Skip to main content

3 Methods for Pain-Free Dieting (and Awesome Results)


Three Ways to Make Dieting Easy—and Even Increase Your Performance

By Matthew Sloan
author Matthew Sloan

     Any form of dieting can be stressful on the body, the mind, and your emotions, and sometimes the idea of "just push through it" isn't enough. Sometimes we all need some extra motivation or special methods to get us through the day or week. So here are three methods I personally use to make dieting easier, and I think any serious bodybuilder, lifter, or strength athlete can use them to his or her advantage.
The 3 Methods
     The first method is to just simply switch up your training. This switch up should be something " fun" or "exciting" to give yourself something to look forward to (because dieting for weeks on end can get repetitive). For example, if you are following my “lean mass-made-simple program” from a few posts back, and are getting bored with the training, then try something new for a day, then get back on the program. So, if you're doing 10x10 at the time and need just a " fun" type of day, then have an “all-out arm assault day” with supersets and tri-sets, and just go for the " pump". Another example would be if you are on a “cutting” regimen and have started to implement some cardio (three days a week or so) and are getting bored of it—or lacking in the motivation for it due to the caloric restrictions—then have some fun with your cardio. Maybe go to your gym's bike class or even something such as a "Zumba"[1] class. Whenever you are dieting (especially while in a caloric deficit), then you have got to keep the training fun and interesting. If you don't, then you will have difficulty sticking with it, and when you aren't consistent with your training, you aren't consistent with the results
     The second method is to have a cheat meal! Cheat Meals are a perfect way to give your mind a boost in motivation. There's nothing like the feeling of rewarding yourself with a tasty meal after a strict week of dieting. The way I do cheat meals, while in a deficit, is to consume a cheat meal after every three days of dieting. But this is only because I have acquired a fast metabolism (no I have not always had a fast metabolism) that is the result of proper dieting and training. So if you know that you have a fast metabolism, then you can treat cheat meals the way I do, but if you have always had problems with your weight, and think that you have of a slower metabolism, then I would have a cheat meal after every five days of dieting. (If you dieted strictly Monday through Friday, then have a cheat meal on Saturday.) For your cheat meal, you will want to have a predominately high-carbohydrate meal, because one of the main benefits of these (aside from the mental boost) is the increase in leptin levels in your body—and high carbs is how you increase your leptin.  Leptin is one of the key components of burning off fat, and should not be overlooked. When you have a cheat meal, you must not feel guilty about it, otherwise the meal will do more harm than good, because you will be de-motivated (and your mood might just plain suck!).
     The final method I use to make dieting easier is to make your food taste good! When the food you are eating is bland and boring, then sticking to your nutritional regimen can prove to be doubly difficult. So when you prepare your tilapia or your chicken breast—two of the mainstays of my personal diet—make sure you season it well.  (Tasty fish or chicken is always something to look forward to in my book.)
     If you have a problem staying away from the sweets, then go ahead and peruse the internet for some healthy dessert recipes. You can even use artificial sweeteners in your Greek yogurt, or instead of drinking only water, you can drink some flavored zero-calorie drinks (and, no, there are not significant harmful effects of artificial sweeteners). Keeping your food tasteful—not to mention enjoyable—is one of the biggest factors in sticking with a diet, and, ultimately, making it a successful one.
In Conclusion
     From a nutritional aspect, there are many different methods that you have at your disposable to make things easier.  And although there are “easier” ways to reach your goals, there are no shortcuts. So stay consistent, listen to your body, adapt to your needs (and your occasional desires), and keep growing!



[1] C.S.’s note: I’m pretty sure my son put in this one for his stepmother (and my wife) who also happens to be a Zumba instructor.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Feel free to leave us some feedback on the article or any topics you would like us to cover in the future! Much Appreciated!

Popular posts from this blog

Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods

  The Many and Varied Mass-Building Methods of Power Bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. Eder as he appeared in my article "Full Body Workouts" for IronMan  magazine.      In many ways, the essay you are now reading is the one that has had the “longest time coming.”  I have no clue why it has taken me this long to write an article specifically on Marvin Eder, especially considering the fact that I have long considered him the greatest bodybuilder cum strength athlete of all friggin’ time .  In fact, over 20 years ago, I wrote this in the pages of IronMan magazine: In my opinion, the greatest all-around bodybuilder, powerlifter and strength athlete ever to walk the planet, Eder had 19-inch arms at a bodyweight of 198. He could bench 510, squat 550 for 10 reps and do a barbell press with 365. He was reported to have achieved the amazing feat of cranking out 1,000 dips in only 17 minutes. Imagine doing a dip a second for 17 minutes. As Gene Mozee once put ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old-School Muscle-Building Once More

Learn the Training Methods and Workout Programs of the Silver Age Bodybuilders      What follows is, in many ways, nothing more than an extension of some of the subjects I have been discussing in recent articles, such as Part 3 of my ongoing Tailoring Your Workouts series, and my other essays on The Old-School Way , Effective Full-Body Training , and How to Train Through the Soreness . Enter Old-School      Old-school bodybuilders knew how to build muscle.  In many ways, I think the training methods and workout programs they utilized were a lot better than the routines of the modern bodybuilder.  I also realize that modern bodybuilders—many of whom have larger, sometimes much larger, muscles than their old-school counterparts—might scoff at such an idea.  After all, hasn’t training evolved in the last few decades?  Don’t modern bodybuilders know more about the “science” of hypertrophy than bodybuilders whose heyday...
4 comments
Read more

The Mighty, Massive Arms of Franco Columbu

  The Arm Training Secrets of an Old-School Bodybuilding Legend   Columbu in his heyday      “The average person who wants to see how well built or strong you are will inevitably say, ‘Make a muscle.’   Such folks aren’t interested in your lat spread, huge pecs, or rippling abdominals.   They want to see you roll up your sleeve and display a bulging biceps.   It’s the main attribute that sets you apart from the average man or athlete and identifies you as a muscle man!” ~Franco Columbu [1]        As I was searching for an article of mine in an old Iron Man magazine, rummaging through my many issues, I happen to come across the article “Franco Columbu’s Mighty, Massive Arms” by Gene Mozee.   It was in his regular feature “Mass from the Past” from the ‘90s that always outlined the training regimens of many of the “old-school” bodybuilders from the ‘70s or before.   Truth is, they were invariably just...
1 comment
Read more