7 Common Dieting Dilemmas and How to Overcome Them Effectively ...

Many common dieting dilemmas often cause people to either stop eating healthy altogether, or become nutritionally deficient and unhealthy. These are not your only two choices for eating healthy, I promise! There are some simple and effective solutions to common dieting dilemmas that anyone who is watching what they eat can benefit from. Whether you’re just trying to eat smart, or on a stricter diet, I promise these solutions can help. Let me know if you happen to have any yourself, as I’m always up for spreading tips and tricks that others have too!

1. Too Few Calories

Possibly one of the biggest and most common dieting dilemmas I see most people suffer from is a calorie shortage. If you’re always hungry no matter what, you’re either not eating enough calories for your nutritional needs, or you’re not eating enough of the right calories from high quality sources. Diets less than 1200 calories a day should never be something you see as healthy, okay ladies? Avoid them however possible! Be sure you eat plenty of healthy calories from good sources of protein and fat, along with plenty of vegetables. These foods are the best, most nutrient foods on the planet, along with fabulous sources of vitamins and minerals. Eating enough of these will naturally let your body know when it has had enough. Low quality food will just leave you constantly ravenous or ill.

2. Meal Prep

Another common dieting dilemma people deal with is meal prep troubles. Whether you’re short on time, or you just don’t know how to effectively prep for healthy meals, this one issue can cause a big bump in the road to success on a diet. One of the best things to do is, first, see how many meals and snacks you’ll be eating from home. Then, plan healthy meals and snacks based on that number. Try to eat at home, or bring food to work with you as much as possible to make your meals healthier than choices you would have dining out. Then, begin to meal prep. If you need help with this, check out this article I recently wrote about how to go about that effectively: 7 Tips for Women Learning How to Meal Plan.

3. Fatigue

Fatigue on a diet is another common issue I hear many women complain about. If you’re feeling run down and draggy most of the time, there are two likely reasons. One, you’re either not eating enough calories or enough calories from the right foods, as stated above in point number one. Number two, you might just be detoxing from toxic foods like processed fats, sugars, etc. Give your body at least four weeks to adjust to your new way of eating, and after that, look at meal choices specifically to see what changes you might need to make to increase your energy. Be sure you’re getting enough high quality protein, and B vitamin rich foods like fish, leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and whole grain oats. It’s also a good idea to implement healthy sources of carbohydrates into your routine from vegetables, instead of processed sources. Processed sources of carbohydrates can often cause a quick burst in energy, followed by a plummet of energy later on.

4. Digestion Issues

Your digestive system is one of the most complex systems in your entire body. Women’s digestive systems are also much more sensitive than males’ most of the time. Our bodies are extremely sensitive to hormonal changes, as well as our diets. When you change your diet, your body may go through an adjustment period. If you’re eating the right diet for you, your digestive system should improve. If you’re not, you’ll suffer digestion issues pretty frequently. Give yourself at least four weeks to adjust to your new diet, and then make a decision to see if changes need to be made.

5. Social Situations

Social situations can also be hard for dieters, especially if everyone else is eating dramatically different than you. If you’re having a hard time adapting to social situations that involve eating, try two things. First, make sure you know how to order out healthy at restaurants, and if someone questions you about your food, tell them the benefits you’ve received from this way of eating. This will take away concern or confusion they may have, and you could even end up helping them too. Don’t get defensive or rude though, since that’s when food and socializing become a negative relationship, which is totally unnecessary. Secondly, your other choice for handling social situations is knowing how to pick the best foods possible, from the choices that you have. No, the items you have to pick from may not be perfect, but do the best you can. Don’t avoid social situations because the food won’t be perfect. You should do your best to eat as healthy as possible most of the time so you don’t undo your hard work, but that doesn’t mean your social life has to take the fall either.

6. Cravings

Who can forget about cravings? We all have them, even those of us that have been eating healthy for a long time. Guess what? Cravings are natural and they’re okay! Cravings can be your body’s way of telling you so many things. Maybe you’re stressed, maybe you’re tired, maybe you haven’t had enough to eat, and maybe you’re short in a certain amount of nutrients. Or maybe, you just have a true craving! Those aren’t reason to ignore your cravings, but instead, fill up on plenty of good foods and allow yourself that piece of dark chocolate every now and then! Just be sure you eat healthy and eat enough. Cravings are unavoidable, and trying to outsmart them will only backfire, I promise.

7. Plateaus

Oh, the most common dieting dilemma of all- the dieting plateau. You’re losing steadily, the pounds are falling off, and you’re not even hungry most of the time. Then comes the plateau. The season of nothing. No more weight loss, no results, and suddenly, your meals seem boring and pointless. Am I right? Listen up ladies, plateaus are nothing more than your body telling you it’s unsure of what’s going on. Your metabolism is trying to save you, not make you mad! When the body loses certain amounts of calories as fuel, it will eventually reach a point that it starts to conserve all your calories for fuel. It’s doing its job, no worries. As long as you’re eating enough and not skipping meals, your body will realize there’s no need for alarm, and it will start burning calories without conserving them as fuel. This period is different for everyone, so I can’t give you a timed amount of weeks before you start losing again. What I can tell you is not to give up, and not to lose hope. If you’re getting bored with meals, try new recipes with the same foods, or find recipes with new healthy foods you might not have gotten around to trying yet. There is always a healthy solution to food boredom, I promise!

No matter what dieting dilemma you face, you have to remember, you’re not alone! Almost everyone has dealt with dieting dilemmas at some point or another. What dieting dilemma gives you the most trouble, and if you’ve learned how to overcome it, what did you do?