You say or hear the word diet and automatically a few words come to mind: restricting and limiting you and the foods you can eat, rigid meal plan, overwhelming, time consuming. Often you feel anxious because you, like many other dieters, have fallen victim to losing weight, then unfortunately gaining the amount you lost and possibly more back. 
Think about it, if all these diets were as great as they claim to be or provide all this weight loss as they promise they can there would not be many diets, nor would there be the tons of diet, “how-to”, weight loss books that overflow the shelves in bookstores across the nation. If these diets were as easy to follow as they claim to be, people would not encounter this “yo-yo” dieting and weight loss/weight gain phenomenon that too many dieters have experienced.
If you feel lost and are not 100% confident where you should begin and you find a diet to help jump-start your weight loss that’s fine, but realize it’s unrealistic to think you can follow this diet for the rest of your life. At some point, you will run out of meal plans to follow, you will get tired of eating a certain food at the same time everyday, you will be exhausted with the concept of limiting your food selection, and you will be fed-up at completely cutting out one or more food groups.
In order to truly guarantee success, we need to shift our thinking from “I’m on the such-n-such diet” to “I’m working on a healthier lifestyle”. That’s exactly what it is, it’s a lifestyle. You need to be educated on healthier food choices, knowing the right foods to eat on a regular basis, as well as the kinds of food to limit or avoid. By restructuring your thinking to viewing this as a lifestyle you will empower yourself with knowledge and confidence to eat in any situation, be able to eat a meal out, etc. Nutritionally, by adapting to a healthy lifestyle you will greatly increase your chances of losing weight and keeping it off, and not to mention to numerous health benefits and reducing your health risk(s) and diseases.
A healthy lifestyle also includes proper amount of sleep, exercise, stress management, identifying and practicing one’s spirituality or religion, smoking cessation, and limiting your alcohol consumption.
Kinsey Lowrey is the new dietitian at DietsInReview.com. Read her introduction to learn more about her and her contribution to the site.
What would be the best way to start changing your eating habits in order to lose weight? I enjoyed your column by the way.
What is the best way to start to change your eating habits to lose weight?
Great article, is she going to be writing all the time on the BLOG?
Yes, Kinsey is the newest addition to our DietsInReview team. You can see her articles every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday! Plus, she’ll be adding nutrition and health tips to our bi-weekly newsletter, and answering questions for those who email. Thanks Bill!
great post! I totally agree that it has to be a lifestyle change. I am kind of on a lower carb lifestyle diet where i eat smaller portions, more protein, and less carbs, more walking and exercise and less tv!
Right on, Kinsey!
I hope many people read your post and take it to heart.
Welcome to DietsInReview!
-Steve
Thank you Bill, Sue, and Steve!
Well Marsha, I recommend you start small in order to make changes to your eaitng habits to lose weight. It all really depends on how you currently eat. If you only eat white bread now, try and mix in some whole-wheat options in your day. Once you coordinate a serving of whole-wheat into your diet continue on until you are able to only eat whole-wheat and never or rarely eat white bread. It’s about making small, realistic changes, things you can accomplish. By doing this you feel empowered to make more changes and take on more challenging nutrition goals.