How to Jump Start a Diet

Wondering how to jump start a diet? The best way is to work on developing healthy new habits while weeding out unhealthy habits that keep you from dropping unwanted pounds.

Begin with purging processed foods from your pantry. Replace them with healthy whole grains. If you are unsure of how to cook with unprocessed, whole foods, there are many cookbooks and websites that offer great tips you will find helpful. Or join a cooking class and make some new friends!

Make it a goal to include fruits and/or vegetables in every meal. You should get four servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Your favorite fruit will make a nutritious snack that replaces candy or other sugary foods.

Low fat diets help you lose weight, but be careful to include healthy fats in your diet. These fats help you feel full so you aren't tempted to overeat. Healthy fats include olive oil and flax seed oil.

Set a goal to exercise for 30 minutes a day. You may not be able to do this right away, but a little exercise each day will quickly condition you so you can reach this modest goal. As your fitness improves, you'll likely want to exercise even more. Don't restrict yourself to traditional "exercise" though; have fun and ride a bike, dance or go kayaking. Having fun will help you stick to your goal.

Keeping a food journal can help you see how to jump start a diet for you by allowing you to see what you are eating and why. You may be surprised to learn that you are not eating out of hunger, but out of boredom or frustration or other reasons. Learn to work out conflicts in other ways instead of eating. Instead of snacking when you are bored, try roller skating instead.

To avoid overeating later in the day, always eat breakfast. A healthy, high protein breakfast like an egg white omelet is a great choice that will give you energy all morning. If you don't like cooking in the morning, try a low fat yogurt with some protein powder mixed it.

Set reasonable weight loss goals. If you want to lose ten pounds before your high school reunion next week, you will likely be disappointed. However, if you strive for one to two pounds a week, you greatly improve your chance of success.

A weight loss buddy can help motivate you to stay on track. She can be your exercise buddy so your morning walks aren't so lonely. She can talk you down when you're tempted to eat that whole carton of chocolate ice cream. She can also celebrate your success with you, helping you to keep moving forward in your weight loss journey.

Allow yourself to make mistakes and don't feel too guilty about the occasional treat. This is a lifestyle change and if you constantly feel deprived or "bad" you aren't likely to stick with your plan. If you make a mistake, just tell yourself, "I'll do better tomorrow."

Take this journey one step at a time. Learning how to jump start a diet with new habits isn't always easy. Try each habit one at a time until it feels natural to you. Once you have one new habit mastered, you can move on to the next one on the list. Celebrate each success. Realize that with each success you are one step closer to the you that you want to be and that excess weight will seem to melt away.