5 Things You MUST Do Before Starting Your Diet

You've already fallen off the New Years Resolution bandwagon. Now you're really ready to make lasting change toward your health, fitness, and aesthetic goals by changing your eating habits. Before googling "best nutrition plans of 2016," follow these 5 steps to ensure you get started on the right foot.

1. Don't change anything, yet.
There is no need to start exercising and changing your eating habits all at once. (Seems kind of weird for personal trainers to say this, right? Trust us.) Trying to workout 4x a week and cutting carbs both in the beginning of your new lifestyle change will drive you crazy. Change one thing at a time. If you want to keep up with your social eating and drinking, then try to make it to the gym more often. If you find it more difficult to make it to the gym, then be more diligent with your eating habits. Don't change your entire lifestyle all at once.

2. Track your current diet.
You can't manipulate your eating habits safely and effectively unless you know how crappy you currently eat. Many people eat too much, but just as many eat too little. Yes, it is possible to eat too few of carbs, calories, fat, protein, and overall calories. Use a diet tracking app (myfitnesspal or mynetdiary) to track everything you eat and drink for at least 2 weeks...don't lie to yourself and don't change anything. Seriously, track everything. This will give you an accurate representation of how you eat and will guide you to deciding the best way to manipulate your diet.

3. Buy a food scale.
Having trouble figuring out exactly how much you're eating? Use a food/kitchen scale to learn how much a serving of almonds really looks like. Over time, you'll be able to "eye ball" how much a serving size is of your favorite snacks and foods.

4. Don't follow trends.
Trendy diet plans do work, but they aren't meant for lasting change. Sure, you might know people who lost a ton of weight doing the Adkins or South Beach diets, but there are exponentially more people who have lost and gained back even more weight. These types of diets can absolutely ruin your metabolism and hinder the effectiveness of your weekly workouts.

5. Ask a professional.
NEWS FLASH! Most doctors are not trained in nutrition, and the honest ones will tell you that. Also, anyone can call themselves a "nutritionist" and prescribe you a generic diet plan. However, take your health into your own hands and do your research (or reach out to us for more insight) and check the credentials of several nutritionists and dieticians in your area. Forewarning, if anyone tells you to cut 1,000 calories out of your diet the first month of your new plan...RUN AWAY! This is an unhealthy and unrealistic approach to nutrition and should be avoided at all costs.

Please reach out to us in the comments below if you would like for us to expand on any of these issues.