Practice makes perfect.
Having only dieted three times in my entire life, I am certainly no expert. But, what I’ve learned through my dieting experiences is this: Diets work, but they take practice.
Before my wedding, I tried to diet once. I put myfitnesspal on my phone, and tracked my calories. Within about an hour, I was freaking out. I ate a few granola bars, and then realized that there was no way that I would be able to make it through the day under my calorie goal. I gave up on dieting after just a few hours.
This year, having gained 14 pounds following my wedding, I wasn’t messing around anymore. My first day of dieting didn’t go so well. I ate a bunch of fruit, and then was hungry and at my calorie limit for the day. However, this time around, I didn’t give up. I looked over what I’d eaten, and realized that fruit was probably my downfall. The next day, I ate less fruit, and found that it was easier to stay under my calorie goal without being too hungry.
Since that time, I’ve continued to learn about what foods fill me, what foods leave me hungry, and what foods that I have always thought of as “healthy” are not so healthy. This is my third time dieting, and its the easiest that it’s ever been because I’ve practiced and learned what works best.
Trailmix, though delicious, is one of those food items that I always thought of as healthy, but that is not conducive to dieting, as it’s pretty calorie dense. And difficult to stop once you’ve started!
This past week, I lost 3 pounds by counting calories. Of course, the first week of dieting is always the easiest (I think because a lot of the weight lost is water weight), but I’m feeling hopeful. Four more pounds to go, and I’ll be back to my happy weight. I can do it! I just have to keep practicing.
If you’ve tried to lose weight, have you found that you get better at it with practice? What lessons have you learned from dieting?
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Tasha @ Healthy Diva
January 22, 2013 at 7:30 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I lost 36 lbs in 10 months. It wasn’t easy, the first couple of weeks were super hard. I did track my calories and I just ate smaller portioned meals more frequently. The big key for me was to not eat so many carbs. I tried to keep my carb limit to around 20-30% and ate a lot of protein. Saturday was always my cheat day where I didn’t count what I ate. Of course don’t go too crazy! Once you get over the first couple of weeks you should be good to go.
Not that this helped or not, but I also worked out with a personal trainer 3 days a week for an hour at a time. It was in a group setting so instead of $60 an hour she was less than $8 an hour.
runfundone
January 23, 2013 at 7:53 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Whoa! I usually do carbs at 50%. What was the advantage of having so much protein?
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf
January 22, 2013 at 12:08 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I think that you’re being really smart in how you’re approaching it. I think that a big thing with dieting is figuring out what works for you and your body, what keeps you full, what doesn’t etc. And it takes time to figure that out. I don’t really diet (I get a little obsessive). You’re doing great though!
runfundone
January 23, 2013 at 7:52 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thanks, Christine! I used to mess up on the first day, and give up. But as I’ve practiced, I’m figuring it out!
Jade
January 23, 2013 at 5:43 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I go on a diet, like, every other day. I hate counting calories though, it is so tedious and I find myself eating processed food because they are labeled with calorie amounts. But obviously I haven’t gotten better with practice lol!
runfundone
January 23, 2013 at 7:50 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ha! I hear you! During my “diets,” I actually count calories just 4 days a week…I mean, it’s really hard to count calories if you’re not doing all your own cooking, or eating only packaged food! So, I just let it go sometimes!