Waterfront Jogging (photo by Jusben, courtesy of morgueFile.com)

Written by Linda West Eckhardt, The Silver Cloud Diet

OK. So you blew your diet on the weekend – or maybe even all of last week, or last month, or whatever. You can get back on the diet and succeed.

Top Ten Tips for Getting Back on the Diet.

1. Organize Your Week

Get everything ready for Monday before you go to bed. Set out your work clothes, your to-do list and your breakfast. Boil a dozen eggs and put them in the refrigerator. It’s breakfast for the entire week with maybe a few snacks thrown in too. Getting your day off to a smooth start makes it much easier to stick to your good habits.

2. Focus On Five A Day

It’s easy to let that five-a-day target slide. When you’re shopping for groceries keep in mind those 5 small meals a day. Stock your pantry so you’ll have plenty of great foods for snacks: nuts, jerky, any kind of protein that you like. 5 small meals a day is the way to success. Don’t let yourself get hungry.

3. Make Lunch Special

Do you end up eating the same lunch every day? Try experimenting. Bored with tuna? Try chicken salad, or a cold pork chop, or devilled eggs. Keep your lunch protein and natural-fat full. It will keep your engine running.

4. Try New Recipes

Don’t just stop at lunch. Dig through your recipe books or search online and find some diet-friendly low carb entrées to try. Just remember to choose recipes that are high on protein and natural fat, with NO processed carbohydrates: no sugars, no flour, no white stuff at all. It’s that simple. You’ll find new and exciting recipes on The Silver Cloud Diet website every day. Make it your goal to try at least one new recipe a week.

5. Clear The Junk

If unhealthy snacks have crept into your desk drawer or your kitchen cupboards, be ruthless. Give them away or throw them away. Don’t test your self-discipline unnecessarily! Replace the junk food with healthy, easy-to-grab snacks. Always remember, long on protein and natural fats, Ixnay to sugars and combinations of sugar-flour-fat, in all the many iterations. Avoid any snacks with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients.

6. Weigh Everything

If you’re a seasoned dieter, you’re probably used to “eyeballing” portions. Get back into the habit of weighing everything – just for a week. There might be some nasty surprises. Remember that a serving of meat is 3-4 ounces. A serving of cooked vegetable is ½ cup, salad is 1 cup, and fruit is ½ fruit or a ½ cup berries.

7. Write It Down

Studies have shown that dieters who keep a food diary lose twice as much weight as those who don’t. Try recording everything you eat for a couple of weeks. Have some little extras crept in? Does that piece of birthday cake you ate at the office wreck your diet? Have you begun putting sugar into your tea or coffee? If you have to face yourself on paper, you’ll know where you’re going wrong.

8. Set Goals

You might have a target weight in mind – but try setting immediate goals too. How about:

• Nine portions of fruit and vegetable each day. That works out to about 4-1/2 cups of fiber and vitamin rich fresh and natural foods (more than many vegetarians eat)

• Get some exercise every day. A brisk walk, a few extra trips up and down the stairs, give the house a good scrubbing. Weed the garden. You don’t need to think of exercise as something outside your life. Put it in. Around here, I take the dogs for a run every day. They’re my personal trainers. We all benefit.

• Not eating after dinner. If you get desperate, try eating a handful of nuts, drink a glass of warm lemon water before bed.

• Avoiding all sweet snacks at work or when you’re out with friends. This is hard. Be prepared. Take your own. Cheese sticks, jerky, little bag of nuts. Take care of yourself.

9. Find A Buddy

Have you got a friend, relative or colleague who’s also on a diet? Buddy up – you can support and encourage one another, walk together, check in on weekly progress, or simply be available to each other on the phone in moments of “I need sugar” weakness! Be totally honest with your buddy. You might even exchange your weight logs so you can see how each other is doing.

10. Stay Motivated

What motivates you? It might be a mini-reward each time you reach a goal (perhaps a magazine or a movie). Many people feel motivated and encouraged by the support of other dieters. What does it for you? How about buying a new garment in the next smaller size? That does it for me.

Linda West Eckhardt is a James Beard award winning cookbook author and Co-founder of The Silver Cloud Diet.

To learn more about Linda West Eckhardt’s most recent work on healthy weight control, go to: The Silver Cloud Diet

To get a look at a book of Linda’s quick and easy recipes for a low carb diet, go to: The High-Protein Cookbook: More than 150 healthy and irresistibly good low-carb dishes that can be on the table in thirty minutes or less

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