The Question:

Why are there are so many good weight loss programs out there, but so few people actually lose weight?

The Answer:

All too often the problem isn’t with the diet, but with sticking to the diet. Create a plan that makes sense to you to enhance your chances of going the distance to a healthier, slimmer weight. To succeed, you must first have a plan firmly in place. The best diet in the world won’t work for you if it involves eating foods you dislike. With a plan, you are in control. The details of the plan itself are entirely up to you. It’s possible to construct a diet that consists of foods you enjoy, cooked in a manner acceptable to you, with preparation time that fits your lifestyle, at a cost that fits your budget.

Your plan may involve eating the same menu everyday. This method eliminates stress because it eliminates the need to constantly count calories since they remain the same as they were the day before. If you decide on this approach take some time before you start to plan balanced meals that fit within your allowable, daily calorie count. You might plan two or three different options for each meal so that you will have, for example, one of three breakfast menus you can choose from on any morning. It can be both fun and challenging to plan well balanced, nutritious meals that fit your lifestyle, and please your palate.

If eating the same menus day after day leaves you cold, perhaps you’d like to go with one of the numerous nationally published diets; or you may want to join a diet club such as Weight Watchers or TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly). Or you may want to participate in a weight control class sponsored by your health plan. Going with a nationally published diet offers the benefit of a diet that is already balanced, calorie controlled, and in place. The same is true with the diet clubs; additionally some people benefit from the group sessions that provide nutritional education and motivational support. Many people find the weekly weigh-ins, at the diet clubs, help them stay on track.

Often diets fail because over time boredom sets in; the dieter loses interest and gradually just stops dieting. There is no law that says you must stay on one particular diet until you reach your goal. Your plan can be that you will switch between diets after a designated length of time, or after you have lost a specific number of pounds. This plan works well because you have preplanned a way out of the boredom often associated with long-term dieting.

Picture your meals on a grid like that found on graph paper: Each diet meal rates a check mark in one square of the grid. At the end of the month, try for as many checked squares as you can manage; and determine to get as many, or more, checks the next month. When you eat a meal that’s not on your diet, and we all do once in a while, remember it’s only one missed meal, one missed check in a square. That’s the only thing it represents. It does not represent failure in any way; it only represents one missed diet meal. Keep working on your plan; keep checking those blocks, and before long you’ll be feeling healthier, happier, and rightfully, very proud of yourself.

Make your diet your number one priority. Think of it as a cumulative process, not an all or none proposition.

Jody Cross
HealthNews.com