Your Diet Personality And Making Changes One Step At A Time

Your diet personality is probably a lot like your overall personality with respect to how easily you make commitments and motivate yourself to approach difficult tasks. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you may be standing in your own way of getting to a healthier weight:

- Do you think someone else is responsible for the way you eat?
- Do you believe other people lose and maintain weight easier than you?
- Do you look for quick-fix solutions?
- Do you live a life of deprivation, eating foods you don't like and avoiding those foods you do in an attempt to lose or maintain weight?
- Does the prospect of following a diet and losing weight overwhelm you?
- Do you try to lose weight on your own, without ever seeking help?
- Do you give up easily?
- Do you feel like a failure when you fall off the food wagon and eat too much?

The best fitness plan is one that you fine-tune to fit your personality and lifestyle. After you answer the preceding questions, ask yourself the following questions so you can tailor a plan to suit your diet personality.

- Are you a joiner, or do you like to go it alone?
- Are you a grazer who nibbles all day long, or do you normally sit down to three full meals and a formal snack or two?
- Do you want someone to tell you what and when to eat in a prescribed plan, or would you rather have a flexible diet that allows you to make on the spot food decisions?

Consider these questions before you make any decisions about the diet you choose to try. Whatever diet it is make sure that you choose a diet that doesn't restrict what you are allowed to eat. A solid, healthy, nutritious diet focuses on a variety of foods with a limit on the amount of calories that you consume in a given period of time.

When you're clear about which aspects of your life actually need to be changed, you can begin taking real steps to enact those changes.

The best place to start is with a commitment to yourself. Promise yourself that you're never going to give up on yourself. Acknowledge now that cutting back on the amount of food you're used to eating won't be easy. At the same time, keep telling yourself you can do it. Be your own cheerleader. Promise yourself that you won't kick yourself when you fall of f the food wagon. Successful dieters don't scold themselves or give up. They give themselves a pep talk and jump right back on.

Make small changes, one at a time, at your own pace, and allow yourself to get used to one change before moving on the next. For example, your first change may be to switch from regular salad dressings to low calorie dressings. Or, you may decide to steam vegetables instead of stir frying them to save calories from added fat. If both of those changes appeal to you, make one change today and the other tomorrow.

When a person takes real-life steps to make permanent lifestyle changes, scientists call it behavior modification. The following examples of eating behavior modification techniques can help you start your low-cal lifestyle:

- Eat before you go shopping. When you're hungry, you're more likely to make impulse purchases of foods you don't really want to eat.

- Make a shopping list when you go to the grocery store and stick to the list when you get there. Don't allow yourself to buy "indulgence" foods like snacks and junk food that aren't on the list.

- Don't buy "indulgence" foods or any calorie-laden foods. These foods can contribute to overeating when you're first starting a new diet.

- Keep healthier foods on hand and ready to eat in your refrigerator and cupboards. Doing so gives you options other than junk food when you're looking for an easy snack or a quick meal.

- Prepare strict single portions so you aren't tempted to overeat (and consume more calories) if you're cooking for yourself only, and not following a recipe.

- Use smaller plates. Low-calorie meals tend to look lost on larger plates and may make you feel deprived.

- Always sit down when you eat, even if you're just having a quick snack, so that you pay attention to how much you eat. You can easily forget about the calories you consume when you eat on the run.

- Leave the table when you're finished eating what's on your plate. Doing so reduces the temptation to go back for more food.

- Don't skip meals. If you do, you may overeat at your next meal or snack too much in between.

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