We have plans for everything these days. It's the only way we can keep track of our over booked and over extended lives. We live to multi-task. But if you are looking to lose a littleplanning your diet weight and get healthy in the process, have you spent any time at all planning your diet? If not, are you just planning on failing?



While some people do take the ?planning thing? to a bit of the extreme, there are things in life that simply must be planned.

A successful weight loss plan is one thing that must be well thought out and planned for in order to succeed. So we plan everything else, planning your diet shouldn't seem all that strange.

So take a few minutes and plan out what you will eat for the day. No worries. Planning your diet really is quite simple.

1. Mini meals are great.

Healthcare professional instruct their patients with certain disease that they should eat several small meals each day.

These small meals should be eater about every two hours throughout the day. Well, that isn't a bad idea and it is pretty easy to follow that advice. If every two hours seems to close to you, then start out eating a mini meal every four hours.

Keep it like you normally would any of your other meals, except make it mini. Keep it all balanced and be sure to include protein, fiber, veggies and some fruit. Just don't be ridiculous and eat a regular sized meal every two hours! This will certainly defeat the purpose.

These mini meals are a great way to avoid hunger and improper snacking throughout the day. Just make your mini meals up ahead of time and eat them every time that you have planned. If you plan on eating every two hours, every two hours it is. It doesn't take a road map to figure this out.

2. Don't go over board.

Easier said than done, I know. Set small and reasonable goals. Don't look to the long range plan; ask yourself, what is the first goal you want to reach.

Break it down into small and manageable steps. Maybe you are planning to reduce your intake by 10-15%. Well, make sure that each and every meal is reduced by that amount.

Don't get obsessed with measuring and weighing and counting every morsel, just practice mindful eating. Think about it before you put it into your mouth. It will cut down on the amount of food you eat.

3. Eat good tasting food.

From time to time it is ok to splurge, but for the most part, make an effort to stay away from the junk and eat the good tasting foods. Really, it is ok to splurge once and awhile. It helps to keep from going overboard. It you constantly deprive yourself you are setting it up so that after a long hard day you are going to just give in and eat that entire bag of chocolate chip cookies.

4. Eat your calories, don't drink them.

This is a no-brainer.

Don't fill up on sodas and other drinks. If you aren't careful you can drink your entire calories for the day and have never taken a bite of food. It all adds up? a soda or two, a mug of hot chocolate, a smoothie for snack?and before you know it you've drunk them all! Now that will put on the pounds rather easily.

5. Exercise.

We all need exercise to keep fit. It is also a great way to stay mentally sharp which can go a long way in helping you stick to a diet.

If you are depressed or sad, chances are you will end up eating more of the fatty ?comfort? foods that certainly aren't good for you. All the high fat foods add up. When you consume all of that fat, it will make you more depressed and so the cycle begins. Get out the door and take a walk instead.

6. Make your meals last.

Slow down! Chew your food!

I can't believe how fast some people eat. It's almost as if after just a couple of chews, people just swallow the food. Slow down and enjoy the taste and sensation of the food in your mouth. Eating more slowly, will make you feel like you have actually eaten something.

7. Discover your food triggers.

We all have food triggers and it's important that you know what are your triggers. When was the last time you went grocery shopping and you looked at a bag of cookies and realized that you had to have them?

This happens all the time. You need to understand what foods trigger your response system. The quickest and easiest fix is to avoid food triggers until you have lost some weight and you've seen some success with your attempt which will make you feel stronger and more able to fit off that bag of cookies as they try to jump into your grocery cart!

So, you can see that with just a little bit a planning your diet that you have a much better chance at succeeding this time. Plan to succeed, make the small changes that will set you up for success.