My dieting advice to you.

Hello MFP,

I thought about the challenges I faced when starting my diet and I wanted to share my encounters and tips to get through it with you all. I wish you all the best of luck with your diets from the low carb dieters to the calorie cutters.

It's very hard to find the will power to make the initial change and to break bad habits. I knew I wanted to make a change, but I would put it off and tell myself "I'll start tomorrow". Well my "tomorrow" took 18 months or so for it to become a reality.

I said to myself "Okay! I'm going to do this!". Then I started eating "better" and when I didn't see the results I expected, I began to lose motivation. Battling the fatigue, headaches, cravings etc doesn't help when your motivation shield is already down and the end result is you lose the battle and revert to your old ways. Who knows how long your next "tomorrow" will take before you find the will power to try again.

Dieting doesn't begin with an actual cut in your food. You need to educate yourself either on your own or with the assistance of a paid professional. There is so much information out there that you can at times feel lost and one diet will contradict another. Spend the time to look over what you are eating and what of it is actually healthy with the diet approach you choose to do. I personally had a few surprises when I found out the "healthy good for me" foods I was eating were actually not so good and the "slightly bad" foods I was eating should honestly be banned from being sold in the first place.

Below are the key steps in beginning and sticking to a successful diet.

This isn't even a step. This is a decision that needs to be made before you even attempt a diet. Stop with the whole "I'll start tomorrow thing". Do it now. Either you want to make a change or you don't. If you want to choose eating bad food over health then go with that choice, enjoy your food and don't look back. I'm hoping you'll choose the 2nd option and it goes deeper then just for vanity reasons.

1) Educate yourself. There is so much information out there that at times it can become very confusing. The same food will be classified as great with one diet and unhealthy with another diet. Being confused while you are hungry will not have good results. Try to educate yourself as much as possible before you attempt your diet and continue to educate yourself during your diet. As long as you have a solid foundation to build off of, there will always be room to make tweaks over time.

2) Stick with the diet. You made that choice right? You chose health over the bad food. Why is this even a issue? Who is in control of "your" body? You or your cravings? If it was that much of a problem that you wanted to change, you must really want this to become your reality. You made your choice. You choose health. There is no looking back, so do not give up and stick with the plan.

3) Eat. Not eating is not a diet. It is not healthy. Eat and eat right.

4) Exercise. Exercise will help you feel great about yourself. It is addicting and it will help fight against that depression you may face during your diet at times.

5) Resist temptation. Stick with the plan. I understand life is to be enjoyed, but when you are dieting, you have to put your work in. You enjoyed eating long enough without putting the work in and its time to pay the piper.

6) Reap the rewards. I'm sure you heard the saying "you reap what you sow". Well enjoy having a longer life, being healthy and as a bonus you'll look great

Remember go by measurements or how you look rather then the lbs. Working out will result in muscle gain and that scale may not move at times. Take pictures during your progression so that even if the overall weight didn't change much you can see the other changes that are taking place with your body. It's hard to see changes on a daily basis, so take those pictures... trust me they help.

We are all human and we will "cheat" from time to time on our diets. Its not the end of the world. Just continue your diet and move on. Life is to be enjoyed and at times parties will come up. This doesn't give you a free pass to strap on a feed bag like a horse though! Eat smart and return to your diet.