by Christina Elias

Whether it’s to lose a little weight, fulfill your New Year’s resolution, get ready for warm weather or to live a healthier life, diets can be intricate and confusing. Exercise and dieting must be balanced to have a positive effect on the human body. For those looking to start cutting back on the junk food, here are some helpful hints.

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DO:

Set personal goals

Giving yourself a goal each week can be a motivation to keep your diet on track. Reasonable and flexible ambitions help turn thoughts and words into actions, which make achieving those goals at the end of the week that much easier. According to the Mayo Clinic article “Weight-loss goals: Set yourself up for success,” you must “be willing to change your goals as you make progress in your weight-loss plan . . . you might find that you need to adjust your goals to better fit your new lifestyle.”

Drink plenty of water

Dehydration lowers your metabolism, which affects how many calories you burn and how fast. Drinking more than eight glasses of water a day can help rid those unwanted calories, and leave you feeling healthier and refreshed. To stay hydrated and feeling healthy, drink a glass or two of water at every meal.

Snack

Snacking is actually good, but only in moderation. Small meals combined with healthy snacks in between can help curb your hunger and keep your diet on track. Some healthy snacks to consider could be fruits, vegetables and nuts, among others. Don’t forget to keep track of what you eat in between meals, because it adds up. STA senior Elaine Schmidt keeps her snacks healthy, claiming that she “[tries] to only splurge on sweets every once in awhile.”

Eat breakfast

When people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they aren’t kidding. Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism for the day and controls your hunger, limiting your overall food intake for the day. When you eat breakfast you will find that the need to snack is not always in the back of your mind. Eating a well-balanced breakfast in the mornings is a delicious way to stay healthy. Try a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit and granola.

Weigh yourself at regular intervals

Aim to only weigh yourself about once a week. This way you can see the progress, but not feel discouraged by the lack of movement of the scale. According to WebMD’s slideshow, “Weighing yourself daily is a recipe for frustration and doesn’t yield useful information. It’s more important to look for a long-term trend with weekly weigh-ins. If your goal is to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week, you’ll be satisfied to see those full-pound drops when you step on the scale. The result is more motivating than the confusing swings that may accompany daily weigh-ins.”

Exercise

Good exercise is vital to an diet. Combined with exercise, your diet restrictions can afford to be looser, without hindering your progress. Start out slowly you do not want to pull a muscle. Exercising will not only turn fat into muscle, but can improve your mood and how deep you sleep.

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DON’T:

Set unrealistic goals

According to WebMD’s “Slideshow: 12 Diet Mistakes and How to Avoid Them”, you want to set goals you know are reasonable and entirely possible to reach, and that “if you know you won’t be able to do it, you may never start your diet in the first place . . . A realistic goal is vital to successful dieting. If you’re not sure what your goal should be, talk to a dietitian.” Setting goals you can’t and don’t meet can affect your diet’s overall effectiveness, and can discourage you in the future.

Disregard other drinks

Drinks, like food, still have calories and sugar. Drinking soda – even diet sodas, which have drawbacks of their own – have many drawbacks as the prevalent source of calories for Americans. Cutting back on drinks that can be considered “treats (like Starbucks Coffee, soda and even some fruit juices) will improve your overall health and help in achieving your diet goals. STA sophomore Whitney Klump avoids all soda except “any white, diet soda like Sprite Zero” for her diet program, Slim4Life.

Snack aimlessly

Resorting to eating when bored can cause a diet to fail. To meet your goals keep track of your daily treats and when you eat. When you’re bored, occupy yourself and fight the urge to go root around in the kitchen for snacks. You will appreciate your self-control in the long run!

Skip meals

Skipping meals has the opposite effect on the human body that people hope for: You might start losing pounds quickly, but as soon as you start eating regularly again, the weight comes right back. Why is that? Skipping meals lowers your body’s metabolism in order to retain the nutrients you need to feel healthy. This slow metabolism causes rapid weight gain after the diet is over, resulting in a vicious cycle of weight loss and weight gain.

Weigh yourself religiously

Stepping on the scale every single day will only lead to disappointment. The minor decimal point changes in your weight will only discourage you and may lead to unhealthy habits. Instead of seeing bigger amounts of progress at longer intervals, you will only see the lack of immediate results, which can hinder your overall diet progress.

Avoid exercise 

Exercise is a key part to becoming and staying healthy. By avoiding any physical activity, you have to depend entirely on your diet to lose weight. For some people exercise can be tedious, so choose an activity you enjoy and are able to do regularly. STA sophomore Brogan Caffarelli stays in shape with “volleyball practice three times a week and tournaments during the weekends that usually are more than 12 hours long. I also go to conditioning twice a week and a personal volleyball lesson every other week.”

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