You’re getting on track – you exercise several times a week and the pounds are beginning to fall off. But exercise is only half the battle against the bulge! The other half: your diet! Eating right is the key to consistent and healthy weight loss. We all know this, so why is it still so tough to make great choices about what we eat?
Most of us let our lifestyles, emotions, and all kinds of thing get in the way of eating right. And in the meantime, as we put off making those decisions, we form unhealthy patterns that become deep-seated habits. Those habits become comfortable, familiar, easy—making them even more difficult to overcome.
Tips To Break Unhealthy Eating Habits
- Take an honest look at your diet Sometimes we don’t even realize what we eat each day, or when. It’s often helpful to keep a food journal for a few weeks, so that you can identify your dietary patterns. You may realize that you go days on end without vegetables—or that the base of your food pyramid is made up of ice cream (not the strongest foundation)! After you’ve tracked the trends in your diet, identify the most important habits to change.
- Figure out why you eat what you eat Many of us make poor dietary choices because we’re pressed for time, we’re eating to deal with stress, or we have emotional relationships with our food. Identifying these underlying issues is the most important step if we’re going to change them long term. This awareness will give you new control over our everyday decisions because you’ll pay more attention to the foods you choose to eat.
- Make changes that are reasonable and realistic for you and your lifestyle Just as you must be honest with yourself about your current eating habits, you also must be honest with yourself as you decide which habits to break—and how to break them. If you’re eating too much red meat, aim to switch to fish on Fridays, or go meatless on Mondays. Smaller changes will be easier to stick with over time, and you won’t feel deprived or resentful about the changes you make.
The benefits of changing your eating habits stretch beyond weight loss. Eating right will give you more energy, improve your overall health, and even make your skin glow. Talk to one of our personal trainers about tweaking your diet to support your weight loss and fitness goals. To stay up to date and to get daily motivation, please like us on Facebook!
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