What to expect when starting a diet?

Most times people have no problems adhering to the plan first few weeks. You are not feeling that hungry, you have good energy day to day, your gym performance is good and you are still making progress week to week. Unfortunately, this comes to an end after the first few weeks.

Your weight loss will slow down. Most of that weight loss will come from fat now. There will not be big drops in measurements. You might see a 1″ drop for every few pounds lost.

You will notice changes in day-to-day energy and will want to be less active overall. You will have some level of hunger most of the time but it won’t be severe. You might notice being pickier about your food, looking for things that tasted better or fill you up longer.

This will be a point that you will feel like your look worse feeling small and soft. This midway point is also where most people lose focus and are not organized and prepared for the next stage. You might be able to “wing it” in the first few weeks but the middle point of the diet is where the results are made.

Lack of organization & preparation of both your environment and your day-to-day.

Your environment can work for you or against you and can definitely make or break your diet. When hunger is elevated and energy is low, our willpower suffers and we tend to do the things that are the easiest and most convenient. Making sure that in that time your environment is supporting you will make the middle part of your cut way easier. Two simple things that you can do is to buy more of the foods that will help you reach your goals and fewer foods that will possibly sabotage you when you are at your weakest. Make foods that you want to be eating more accessible and foods that you don’t want to eat harder to get.

The same applies to your day-to-day organization. You might be able to just go through the day with no real plan but when the mid-diet hits you will want to have a bit more structure to your day-to-day. Make sure you have blocked times for both cooking and training so you are not caught with no easily accessible food that will help you reach your goals. Remember when willpower is low due to diet fatigue the easier options will be the best. What sounds easier? Washing, chopping prepping cooking food or picking up the phone and ordering UberEats? Gym time might be your favourite but that might change when feeling low on energy and hungry. Have gym clothes ready to go a day before, and hit the gym early morning before work when energy and motivation are high. An alternative option is after work before you get home and get comfortable.

Boredom. 

How many times have you been just sitting around feeling lazy? Because of the effects of the diet, you might find yourself being lazier than usual. It is very easy to start looking for food when we have nothing to do. Before you know it you are in the kitchen and opening cupboards and eating, blowing up your diet in the progress. Staying occupied and active is the key to keeping your mind off hunger and food.

Severe hunger.

Some people will experience more hunger than others. If you are in the very hungry camp I suggest implementing a diet break where you raise your calories to maintenance or slightly above for 7-14days and then return back to the calorie deficit.