5 Traps

It is interesting that we say we are ready to start a diet plan to lose weight but then quickly lose the enthusiasm of those first days of dieting and fall into one of the traps. I am talking about diet failure traps that are waiting to entice, persuade, and beckon dieters toward the traps.

Diet failure traps come in many forms, but if you have ever been on a weight loss plan you will probably recognize these.

1. Impossible goals - When a goal is set to lose a large number of pounds within a short time period, it is a diet failure trap because it is impossible to accomplish without hurting your health and quickly regaining any weight lost and probably more. A part of the impossible goals is impatience because we expect immediate results. These irrational expectations can rapidly defeat the good intentions that were gathered up when starting the diet.

2. Unsatisfying meals - Many diet plans offer unappetizing meals that tend to simulate cardboard rather than food. New products are regularly entering the diet foods market that promise delicious meals. That is a matter of individual taste if your choice is a plan with packaged meals. Another option is to cook your own meals depending heavily on seasonings and portion control. Nothing is a faster path to failure than foods that have no flavor and are unsatisfying.

3. Hunger - There is no question that hunger is part of a weight loss diet. The best way to overcome hunger is to load up on bulky foods like salad and green vegetables and include a good portion of protein in each meal. Protein will satisfy sooner and stave off hunger longer than any other food.

4. Cravings - It hardly matters whether it is something salty and crunchy or chocolaty and rich, cravings have been the downfall of many dieters. Here is where portion control can allow a few salty treats or a square of chocolate to satisfy a craving and avoid a diet failure trap.

5. Loss of willpower - Willpower is a matter of self-discipline or self-control and can be challenging to maintain if you are dining out with friends or serving yourself at a buffet. It is helpful to avoid situations that test your willpower, but to be a successful dieter, one must apply willpower in every environment or they will find that the diet failure trap has firmly closed on them.

A healthy diet that results in a 1-2 pound loss per week is considered successful. It may seem like a snail's pace to lose at that rate, but it is also a pace most likely to result in maintaining the weight loss. Remembering these diet failure traps and how they are triggered or avoided will help you achieve your diet goals.