Dealing with Boredom in Your Diet

Everything Needs a Little Shake-Up

You start a new diet. You see some fantastic results pretty quickly. The struggle, of course, is then maintaining this weight loss. Changing eating patterns for a short period is different than sustaining them. This is the area people seem to have the most problems with. Once frustration and boredom sets in, once dieters have reached that plateau, it becomes so easy to just give up in disappointment.

Dig Down Deep
When you are in a rut, don’t give up! That’s the worst thing you can do. Boredom might be leading you back towards your old habits, but fight back! What’s vital to overcoming this sense of apathy is to set goals. Not just in the beginning of your diet, but throughout it. Goals should be specific, yet flexible. They should allow for some minor setbacks, and yet encourage you to keep moving forward.

As an example, say your goal is to lose 50 pounds. Great! But how are you going to get there? Is it by eating a specific amount of calories? Perhaps by eating enough servings of fruits and vegetables? Are you going to try to work out a few times a week? Be accommodating to yourself. Realize that you are not perfect and you might splurge on something tasty every now and again. Don’t view this as diet failure.

Keep it Fresh
One of the biggest things that can be seen as contributing to diet boredom is a regimen that is so specific; it eliminates certain things from your diet, such as a low carbohydrate diet. These diets are not inherently bad, but it limits the variety of food options. So do your best to keep it fresh.

When struggles of tediousness come, counterattack! Change the types of food you eat. Don’t have the same dinners every week. Try new things out. It might take a little extra effort in the kitchen, but creativity in the kitchen can be fun. One way to do this is to splurge on a new healthy cookbook. Try out a new recipe once a week. Also, get your family involved in healthy cooking. Perhaps each family member can have a night of the week, not only to help cook, but to help pick out a recipe. You can also do a healthy recipe exchange with friends.

Above all else, a diet is nothing without combining other aspects of healthy living. Drink plenty of water, as always. This will keep you from munching throughout the day. Also, eat around 5-6 times a day, but in smaller portions. Finally, concentrate on fitness aspects as well. You won’t lose weight effectively if you do nothing to train your body. So, with your diet, you’ll be able to build some great healthy habits, but this can lead to plateaus. Add some spice to your diet and you’ll continue seeing success.

-- By Liz Noelcke, Staff Writer SparkPeople