# How to diet correctly ## Dieting starts with your mind We need self-discipline to withhold from comfort foods, so mental wellness has a *profound* impact on our results: - You must be able to give yourself grace and permit failure. - Plan ahead for lapses in willpower by giving "cheat" days, and make sure you don't fall into excess on those days. Diets and exercise *can* create results, but they only stay as long as you honor that diet: - The only regimen worth your time is one you can imagine doing for the rest of your life. - However, yo-yo dieting (quickly fluctuating up and down in weight) is overall healthier than simply staying obese. Measure whatever you can (e.g., calories, steps walked) and record what you eat or do to easily track progress: - Measuring something makes it much easier to [feel your progress](success-5_persevering.md). - Take photos of yourself in a swimsuit from the front, back and side and put the least flattering photo somewhere conspicuous. - To weigh yourself reliably, do it the same time each time with the same scale. - Ideally, drink 8 cups of water in the morning and wait 30 minutes to urinate before weighing. - Weigh yourself once a week, since your digestive system *will* create significant fluctuations every day. - Use a tape measure to record a few key locations: 1. Mid-bicep on both arms 2. Waist, horizontally at the navel 3. Hips, at the widest point below the waist 4. Mid-thigh on both legs Pay attention to yourself while you eat: - [Closely observe](awareness.md) when you feel peckish, hungry, sated, full, and stuffed. - Before you start your meal, physically specify where you'll stop. Put together a precise meal plan for exactly *one* week, then stick closely to it to get an intuition for how much you require of each portion. Look at *what* you're eating and how much, not on calories alone: - You can eat 3 bites a day of pretty much anything you want, but it's usually difficult to stop at 3 bites. - A calorie tracker app will help you with weight loss, but not necessarily with your health. - Make a menu for each meal to give a feeling of control with your new constraints. Do *not* skip breakfast: - Even if you're not hungry, breakfast regulates your diet because it starts your metabolism for the day. - Eat a high-protein breakfast (e.g., eggs) within 1 hour of waking up, preferably within 30 minutes. Drink tons of water throughout the day. Avoid doing any other tasks while eating, and try to eat socially whenever you can. Aim for smaller portions: - Always save some food for later, *especially* when dining out. - When with others, give away the last part of your food. - Consider children's meals and sizes, even for coffee shops. - Dedicate yourself to only eating *one* of the items in the meal and taking the other to go in a box. - If you're dining with someone else, split one meal with them instead of purchasing two. - Slow down when you eat (to allow your body's hunger signal to catch up) by dividing your meal into thirds and waiting 5 minutes while drinking water in between each section. Change your environment: - Set a fruit basket out to make it easier to choose. - Always have healthy food available. - Store away sweets or never buy them. - Serve food on smaller plates. - Install mirrors in your eating area to be more self-aware. - Make healthy food the path of least resistance. ## Substitute better foods instead of cutting them out altogether If you can, eat a light dinner or skip out on it altogether. Substitute healthy food in your meals: - Pile plenty of veggies into your meal *first* (which can be frozen or canned if you don't have access to them fresh). - Replace bread loaves with pita bread. - Ask for unsalted fries when ordering French fries. - Replace potato chips or French fries with popped popcorn. - Replace beef with fish or chicken. - Make sandwiches open-faced. - Replace rice with quinoa. - Prioritize healthy choices for eating (max 500-600 calories per meal) and snacking (max 150 calories). Improve your food quality: - Diet management is impossible without a weekly plan and a kitchen stocked with healthy items. - Constantly expand your [cooking skills](cooking.md). - Try to never let your baking skills outpace your cooking skills. - Learn the nutritional quality of your food compared to other alternatives. - Very often, we are trying to satisfy an obscure vitamin or mineral need, so healthier food means we need less of it. - If you grew up in an unhealthy home, you may believe (wrongly) that only high-calorie food has any flavor. - Dining out should be a special occasion, not a routine: - Even restaurant salads and sandwiches are often less healthy than their burgers and fries! Use healthier condiments and dressings: - Replace croutons with almonds. - Replace iceberg lettuce with romaine or kale. - Replace ketchup with salsa. - Replace mayonnaise with mustard. - Replace MSG with a mix of half-salt, half-sugar with a dash of fish sauce. - Replace salt with Himalayan crystal salt. - Replace soy sauce with tamari sauce. - Replace vinegar with lime juice. Swap out your drinks for healthier alternatives: - Replace beer with root beer. - Replace full soda cans with 8 oz cans. - Replace coffee with cashew nut milk. - Replace soda with tea. - Replace milk with coconut, hemp, or almond milk. - Replace juice with infused water or water. - Replace sports drinks with coconut water. - Replace alcohol with canned soda water. ## Small mistakes ruin diets A. You can't out-exercise a bad diet: - A 200-lb male walking for 60 mins at 3 mph will burn about 246 calories, while a Hostess Twinkie is 270 calories. - Every day, depending on body size we burn anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 calories just by *sitting down doing nothing*! - There are several measurements to find out how many calories you precisely need, but the Harris-Benedict equation may be the most accurate: - For women: 1. Multiply your weight in pounds by 4.35, then add 655 to it. 2. Add your height multiplied by 4.7. 3. Add your age in years multiplied by 4.7 - For men: 1. Multiply your weight in pounds by 6.23, then add 66 to it. 2. Add your height multiplied by 12.7. 3. Add your age in years multiplied by 6.8 - Then, multiply the number by your physical activity: - 1.2 if sedentary - 1.375 if you exercise 1-3 days a week - 1.56 if you exercise 3-5 days a week - 1.7 if you exercise 6-7 days a week - 1.9 if you do hard exercise almost daily or have a very physical job B. Ignoring cravings: - A craving is often the body asking for something. - Cravings are a body's standard of "normal". - Specific cravings are often the body needing more protein or specific vitamins/minerals. - Ignoring cravings will devastate willpower. - A few tricks resolve most cravings: - Drink tons of water, especially before or instead of the item itself. - Snack frequently and eat light meals. - Swap out junk food cravings for a nutritionally superior alternative (e.g., a fruit instead of candy). - Before bed, brush your teeth instead of eating. - Eat a spoon of peanut butter instead of satisfying late-night cravings. - A detox through fasting or a juice cleanse can often "reset" the body from years of poor diet. C. Overeating: - Use a smaller plate to help with portion control. - Eating when HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired): - You're only hungry if you'd eat an apple. - Instead of eating, drink an enormous glass of water. - Eating too quickly: - It takes about 15 minutes for the body to recognize it's eaten. - Rapid eating increases stress, decreases digestion, and makes the food less enjoyable. - Eating lunch at work: - Exercise during lunch break instead of eating - Giving yourself too much flexibility: - Taking the weekends "off" can sometimes fully undo any progress during the week. - Overeating at "special occasions", which can often create relapse into old habits. - Overeating on a workout day. D. Eating at the wrong time: - Anything consumed within 4 hours of bedtime is stored to body fat. - Alcohol before bedtime can bring calories above a weight-loss level, along with [interfere with sleeping](sleep.md) and increase stress. E. *Not* eating enough of the right things: - People eat less when their body has all the nutrients it needs. - However, cutting back on junk food without replacing it creates malnutrition. - Keep enough of the right food in your diet: - Fruits like bananas, berries, grapefruit, and watermelon - Vegetables like celery, cucumbers, and hot peppers - Grains like quinoa and oatmeal - Dairy and meats like eggs, fish, and Greek yogurt - Drinks like green tea, oolong tea, and coffee - Drink lemon juice with a pinch of salt in it every morning - Eat a small amount of chocolate in the morning - Be careful cutting fat from your diet, since we'll naturally eat two things with half the calories to get the same amount of it. - Try not to skip meals. - Starvation hurts willpower. - By eating breakfast in the morning, calories burn throughout the day more easily on the premise that the day will be plentiful. F. Not staying hydrated: - Even if it's from junk food, the body needs water. - Drink two cups of water before meals to lose weight.