Death to Discouragement!
By: Randy Mclean

Alright, so you started your new diet, you have the 'eye of the tiger' (again), and you are all excited. "This time it's gonna work" you say to yourself. The first day isn't so bad, and the second day you still have a little of that fire you originally set out with... But when day three comes that's when you start to feel the same feelings of discouragement and despair that you might have felt in the past.

Hopefully, this is your first time out but with many dieters it is a common problem. This article will teach you how to put those thoughts and feelings into perspective. It is usually the same with everyone but in varying degrees. Depending on your will power it will be more or less. Here are some great guidelines and tips to help you on your way to achieving your goals:

1. Keep focussed on your goals - This is the first and foremost priority for anyone who is undertaking a weight loss program. A common thought that will come into mind when we start to get discouraged is "why am I doing this?" I'm sure most of us have been there before. Therefore we must keep track of our goals. Write them down if you have to. Things like:

- What do I want to achieve?
- How long do I think it will take?
- What do I want to look like?
- Who am I trying to impress?

A quick note on the last question would be to make sure you are mainly doing it for yourself. If you are trying to change to please others you will not be as happy and you will be a lot less motivated.

2. The first week is always the hardest - No matter what your eating plan is, whether it be low fat, low carbohydrate or anything else you will no doubt feel the uncomfortable feeling of hunger pangs at first. A quick rule is that if you can make it through the first week or two you have it made. Your stomach will shrink and you might not even notice it. For example, before your diet you can put down three hamburgers relatively easy. Try that again in two weeks on a treat day and you might find it a little more difficult. This is a good sign. Keep it up!

3. Take scheduled rests - This might seem obvious to some but to others it might not be. Instinct (doing what's right for you) is a hard principle to master. After five or six weeks of hard dieting and exercise it is not that hard to experience burnout. You are more tired than you should be, you lost the motivation to train... These are good signs of overtraining and too much dieting. What you want to do is cycle your eating and training to avoid this. Every fifth or sixth week tone down your training a little as far as intensity is concerned or maybe even take the week off to recharge your batteries. Same goes for your diet. Up your calories a little for a few days to give your metabolism something to work with again therefore speeding it up. If you go too long constricting calories a slow metabolic rate will result. This is not a license to go to town on your eating either. You don't want to counteract what it just took you a month and half to achieve.

4. If you end up cheating it's not the end of the world - We're all human and we are bound to do it once and awhile. Some will think that they wrecked their whole diet and will therefore give up. Don't! It was only one day and tomorrow's another day. Look at it positively, it will just work to speed up your metabolism. If you haven't cheated in awhile maybe your body is trying to tell you something. All in all, if you can eat 'clean' for four to six days at a time cheating will not blow your whole diet. So don't get discouraged!

5. Give things time to work - This is another 'essential' element that most people don't realize. You have to give things time to work! Sometimes it can take weeks before you see improvements. If after a month or so you don't see anything happening maybe then it's time to fine-tune your program and make some adjustments. The key is to make sure you do your homework first before you go ballistic in your crusade to combat fat. This will save a lot of pain and time in the long run.

I hope this article helped you a lot in terms of thought processes while undertaking a weight loss program. If you want to learn how to 'put it all together' you can claim your free weight loss starter kit by clicking here. Take care and have fun!

About the Author

Randy Mclean has a diploma in Fitness and Nutrition from Education Direct, a YMCA individual conditioning certificate and is the author of Instinct - Master Your Mind And Your Body! For free tips and tricks visit www.weightlossguidance.com

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