Start a Meal Plan

The reason why fad diets are so popular is because they falsely promise dieters that they can “lose 10 pounds in a week” or “lose 20 pounds in a month.” However, only a few dieters on fad diets are successful at keeping the weight off long term.

Eating healthy or eating less on fad diets with hopes of losing weight cannot be a one-time event.

Instead, eating healthy and  eating less should be a commitment to changing your lifestyle that includes being more physically active and taking more responsibility for your health.

Consequently, if you wish to slim down for lasting weight loss results, try using a meal plan  to help you achieve your weight loss goals!

A Meal Plan Can Help You To Lose Weight

Although I was able to easily lose 15 pounds by counting calories using a food diary, I completely understand how not everyone is interested in the whole idea of “counting calories to lose weight.”

Still, counting calories to track everything you eat and drink, PLUS using a daily meal plan, can show you in black and white exactly what you are putting into your mouth and as a result, can show you how many calories you are consuming in a day (look online for a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need to lose weight).

That said, it’s no accident studies have proven time and time again that dieters who count calories using a food diary lose more weight successfully, faster, and are able to maintain and keep the weight off long term than dieters who don’t.

If you can also track your calories by planning out what you are going to eat beforehand with the use of a meal plan, weight loss should be a cinch!

This was precisely how I was able to lose 15 pounds.

I counted calories, I planned out my meals, and I also regularly exercised with a workout plan that included a strength training program to help burn stubborn fat calories.

Hey…if it worked for me, it can work for you too!

Starting a Meal Plan is Easy

Anyone can count calories, but counting calories using a meal plan is slightly different.

With a meal plan, you write down what you are going to eat for the day where right off the back, you know exactly how many calories you will be consuming. Accordingly, if you are on a 1,500 calorie diet and eat 5-6 small meals per day (i.e. breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, beverages) you can break up your calories among your meals without making the mistake of going over your daily calories.

Even if you want to have a diet cheat day or indulge in a treat, you can do so without much hassle because you can simply include the item within your meal plan and/or add it as part of your daily calories.

If the item happens to put you over your daily calories, no need to fret. Just simply adjust what you are going to eat the following day by consuming fewer calories and/or exercise an extra 15-20 minutes.

See how easy that it?

Why complicate weight loss when counting calories, meal planning, and exercise makes it all straightforward?

Stick to a Meal Plan

If you have not tried meal planning to help you lose weight, I say give it a whirl! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. An excel spreadsheet or a notepad will do just fine to plan out your daily meals.

Once you start using a meal plan to arrange what you are going to eat for the day, plus write down your daily calories, make the commitment to stick with this habit for at least two months. If you miss a day or two, that’s OK. As long as you start over the following day you will be fine and eventually will see results.

Stick with it!

Again, attempting to eat healthy or eat less on fad diets to lose weight cannot be a one-time event. Instead eat healthy, eat less, AND exercise as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

Oh…and RELAX! Losing weight is really not all that complicated.

Good Luck!