How To Get Started

The beginning of a diet is invariably the hardest part. Sure, there are plateaus and setbacks and struggles along the way, but the first 2-4 weeks can be enough to quelch even the best of efforts.

It's difficult for several reasons. First, you are used to eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods. Healthy food is unappealing. Bad habits are seriously difficult to overcome. Good ones take a very long time to establish and solidify. Secondly, you don't have any measure of success to leverage further motivation. The long-term view can be daunting and overwhelming. Perhaps, like me, you have a history of failures. From past experience, if I give it a serious effort and fail, it can take me several years to find the will to try again.

The intial motivation can come from any direction. You may have some sort of "reunion" coming up. Perhaps your biggest clothes are getting too tight. Maybe someone made an offhand remark that sent you reeling. Likely, there are health issues that are complicating the matter, sore knees, aches, pains, trouble breathing or sleeping. That intitial motivation can be enough to get you started on your path to a new you IF you are willing to put in a little extra planning and effort to nurture it along.

Planning is especially important in the beginning of any major behavior change. You need to think carefully about what meals you are going to have that first week. Be especially careful of dining out or special occasions. There is never a perfect time to start, so don't put it off. There will always be distractions, especially in the beginning.

Once you make that commitment to yourself, plan out some healthy low-calorie meals and keep several low-calorie snacks on hand. For me, it's dill pickles, V-8s, carrots, fat-free yogurt, and rice cake snacks that save me in my weak moments. There needs to be a range of salty, sweet, cruchy, and sour tastes. Some of the snacks can be abused, so you still need to exercise a level of control when eating them.

After you are deep into the journey, you can occasionally include higher-fat items in moderation, but I don't recommend this for the beginning. Cutting back on calories can mean episodes of major hunger. It is much easier to keep your stomach satisfied with a high volume of low-cal foods rather than a small volume of densely packed foods. I always make vegetable soup the first night or two. I don't add any starches at all, just vegetables. I serve up all that I want. Our vegetable soup has been a life-saver on more than one occasion. It is amazing how quickly your taste buds will adjust to loving healthy items, once you experience real hunger. For me personally, after the third day, my stomach has adjusted to the smaller portions and I can feel satisfied with much smaller servings.

In addition to vegetable soup, investigate some other low-calorie and vitamin-rich meals. Once you develop your menu plan, go shopping. The better you plan, the easier it will be to stick to it. If your family will allow you, go through your cupboards and get rid of all the bad and tempting food items. Since I provide their snacks and meals, I have control over the food in my house. That really helps keep me on track and avoid being undermined.

During those first few days, your mind will constantly and effortlessly revert to old patterns and thoughts about food. You have to be diligent about focusing on your short-term and long-term goals. You may need to jot down what you eat and how much you exercise. Prepare distractions for yourself (like a walk or a soak in a tub) and keep yourself busy. Don't allow yourself to be alone in the home with food nearby. You have to constantly remind yourself why you are doing this and how much easier it will become once you have dropped some pounds on the scale or feel your clothes getting looser. Getting to that point is the first milestone. If you do get to this point, you are far from finished, but now you will have one more nugget of motivation to build toward the next success milestone.