Mac's five tips for sticking to a successful diet

1. Pick a diet...

Type "diet" into google and you will get 290,000,000 results. It is estimated that one in four Australians are on a diet at any one time. There is a mind boggling number of options out there and they swing in and out of fashion so it can be difficult to know which is best for you. I can't tell you which one is best but I can let you in on a secret, they all work. Well, excluding the ones that are bat-shit insane, cabbage soup diet, the lemon detox diet I am looking at you here, almsot all diets will work, so pick the one that suits you best. The trick is to pick one, buy the book, do some research, ask some questions and then stick with it. You can't do Atkins in the morning, a low-carb lunch and then weight watchers for dinner.

2. ... and stick to it.

An awesome study found that the single defining characteristic of ALL succsesful diets, the one thing that every single one of the successful test subjects had in common was that they stuck to the diet. Their macro nutrient profiles all differed, the amount of excercise, supplement use, how often they had cheat days, none of this was as important as simply keeping to the plan. By the way, the four diets in that study are the four that I would recommend, they pretty much cover the spectrum of sensible eating options. (Atkins, Zone, Ornish and "traditional". For the traditional I would go with the C.S.I.R.O version).

3. Know what's happening

Screw your weight. Seriously, you don't actually care about what you weigh. Try this thought experiment, would you rather look like you lost 10 kilos but not have your weight shift? Or look like you gained 10 kilograms but you actually lost it? Right, so size is much more important than actual weight, but weight is really easy to measure so we tend to focus on that. I am guilty of this as well, talking about gaining weight or losing it when what we are actually aiming for is to change shape. So less focus on weight, more focus on shape. Get me or one of the crew to take your measurements, boobs, bum, belly and bicep and then redo them at four week intervals - sometimes the difference will amaze you because the scales reported no change but your stomach is six centimetres smaller. Of course the easiest way to check this sort of stuff is sticking a pair of jeans on, denim doesn't lie.

4. Get your boy scout on

Be prepared! And be aware that the more dramatic the change to your regular eating habits are the more prepration will help. If you can plan your meals ahead by a few days you can make sure you have all the neccasary ingredients to hand which makes take-out pizza easier to avoid. If you work crazy hours or just can't control when or where lunch is going to happen, bring it with you from home. Stick a protein shake or a handful of almonds in your handbag or backpack so you have a healthy option if you need a snack. I get nervous if I dont know when my next meal is coming and tend towards overeating on the off chance my next snack will be a while so for me a little pre-preperation goes a long way. Spending a little more time on making food you will be happy to eat makes this whole diet thing much much easier to stick with.

5. Realistic goals, sensible rewards

Don't go down a nutritional path with ridgid preset goals. You are better off trying your best for six to eight weeks and then assessing what has hapened and setting your goals from there. Someone who has never lifted weights wouldn't be able to set a realistic goal for improving the bench press, they don't know how strong they are or how their bodies will react to training. Dieting is the same way, you dont know how how easy the weight falls off or how well you can stick to it. Don't set yourself up for disapointment by setting unrealistic goals.. The other side of that coin is rewarding yourself when you have done well. Not with food. Not with food. Not with food. Seriously, the number of times I have had clients say "I was good all week so I had a choclate cake, three pizzas and a coke." Don't do that. If you really really want to eat something then maybe you should, in moderation. But DON'T reward yourself with sugary snacks, it is so easy to set up an unhealthy relationship to food anyway, no need for the extra reinforcement.

See you in the Gym!