by Ellie Tat

Created on: August 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 19, 2012

A good diet is a vital part of living a healthy lifestyle. But very often you find that you are too drawn to foods that are bad for you and you give in to temptations. Time after time you fail to stick to your plan. So what can you do differently to set yourself up for success?

Keep your goal in sight

First question you have to ask yourself is, "Why do I want to stick to a diet?" If the answer is that you want to lose weight, this goal might not get you very far. Your goal has to be something that you can commit to unconditionally, something you want with all you heart. Maybe, you really want to have children, but your weight is making it difficult for you. Maybe, it is your childhood ambition to participate in a dance competition. Whatever it is, if you have a burning desire to achieve your goal, you will have something to fall back on when faced by temptation. After all, you wouldn't exchange your life's dream for a bar of chocolate, would you?

Choose the right diet

There is a variety of diets you can choose from, some of them sensible and some of them outright weird. Do not just pick something out of a newspaper, consult a professional. A dietician will help you create a personalized diet with enough calories to keep you energized and a wide range of foods available to you.

Your diet should include food that you enjoy and there should be a good variety of products in it, or it will soon get boring. A good diet should not be too complicated. If you find yourself spending half of your day trying to work out what you can eat and what you can't, you will most likely give it up very quickly.

Keep yourself busy

If you are busy with work, a hobby or exercise, you will not be reaching for food out of boredom, so keeping a busy schedule may help initially. As you acquire taste for healthy food, you can safely slow down after a while. Try not to overdo it though, and keep some healthy snacks handy. If you completely forget to eat during the day, the effect will be opposite to what you expect from your diet.

Find a support group

Surround yourself with positive people who will encourage you, support your efforts and be happy for you when you achieve results. It would be even better if you find someone to join forces with and diet together. You can then have meals together, exchange recipes and celebrate each other's success.

Avoid dangerous people and situations

Stay away from people who tell you that one glass of beer won't hurt and there is no point in trying, because you will fail anyway. If you listen too often to comments like those, you may soon start believing them. Just like optimism, negativity can be contagious.

Avoid situations where you are likely to eat or drink too much. This does not mean that you need to put your social life on hold. If you do not trust yourself to stick to drinking water at the pub, then ask your friends to meet you for a walk in the park instead. Or invite them over for a healthy dinner that you can cook for them.

Don't get discouraged by setbacks

No matter how much care you take, you will undoubtedly stumble and fall at some point and more than once. We all do. Remember that no one is perfect. Rather than feeling guilty and miserable (and reaching for forbidden food to combat your misery), just learn from the situation and keep on going.

It takes about a month to create a new habit. Keep this in mind and give it a fair go. After you stick it out for about thirty days, you will find that your diet is not a struggle any more. You will be reaching for healthy food automatically and you will not have to keep a strict record of everything you eat. Healthy diet becomes effortless in time.

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