Whatever the reason you go a diet - a vacation, to lose weight fast, or to get healthy - it’s important to really think about the diet or cleanse before jumping in. A healthier diet plan has four key characteristics that’ll make it a success. Make sure to run through this checklist before starting your next diet!

1. Is the diet sustainable?
   When choosing a diet, I recommend looking for one that you can stick to for the long haul. Diets that are too restrictive, whether in the foods you can eat or the calories you can consume, are not only hard to follow but they tend to pack back the same pounds and more after they’re abandoned. During a strict diet, lean muscle is lost which lowers the metabolism, making it easier to gain weight. In fact, 41% of dieters regain more weight than they lost within three years.
   

2. Is the diet balanced?
   Diets that severely restrict certain macronutrients can be hard to sustain, plus they put you at the risk for nutritional deficiencies.
   

3. Is the diet legit?
   Anyone can throw together a diet. As a rule, any diet that sounds too good to be true is.  I recommend looking for diets that are backed by research, such as the DASH and Mediterranean diets and if you need more guidance reaching out to a Registered Dietitian.
   

4. Is your goal realistic and safe?
   It’s common to have a goal weight in mind, but that goal weight may not be right for your body.  While it depends on a person’s current body weight, I typically recommend only a pound to two pounds of body weight loss per week, and even less for people who are close to their goal weight. It’s important to remember that losing a certain amount of pounds or fitting into a certain size of jeans is totally arbitrary and made up by us, but what really matters is how healthy we are and how we feel. If you chose to lose 30 pounds in a month, you’re doomed to fail. I recommend choosing slow, steady weight loss goals that can be built on.

If you were about to start a diet and then realized it wasn’t all of the above, no worries!

Luckily there are some tried and true diets out there that’ll help you have a healthier diet, as well as lose weight, prevent diseases, and all that jazz.

Check out my posts on the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet here. Both of these diets are loaded with flavor, veggies, whole grains, lean meats, and healthy fats - all good things for your health and bod!

And if you need more guidance on where to start, reach out to me here!