You grabbed a yogurt for breakfast and by 3pm you’ve only had a salad. And, you think you’re doing great!

You stick to lean protein for dinner and go to bed feeling like a champ.

Tuesday. You wake up with a headache and are running late. You grab coffee and a “low-fat” blueberry muffin from Starbucks and head to work. It’s now noon and you’re hungry but skip lunch thinking the less you eat, the more weight you’re going to lose.  

It’s 6pm and you’re starving. You walk in the door, grab out the box of crackers and start cooking – handful after handful while you make your salad. You think to yourself, “Well, it’s just a few crackers…no big deal.” Before dinner is even done, you’re craving something sweet. While you clean up, a few handfuls of chocolate chips go into your mouth – but they’re little and it’s not like you’re eating a dessert, right?

Repeat the above on Wednesday.

By Thursday you’re miserable. You feel totally deprived – this is SO hard.  Not to mention you weighed yourself and the scale hasn’t budged – is this worth it? Is my body broken?  Are my hormones just off?

You get a text from your friend – everyone is meeting for drinks after work. Thank God. You need some girl time. Before you know it, the drinks are flowing and the nachos are hot (so is the spinach artichoke dip). You drink and eat with wild abandon. Besides…you can start again on Monday, right?!

Sound familiar? Have you ever chased “tomorrow?” 

Many of my clients have chased the “tomorrow diet” – and no wonder. When you choose to restrict your food intake drastically and live in a state of deprivation, it’s both and emotionally and physically exhausting.

Here’s the deal: dieting doesn’t work. You can’t eat or live like that and expect to get results.  

Dieting causes your weight to stay the same OR even increase. Weight loss seems like a dream. And you feel frustrated, helpless, and your confidence tanks just a little bit more.

Try these 5 key steps instead…

1. Eat meals. Don’t try to get through your day simply grazing on snacks – you’ll never feel full or satisfied, and it’s very likely you’ll experience cravings. Try to have 3 meals throughout the day and small snacks in between to ward off hunger.
2. Don’t eat anything out of a box or package. If you cut out snacking on crackers and chips and reach for veggies instead you’ll see a huge difference.
3. Get rid of anything tempting in your cupboards. If it’s there you’ll likely eat it, especially if you’re tired or experiencing any other kind of emotional trigger.
4. Get curious about food and increase your understanding of it. Almonds and avocados are a healthy fat – BUT that doesn’t mean you can eat these things in an unlimited quantity. Cheese and peanut butter do have protein in them but they also have a huge amount of fat in them…small portions are necessary with all of the above.
5. Eat more protein. Many women don’t get enough protein in during the day and instead are constantly reaching for carbohydrate based foods like crackers, granola bars and fruit.  Eat eggs for breakfast, have some Greek yogurt or cottage cheese during the day and have protein with dinner. You’ll feel better and it makes the weight loss journey easier.

It makes me sad when I see women trying so hard to drop 10 or 20 lbs and thinking that they’re doing everything “right” only to feel so frustrated by not getting a result. Change is possible at any age or stage in life. You can do this. You simply need to keep tweaking your diet.  Go! Go! Go!

Click below to get my *free* ebook and learn five things you can start doing today to outsmart your fat cells and start losing weight.