How do I stay committed all the way through a diet?

First of all, take into consideration your level of commitment before you even start. That’s a good way to see if going on a diet is really what you want to do at this time. If someone asks you, do you want to lose weight, would you answer maybe or I think so or I guess so or that’s what people tell me I should do? If you answer with these kinds of ambivalent statements, perhaps you are not really ready. It might be very hard to sustain a diet commitment that was weak from the beginning. In this case, the task at hand would be to work on your motivation.

But let’s say you had a strong commitment at the start and you’ve been into dieting, but as time goes by your resolve is weakening. What then? Here are some methods other women have used to renew commitment in the middle of a diet.

1. Refresh your goals. Restate them for yourself. Clarify them.
2. Review the areas of your life where your weight causes problems for you.
3. Think about the consequences to your life if you don’t finish what you started out to do. How will it be for you if you don’t lose the weight or you gain back what you’ve lost?
4. Take a short vacation from the diet in order to come back to it reinvigorated.
5. Change the actual diet. Move on to something new and maybe better for you at this time (always check with your physician to make sure it’s a healthy way to go).
6. Join a diet support group.
7. Ask for more help and support from people close to you.
8. Make a list of the personal strengths you possess that you can put to work for you in order to stay committed.

See if any of these “sticking to it” methods sound like good strategies for you.

©2007 Maria's Last Diet