Having trouble following a diet? We help.

Dieting will always be more complicated than simply eating what you want, but it doesn't have to be brutally difficult and complicated.

Especially if you don't have competitive goals.

You need certain care, and ingest certain amounts of macronutrients, but you don't need authentic daily sacrifices if you know what you're doing.

What can you do to make your diet easier to follow?

That's what you'll find out in this article.

Note. The tips presented here are suitable for both those looking to lose weight and those who want to gain weight or improve their sporting performance.

Prepare meals in advance

You're away from home, at work, and hunger strikes.

All you have on hand is a snack machine.

Wouldn't it be simpler if you had a good meal already prepared for you in advance to eat?

Or even at home, you've been watching a movie and now you want to eat.

You're hungry, you open the fridge and the food with the most protein in there is a Danoninho.

You look in the cupboard and all you have are Maria cookies.

What if you had prepared some meals in advance and now just heated up some good steaks with rice?

Having prepared meals is one of the best strategies for being able to follow your diet consistently, and without major mental battles about what you should or shouldn't eat.

You don't always need to carry a backpack with 8 tupperwares in the back, but if you're dependent on cafe food, it's going to be difficult.

Give preference to foods you like

You don't like chicken steaks, but you like turkey steaks.

Use turkey steaks.

You hate sweet potatoes, but you love pasta.

Use pasta.

Do you hate spinach, but even like green beans?

You already know the answer.

The important thing is to fulfill your daily needs not only with quality foods, but with foods that you enjoy and that you can eat consistently.

There are no mandatory foods, and no, you won't lose results by not eating oats.

Use tasty protein recipes

There are dozens and dozens of protein-rich recipes on the internet.

To start the day you can, for example, try these tasty protein crepes.

For lunch, take a look in this protein cake, and you won't even realize you're following a diet.

If you're good in the kitchen, you can even invent your own recipes, in order to meet your daily needs, with flavor.

Do you have here some recipes that you can include in your diet.

Gradual changes rather than drastic changes

António was used to eating cakes in the morning, McDonalds in the afternoon and an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet in the evening.

Suddenly he decides to get in shape and starts following the diet of his friend who has been going to the gym for 5 years, without stopping.

A strict diet, with lots of chicken breasts and broccoli.

What do you think will happen to António?

The most likely option is to give up after a week or less.

Don't try to change habits you've built over the years from one day to the next.

Try a more gradual, long-term approach.

And no, following the diet of person X will not give you the same results as that person.

Spices are your friends

Just as there are dozens of different recipes, there are also dozens of different seasonings and spices.

You can easily completely change the flavor of a chicken steak with a little garlic, pepper or something you like, without losing nutritional value.

This is clearly more useful on dry diets, where choices tend to be smaller, and it is useful to give repeated foods a new flavor.

Eats BEFORE of being (very) hungry

Attention, this is not an excuse to always eat.

On the other hand, eating when you're on the verge of a true hunger attack will make it more difficult to make sensible choices, and easier to get ahead.

Eat a little before you are (very) hungry, and if you structure your diet well, it won't be difficult to achieve it.

If you're having trouble controlling your appetite, take a look in this article.

Calculated diet

To make your diet easier to follow, there's nothing like knowing the calorie and macronutrient values you need.

Furthermore, having a pre-defined structure saves you a lot of time making small decisions about what to eat and what not to eat.

As if that weren't enough, by knowing this, you can also be more flexible with your diet, and adapt when unforeseen events occur.

And don't forget, extreme diets rarely give results.

Create something that you can see yourself following in the long term, not a diet that you will abandon within a week.

Smart shopping

When you go shopping, pay attention to the food you buy. If you fill your fridge and cupboards with cakes and sweets, it will be difficult to follow your diet.

If, on the other hand, you avoid buying these types of products, and fill your fridge with food that easily fits into your diet, then everything will be much easier.

Oh, and avoid going shopping hungry, it doesn't usually give good results.

Sets objectives

It never hurts to repeat: You need at least one goal.

Why are you following a more structured diet instead of going to McDonalds for lunch and dinner like your friends?

It's important to have a goal and it's important that you remember it.

If you don't have any concrete reason, and you started following a diet yesterday just because it's fashionable, it's unlikely to last long.

Conclusion

Don't associate the word diet with a temporary diet that leads you to achieve a certain goal.

Unless your goal is temporary, in which case a temporary diet will probably work.

The secret to getting good, lasting results is to change your eating habits, and not go on the latest fad diet.

And as you create these changes, and adapt new habits, your diet becomes much easier to follow, especially (of course) if you follow the tips in this article.