans evaporated into that bowl of ice cream or bag of cookies. Your daily ritual took over and that latest diet book was put back on the shelf.
Why does this happen?
Why do diets ultimately fail?
In my experience diets fail because they are not practical. Sometimes they are so restrictive that all you can think about is what you can’t have. The next try may have you drinking a bland shake for 2 or 3 meals a day. The next diet may have you completely eliminating a food group such as carbs or fat. The food becomes the enemy and you soon give in, eat up, and gain more weight than ever.
So what does work?
In my experience a four prong approach works the best and there are many books written on the subject. The four points are…
- Aerobic exercise at least three days/week
- Resistance training at least three days/week
- A balanced diet divided into 5 or 6 smaller meals
- Drinking at least two liters of water/day
When I have followed this type of plan I would lose an average of two pounds per week, have more energy, and not feel restricted like most diet plans. The resistance training would soon build muscle and my body would naturally burn more calories. Motivation would soon come in the form of lost weight and a lower body fat percentage.
So how do you get started?
- Pick a plan. There are many books written on the subject of diet and fitness. I would suggest that you find one that takes a balanced approach and includes all four items above. My favorite books are Five Factor Fitness by Harley Pasternak, Body for Life
by Bill Phillips, and Core Performance by Mark Verstegen. All of these plans are reasonably easy to do and can be followed at home with a minimal amount of equipment or food preparation.
If you feel you need the added motivation of a professional program, Weight Watchers has proven effective for many people. For gourmet low glycemic meals you may find the new Sonoma Diet - Get the necessary tools. There are three tools that have made a noticeable difference in my fitness routine. The first is an accurate scale. This above all else is the best tool you can buy when starting any type of diet or exercise program. I recommend the Tanita Scale
- Track your progress. The secret to any diet or fitness program is finding an effective way to track your progress. If you don’t know where you are you can’t make adjustments to get back on track. I have put together two walleteer sheets that may help you on your fitness quest. The first is called the five minute diet planner or dieteer, a simple tool for daily diet planning and tracking. The second is the five minute diet motivator, little cards with motivational sayings on them to keep you focused on your diet goals.
Here are simple instructions for printing and assembling your Dieteer.
- Download the Five Minute Diet Planner (Dieteer) and Diet Motivator
- Unzip the file (contains both templates)
- Open the template(s) in Microsoft Word
- Fill in the blanks as needed or print as is
- Print out on Avery Business Card stock (10 card)
- Break the cards apart. Mix & match as necessary
- Clip them together with a mini-clip
- You now have a complete Dieteer or Diet Motivator
Suggested uses…
- Daily Tracker Card
Works well with most diet plans
Works with the Daily Diet Goal Card
Tracks calories and fat grams throughout the day - Weekly Exercise Card
Works well with most exercise plans
Tracks aerobic and resistance training throughout the week - Daily Diet Goal Card
Set your daily goal for calories, fat grams, and exercise
Post in a visual place on your desk or in your car
Use in conjunction with other Diet Motivators - Calorie & Fat Gram Card
Comes with popular fast food listings
Modify as necessary to include foods on your diet - Glycemic Listing Card
Comes with popular glycemic listings of popular food items
Modify as necessary to include foods on your diet - Twelve Week Weight & Waist Card
Works well for tracking your progress over 3 months
Designed for Body for Life and other plans - Weight Watcher Points Card
Track your daily Weight Watcher points
Provides a subtotal column so you can plan your next meal
These cards fit easily in pocket or purse and allow you to keep track of the important aspects of your diet and fitness program. The pocket motivation cards can be placed most anywhere with tape, magnetic card backing, or on your own motivation station made easily with a clothespin and a pencil. Good luck with your diet program. Remember to always check with your doctor before starting any type of diet or exercise program.
Other Five Minute Items you may be interested in:
Five Minute Organizer
Five Minute Flowchart
Five Minute Outliner
Five Minute Motivators
Instant Garage Sale
About John Richardson
Author, Speaker, and Digital Media Creator. Personal Development Blogger. Ideas for Success!
>The next diet may have you completely eliminating a food group such as carbs or fat.
I think it killed my comment again. *sigh* I said…
I’ve been low-carbing (Atkins is LOW-carb, not no-carb) for over two years now. When am I supposed to give in and gain the weight back?
Thanks for the reply Victoria. I’m glad your low carb solution has worked well for you. I have found that a low glycemic diet such as the ones I’ve listed above work well for me. When I have tried to go too low on carbs (such as the Atkin’s induction with only 20 grams of carbs/day), I feel lethargic and I have been unable to stick with the program.
The addition of exercise and weight training to a balanced diet made a real difference for me. I can eat plenty of food and maintain my weight much easier with this type of program.
The bottom line is finding a program that works for you. If low carb works and you feel good, more power to you.
John
If you want a more “high tech” way of tracking your diet/exercise, there are alot tons of programs out there that help you track it and provide pretty graphs which can always been a motivational tool.
I’ve found that having the graphs and being able to visually see things like macronutrient ratio, calorie in vs calorie out, etc. has been amazingly good at motivating me.
To date, I’ve lost a total of 20 pounds, and am working on the last 20 that I want to lose. I track it all on my blog, which is another one of my motivational tricks.
I’ve been on Weight Watchers for 10 months and have lost over 30 pounds. Much of the program aligns with what you are writing: move your body every day, weigh your food, portion control, and track everything. It’s been a great program for me and many other people I know. I’ll like this post to my blog so my readers can benefit as well. Thanks!
Hi Russell, thanks for the reply. Some of the high tech diet tools are great. It’s nice to see a chart of your progress. I find these diet tracker cards are a great way to get the data back home so they can be plugged in to your favorite spreadsheet or diet program. The dieteeer fits easily in my pocket and it only takes a minute to track my meals and snacks throughout the day. When I get home I have an accurate accounting of the day.
As far as high tech goes a good pedometer will give you great feedback on your daily exercise. They say if you walk about 10,000 steps a day you’ll keep in great shape.
Thanks for the link to your blog and good luck on your diet plan.
John
Thanks for the reply Denise. I have known many people that have found success with Weight Watchers. A couple of the cards in the dieteer may help you keep track of your points throughout the day. You can easily modify the cards to list points instead of calories. The dieteer fits easily in your pocket or purse so you can keep an accurate subtotal of points after each meal.
It can be real motivational to have 10 or 12 points left at the end of the day so you can enjoy that restaurant meal or special treat.
Great blog and much luck on your diet quest!
John
I use FitDay.com and weigh everything I eat. Keeps me in line if I know “I bite it, I write it.”
Great advice. Thanks.
Hi John,
I agree with most of the stuff you wrote about dieting. My wife (your daughter) and I have recently did weight watchers together (I lost almost 40lbs). I found that the biggest factor in losing weight was not doing it alone and having someone else there when I really wanted to be bad, or lazy. Keep on blogging!!!
Kyle
Great job! =D I was wonderinf if you allow me to I translate it for my native language (Brazilian Portuguese).
Of course, I’ll credit you as well!
Thanks.
Great article. My experience in losing weight naturally: I was 85kg a couple of years ago. I switched to a 100% vegetarian diet and lost 10kg in 6 months. Diet consisted of tofu, legumes, greens and mushrooms. What helped was the fact that I loved those kind of food to begin with, so it wasn’t a torture eating them
Most of my life weight was not a problem until I stopped smoking. Then over the course of five years my weight shot up to my current 60 pounds excess. I have tried countless diet pills, both popular and prescription, to no avail. I tried a couple of the plans, I think Medifast was my most effective, but then, as always, I lose interest and begin eating badly again.
It seems my best success has been during the periods when I tried to incorporate long walks, 2 to 4 miles, into my weekly schedule. Having said that and have seen that to be my greatest success, I am led to agree with your diet planner and my well give it a try.
If I do and it works, I will be one of your biggest testimonials. Thanks again.
Has anyone tried the Idiot Proof Diet? It worked for me it will work for you
Joshua
http://www.idiot-proof-diet-handbook.com
hey how do u get on the idiot proof diet? wat do u do?
You’ve said it…pick a plan, get the necessary tools and track your progress. I’ll add, stick to the plan and be persistent.
Pablo,
Thanks for the comment and the reminder to all of us. Persistence is the name of the game and so important for any diet plan to succeed. I love the quote from Calvin Coolidge…
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
John
Thanks for this great advice.
Foods with a low glycemic index allow you to eat until you are full without the risk of consuming too many calories. If you need a coach I would suggest Dr Cindy’s Perfect Body Shape (www.cindy.perfectbodyshape.com). Her one-on-one coaching keeps you between the lines when you need it most. Her method of taking weekly physical measurements seems a lot easier that calulating grams in / grams out. Most of us are not that technical.
Just picking a plan is a big step. So many people start with one plan and when they don’t see immediate results, they jump to something else. Don’t just pick the “new” plan or the “hottest” plan. Find one that addresses your personal issues and lifestyle and go with it.
This is good advice. I believe if everyone starting a new diet had a plan like this they would experience much more long term success.
This looks like a good plan. Your intro paragraph is so true. It is hard to get past the first few days. I signed up for the Bob Green ‘best life’ plan and like the slow approach to really change some habits before you make dramatic changes in what you eat. Another point is accountability – the website http://www.ipodfitnesscenter.com helps you be accountable for your exercise while you have fun getting moving.
I’m from Japan.
Glad to meet you.
Please link to this site.
Keep it up please♪
Great tips and i hope i can lose weight using your 5 minutes plan advice , Nice blog !
Because I had done so much yo-yo dieting, I found the only way for me to lose was to stay on Induction. I never went above 20 grams of carbs a day until I reached Lifetime Maintenance. Even now I never consume more than50 grams a day. I started weight training three times a week and cardio two or three times a week. I lost 4 pounds after I joined the gym, going from140 to 136 pounds. But the weight loss doesn’t tell the whole story. I lost3 inches from my waist, which made an enormous difference. And I’ve kept it up.
Hi, I wanted to thank you for posting a wealth of information for those of us who aren’t properly educated on how to change one’s perception of food and drink. I have purchased Body for Life and I think it’s a fantastic book. Because of what I learned from that coupled with a little help from “faith” and lost nearly 100lbs. I know I have a long way to go, but with continued daily fighting of cravings (yes, I still get those cravings..ugh) and low-impact exercises weekly (walking and uphill climbs on a treadmill, bike riding, etc.), I hope to succeed in my goal weight (which is still about 100bs lower than I am now). Take care and continued success.
Great article, i totally agree, the problem in diet is that they are restrictive and no one would be able to do that for their whole life, so what is the point if you’re going to take back the weight later on anyway. Eating, and eating stuff we like is really important, so we have to make healthy choice, but not to stop eating everything with a bit of fat or we’ll just go crazy!
Yeah, fitness is another path to choose. I keep my shape with running, it`s more fun if you have an ipod or other music player attached.
hello , nice site some really good information, will recommend to my friends to take a look.thanks
robbo
Extraordinarily challenging bless you, There’s no doubt that your trusty subscribers will probably want a whole lot more articles along these lines carry on the good effort.