Going on a diet is by far the most popular way for folks to lose weight and get to where they want to be fitness-wise. But despite the popularity of dieting, the simple truth is that not everyone sticks with it in the long-term. Starting a diet is simply a lot easier than keeping up with one for months.

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about how to begin a diet. Using these ten tips, you should be able to pick the right diet and stick with it long enough to see the results that you’ve been yearning for.

Whatever reason you have for going on a diet, be sure to read these 10 things to remember when you’re starting a new diet.

1. Use Science to Choose Your Diet

The first step to dieting properly is to choose the right diet! There are a lot of different dieting options to choose from. The best way to choose the right diet for you is to read the science that backs up the diet’s results.

The last thing that you want to do is choose a diet that’s just a passing fad that doesn’t produce any real results. Any diet you go on should have research backing it up showing the world that it’s the real deal.

2. Be Aware of Any Medical Conditions

Not all diets will play nicely with certain medical conditions. Before you go on your diet of choice, be sure to consult your doctor. Let them know what you plan to eat so that they can assess your medical history and tell you whether or not you can expect to see any adverse side effects.

There’s no point in losing weight through dieting if you hurt your health in other ways!

3. Track Your Calories and Nutrition

The best way to ensure that you’re actually executing your diet isn’t simply guesstimating how much of what you’re eating. Instead, you need to religiously track your intake.

Thankfully, there are a lot of tools out there that can do this for you. Web-based apps like MyFitnessPal allow you to simply input the specific type and amount of food that you ate. It will spit out the number of calories you have consumed as well as the macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbohydrates) you’ve consumed.

Lastly, it will also log all of this information in a neat little journal that you can reference to make sure that your diet is on track.

4. Supplement with a Multivitamin

When you go on super-specific diets, you might find yourself losing out on very specific micronutrients like vitamins. To avoid any adverse health effects from this, take a multivitamin every morning.

Multivitamins are a cheap and easy way to ensure that you’re getting all the micronutrients you need for tip-top health.

5. Reduce Temptation

If your goal is to lose weight, then you can’t eat junk food. That’s the truth, plain and simple.

If you put yourself in situations where you might be tempted to eat junk food, then you’ll do yourself a disservice. Sometimes it’s just impossible to brace yourself against the appetizing smell of a hot-off-the-grill hamburger.

So reduce the number of times you cheat by reducing temptation. When folks are going out to a fast food place to grab food, don’t go in. Stay in the car or eat beforehand so that when you walk in you’re not hungry.

6. Don’t Do it Alone

Accountability is a powerful thing. When we have a friend dieting with us, then we are able to hold each other accountable. The other person’s success will motivate us to keep going as we don’t want to let our friend down.

There’s no reason why you should be dieting alone. If there’s a friend or family member who you know has also been trying to lose weight, then talk to them about starting a diet together and tracking your calories. This accountability will introduce you to a whole new level of motivation you can feed off of to keep your fitness journey on track.

7. Pair Dieting with Regular Exercise

Dieting is most effective when paired with regular exercise. After all, you don’t just want to lose weight — you want to convert that fat into muscle so that you can be more strong and capable!

Be sure to pair your dieting habit with regular exercise. You don’t have to pump iron for hours in the weight room. Your exercise habit could be as simple as a brisk walk every day.

As long as you’re doing something strenuous, you’re on the right track.

8. Watch What You Drink

Next up, you need to watch what you drink. Alcohol kills your fitness gains by pumping you full of empty calories. You may just need to lay off the stuff for a while or limit yourself to no more than one or two a week.

And if you do drink, make sure that you are logging those calories as well so you know the impact on your diet.

9. Limit Your Cheat Days

The importance of cheat days is well-documented. Having a day when you can pig out and eat “regular” food will spike your metabolism.

However, don’t overdo it. If every other day is turning into a cheat day, then you’re just kidding yourself!

10. Track Your Progress

Last but not least, when going on a diet make sure that you are tracking your progress. Nothing is quite as motivational as seeing that you’ve lost five pounds in the last week or that you are now 20% closer to your goal weight.

Tracking your progress will ensure that you stay motivated to stay on track with your fitness goals.

When going on a diet make sure that you track your progress. Nothing is quite as motivational as seeing that you are now 20% closer to your goal weight.

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Everything You Should Know About Going on a Diet

There you have it. Now that you know how to start a diet and keep going on a diet even in the long-term, all that’s left is for you to pick the right science-backed diet for you and start executing on your fitness goals.