5 TIPS TO STICK TO A DIET

So i realized the other day that i have not done a nutrition type blog for a while. Also i probably should have done this post at the beginning of summer since so many people diet during the summer but i guess late is better than never. So something i think i hear once a week at least is the phrase “I just can’t find a way to stick to my diet.” or “I started a diet but i don’t know how long i can last.” So first off if you are thinking that way in a diet then you are doing everything wrong. Lets just stop you there. Today we are going to be discussing 5 tips to stick to a “diet”. If you guys get something out of todays blog please feel free to click those share buttons below as i greatly appreciate it.

I hate the “D” Word.........

Seriously i freaking hate the word diet. When most people say diet it is worded as something that you go on for a while and then come off..... This is such the wrong mentality to be in when trying to cut some weight. Just by using the word diet you are already programming your short term results but then leading yourself into a long road of failure. Understand that a diet is not something short term but should just develop into your everyday lifestyle with no extra effort. Also understand a diet is not always restricting calories. For instance your diet could be to gain mass. All a diet is, is another way to say "style of eating" We will get into this more later but the way you eat has to be sustainable that needs to be your focus but we will talk about that later on.

1. Rule Number One - Must Be Sustainable!

Like we talked about in the intro - whatever type of diet you choose must be sustainable for you and your lifestyle.

Ask yourself this simple question

“The way your eating right now, can you see yourself doing that 5 years down the road?”

If you answered yes then congrats you understand everything I'm going to be discussing here. If you answered No like the majority of people will then that is a sign the type of diet your doing will yield only short term results.

 

There are many different types of approaches you can take to get to your goals in body composition. I'm sure you often heard of many of these fad diets;

- Paleo

- Primal

- Vegetarian (WHY?)

- Vegan (even more WHY!?!?)

- Pescetarians

- Intermittent Fasting

- and my favorite Flexible Dieting

 

Flexible Dieting?

Something i get asked almost daily is “Shawn i know your into fitness but why are you eating that cookie?” or “Shawn does not want any of that cake because he’s into health.” I hear this crap almost daily! I think people would be shocked to see how much so called crap i eat on a daily basis.  Understand that there is nothing out there that is an actual unhealthy food. There are unhealthy amounts but there is no such thing as a bad food.

While i do recommend you track most of the time don't forget about the benefits of non tracking days that i talked about here.

It all Comes down to calories in and calories out

Seriously it is all basic calories in and calories out. People make this stuff so difficult but in reality if you want to loose weight you eat at a caloric deficit and if you want to gain you eat in a surplus. The timing of you meals means nothing, The types of food do not matter, Anything you think matters chances are when it comes to body comp it has little effect.

 

Track Protein, Carbs, and Fats

I'm going to save you some time here and if you need to understand macros then just go check out the quick start guide as i discuss how to build your macros and calculate your calories on that page.

 

So Back to the original reason for the first tip. I don’t care what dieting approach you take even though i highly would recommend Flexible Dieting since its such an easy thing to do

 

Find something you can stick to and you will be golden and on your first step to hitting your body composition goals.

2. Track The Night Before

Now this is not something i do anymore but in the begging of my journey i would track all the next days food and always be one day ahead in my tracking so all i had to do was eat the food in the days journal and i would hit my goals automatically. Early on this approach worked great and then overtime once you get better and better at hitting your numbers then you can just track more freely but for a lot of people just starting out - this simple tip while time consuming and may sound ridiculous can set you up for a long term of success.

 

So how does it work?

- Download the free food tracker ap called MyFitnessPal and make an account.

- Ignore everything the ap tells you when it comes to what it tells you to eat and so on. We are only using the ap to track not calculate our numbers. You should have already calculated your numbers in the quick start guide.

- We will then take the numbers we calculated from the quick start guide and use them in myfitnesspal.

- Make note of your numbers (Total Calories, Protein, Carbs, Fats)

- Then just click on the day and start searching for what your going to eat the next day. It takes some time and planning in the beginning but after a while you build up very powerful skills of just being able to estimate everything and still hit your goals. And eventfully you will be like me and can just eat as you please and what you please because you have already programmed yourself to know what numbers look like on the actual plate. For example now a days i can go anywhere, eat anything, and estimate the numbers pretty easily and quickly. A lot of times it just comes as second nature when eating out and such. You will eventually be that good as well but it will take time.  I tracked for over 1,000 days straight to get to where i am. Patience my friends. If your looking for an easy way to estimate macros when you go out to eat check out my blog Quick Guide To Estimating Macros

3. Eat Less In The Beginning of The Day And Save A Lot Of Calories For Night

- This is a trick i learned when i started intermittent fasting back in 2013. Still to this day i only eat twice a day but each one of those meals is huge and by the end of the day i would have hit the same calories as if i ate 5 times a day. I just like having big meals and thats why i do it the way i do. Now i’m not saying you have to only eat 2 times a day, for a lot of people that would be torture. All i am saying is that try and eat as light as you can during the day and just save a ton of calories for night. Then every night will be like thanksgiving and you will have a ton of food to look forward to after the day. When dieting this can help tremendously! During the day just eat things that will keep you full like some eggs and other high protein foods then at night you will be able to fit anything pretty much into your numbers and then wake up leaner the next day :D It sounds so simple but it works amazingly well. I was able to drop down to 8% body fat in my past before using this method. Now a days tho since i don't really cut anymore i just aim to hit my numbers by the end of the day but that still usually leads to nice feasts at night. I'm not saying you have to do this I'm just saying this has worked extremely well for my large appetite and also a lot of my clients. Try it out, you got nothing to loose except body fat ;)

 

4. Chewing Gum and Caffeine Will Be Your Best Friends.

When you really want to save calories for at night but your just so hungry try chewing some gum and or have some sort of diet caffeine drink. I guarantee it will satisfy you for a while and help you in those stages of hunger that always happen later on in a serious cut. “Shawn do you track the gum calories?” I personally do not because i just keep it consistent. If your only having a few pieces a day then don’t track it but if you having 5-6 pieces a day then  i might track it. Some people experience more hunger when chewing gum since it does activate your saliva glands which is the first step in the digestive process for that reason i might save gum for after you eat something as it will be a nice way to curve that sweet tooth without adding any extra calories. This works really well for those times after a meal where you still want something sweet but don’t have enough calories saved up for it or your saving calories for later. Plus it will help clean your teeth so your killing two birds with one stone! Also if your using caffeine don't forget to use these tips to maximize the effects!

5. Eat Volume Foods When Your Far Into A Cut

Volume foods are foods that have very little calories but a ton of volume and take a while to eat. This can be very helpful when your deep into a cutting cycle.

Here are some substitute foods that are great for dieting

- Instead of rice go with potato's

- Instead of bananas go with berries

- Instead of Regular Pasta go with rice

- Have a giant salad with every meal. 

- Instead of regular bread try high fiber bread - less calories and usually better portions

- Instead of Regular Milk Try Skim  Milk

- Try making protein fluff 

Those are just some simple tricks but these can really help you when your wanting to cut some body fat. Also remember any of the foods i listed there are not off limits. I just listed those as some of those have quite higher calories than their substitutions. Remember that there is no food off limits, just hit your numbers.

 

Sticking to a “diet” should not be that hard

Yes a diet will get harder the longer you stay in one but remember that diet is just a term for meaning “the way you eat” your diet could be a diet to gain mass, It could be to cut body fat it does not matter. in fact please just stop using the word diet as it has a terrible wrap to it. I want you from here on out to just say instead o diet say “my style of eating” When it all comes down to it everyone is a flexible dieter as flexible dieting is just knowing what your eating and being aware. Yes you can track your macros and make even better improvements to your body composition but all in all if you just eat mindfully, train hard, and get enough recovery then thats really all you need to succeed with your body composition goals.

 

Also i know a lot of people say that diet is 80% of the results but i highly disagree. Personally i think training is 70% and diet is 30%. When im in a hard training cycle i really do not hit my numbers all to often and my body comp still was just as good as when i was hitting my numbers right on. Since my injuries as of lately i have paid a little more closer to my nutrition but i still eat pretty much as i please and i actually have gotten leaner lately and I'm not even really trying to. Understand it as a numbers game and things will become a piece of cake (pun intended ;)

Lets Sum It Up

Ok so today we covered 5 tips to help you stick to a diet but please just stop using that word.....

- Find something sustainable that you can see yourself doing long term

- Track your food and become a flexible dieter and calculate your macros

- Save more food and calories for later at night and eat lighter during the day

- Eat more volume foods to help keep your satisfied

- Chew gum and drink caffeine to help with hunger.

- Don’t take it so seriously, train hard and eat the best you can i promise you will see results.

Thats going to wrap this one up. I understand that these were a lot of beginner tips but i think some beginner tips can help everyone now and then. Hope you guys enjoyed this and got something out of it. Also i was asked by a couple people last week if they could provide me with donations to help with the content so for those of you that want to donate here is the link, thanks a ton! Till next week Guys

 

Stay Strong,

Shawn Fausey

• Shawn Fausey is the Founder and CEO of Fausey's Fitness. With Over 6 years experience in Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Nutrition. Shawn offers services of online fitness coaching, programing and consulting. Shawn is also a Graphic Designer and can be reached for graphic services on www.rev-graphics.com
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