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Putting Together Your Healthy Diet Plan

In order to succeed with your weight loss you first need to prepare a good healthy diet plan. To create a weight loss plan that works you should learn the basics of healthy nutrition and a definition of a healthy weight loss diet.

At the bottom you will find a list of weight loss solutions questions you should answer to help you plan your new healthy diet.

Don’t Let Your Weight Loss Diet Hurt You

I have once come across an interesting post of a woman on a dieting forum. She was asking for her diet review. Here is how her healthy diet plan looked like:

“I want to lose weight and be healthy and fit. This is how I am going to do it. I will begin with 10 day water fast: it is easier for me not to eat anything at all, and it gives better results in shorter time. After that I will introduce proteins, and generally will try to eat healthy. (I know 5 types of healthy foods.) After this I will start fasting every month for short periods of time (5-10 days) and will try not to eat cakes and candy. Oh, and I will also try to exercise, although whenever I do that I crave sweets, so I am not sure if it is a good idea. Do you think my healthy diet plan will work?”

Unfortunately this woman is not the only one coming up with such an aggressive dieting plan. But at least she took her time to create one, as some of us rush into ‘complete lifestyle makeover’ without any preparation or clue of what they are doing.

Please do not repeat this woman’s mistake and think that you can become fit and healthy in few months by starving yourself.

It is not going to happen!

Depending on your overall physical condition, current shape and lifestyle, it may take anywhere from one to five years.

Five years you will ask?! :)

Don’t get upset: if you are trying to lose weight you will do it much faster.

However getting used to healthy habits, enjoying your new healthy lifestyle and making healthy nutrition your second nature may take you longer than that. But it is possible.

What you really need though is a solid healthy diet plan. And it should be more detailed than the one above. “I will try eating healthy” – is definitely too broad.

Also, before integrating a new dieting technique into your plan, make sure you know what you are dealing with. Aggressive dieting such as fasting may be extremely dangerous if you are not familiar with it.

10 Healthy Diet Plan Questions

1. When will you begin your new healthy diet plan?

Choosing the right time and day is vital to your success. Every day possess different energy - and while some are excellent for new beginnings, others will only make it difficult and discourage you to continue your path to a healthy lifestyle.

2. Will you do it on your own?

My experience shows that it is better to start a new diet plan alone. Beginning is always difficult and it takes time to gain confidence and skill in what you are doing.

Until you start noticing significant results you may easily get distracted and drop out. And who knows – when will you decide to start over again? So begin alone, build good foundation and then help other to change their lifestyles.

3. What food will you eat?

This is one of the major questions so take your time answering it. Think what you love and what you don’t. Make a list of healthy foods that you know and choose the ones that you like the most. Read my healthy eating tips for help.

4. Do you have unhealthy eating or lifestyle habits?

For example, eating fast food, or smoking. Of course you should try eliminating bad habits, but take your time. If you rush into your new healthy lifestyle and introduce too many radical changes overnight you will be more likely to fail.

Do it gradually – if you eat fast food every day, cut down to 3 times a week for a month, and then to 2 times a week, and so on.

Remember – the key is to enjoy what you are doing. Slow positive changes will encourage you to do more!

5. What eating schedule will you follow?

Will you do a standard three time a day schedule or maybe 5 small meals or 2 large ones? Remember to take your other schedules into consideration. For instance, your work schedule.

6. Will you exercise?

Of course you should exercise, but don’t set yourself unrealistic goals. While some people truly enjoy working out and ‘live’ at the gym, others consider it a job.

If you are one of the latter, consider your choices – you don’t have to do one hour cardio work-out seven days a week. Twenty minutes walk will do just fine.

Or maybe you should try yoga if you haven’t yet? Ever since I have discovered yoga I can’t go a day without it – it is so good for your body and mind; it is deeply relaxing and truly complements a healthy lifestyle. Read my weight loss exercise tips for ways to enjoy exercising.

7. Do you need to lose weight?

If so, it is particularly important to start with a good healthy diet plan in mind. Remember to set realistic goals.

Ideally you should be losing approximately 1 pound per week.

If you go too fast, you are risking loosing muscles and fat that protects your internal organs, and not excessive fat tissue on your belly or hips.

8. Which weight loss diet will you choose?

Someone once said that if diets worked, there would not be so many of them. So unless you need to lose more than 20-25 pounds, don’t even bother yourself with a diet.

If you establish healthy eating habits it will come off in no time. But if you are 30+ pounds overweight, you should consider a good healthy weight loss diet – not the one where you starve yourself to death though.

9. What else do you need to change in your life besides nutrition?

Think about what makes you happy and what doesn’t. The feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment is very important to your health.

10. How long will you have to follow your healthy diet plan?

This question should not really be on the list, but I put it here for you to realize that the change concerning your health should not be timed – it should be for life!

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