The Paleo diet is key to health and performance. Whether it’s reversing disease, extending life, maximizing performance, or any other amazing benefit, it’s all about consistency.
We all know how hard it can be to stick to a diet, especially if it’s vastly different from what we ate before. That’s why the following 5 tips will go a long way in helping you stay consistent while on the Paleo diet.
1. Schedule cheat days. This is crucial! You are bound to cheat, and you better know ahead of time when it will happen. Personally, the best results have come from a cheat day for me. I will take one day a week as my cheat day (Saturday) and eat as much as I want. This actually speeds up fat loss as it increases the production of thyroid enzymes. This also allows you to be completely clean the other 6 days of the week.
2. Keep meals the same. Another simple way to always be consistent is to keep meals the same. When you have no other choice, it makes things MUCH easier. If you think this is incredibly boring, think about what you ate for breakfast this morning. Chances are, you ate the same breakfast a couple of days ago. This alone can have a big impact on your diet.
3. Take Before Pictures/Measurements Be sure to take “before” pictures before you start the diet. Also include measurements for waist, arms, chest, and body fat. For athletes, you can also take the training times as “before” the measurement. Personally, I do CrossFit and have used workouts as my “improvement” indicator. When you feel like you want to cheat and you’ve had enough of the diet, look back at the steps above, it will give you inspiration to continue!
4. Surround yourself with like-minded people This, to some extent, is one of the most important things you can do to not only help with your diet, but with your life in general. If you can find someone to join you on a “30-day challenge,” or just surround yourself with other dieters who recognize the importance of health like you do, it will keep you on track. Find these people through the same outlets you go to (like the gym) and stick with them and hold each other accountable. As a bonus, you can make friends for life or maybe a more than friendly relationship! (Note: This is exactly how Weight Watchers started.)
5. Set goals and stick to them Unfortunately, we know we won’t get immediate results from dieting. There is “immediate gratification” that we all seek and when we don’t get it right away, we begin to alter the course of the diet. That’s why goal setting is so crucial. Make weekly or even daily goals and write them down. Check them off as you complete it. This will make you realize firsthand that you are making progress towards your “big goals” and will keep you on track. (Goals can be anything, like ticking off every day you eat clean, or once you shrink your waistline every half inch.)
If you incorporate these 5 goals into your routine, I guarantee you’ll stay consistent with the Paleo diet and see much better results, whether you’re in the gym or on the scale!
