Shredded Made Easy

5 Simple Ways To Make Dieting Easier

by Matthew Sloan

Matthew Sloan shows off his lean physique

The New Year of 2016 has arrived, and, with it, comes New Year's resolutions. The vast majority of these resolutions involve something such as this, “I'm going to get ripped!” or “I want to be toned”. Unfortunately, the majority of these lost souls who go on their journey to that "dream physique" never make it past the month of January. Although much of this failure is the result of being misinformed on the correct way to lose fat (which I have talked about before), it is also the result of a lack of willpower. A very small percentage of us can follow a strict dietary program and never slip up, even if it's only now and then. But many of us, have a hard time not to binge-eat on the weekends while watching the latest episode of our favorite TV show(myself included). But over this past year(as I embarked on my journey from fat to shredded), I have learned some simple methods for coming up with easy ways to stick to my dietary regimen. So here are my 5 simple ways to make dieting easier.

• Intermittent Fasting. I'm sure many of you are aware of intermittent fasting, but here is a short description. Intermittent fasting is, essentially, just consuming all of your calories within a period of the day called an eating window. For example, one may fast from 8:00 pm until 12:00 pm the next day. This would create a 16 hour fasting period and an 8 hour eating window. So now that you all are aware of what intermittent fasting is, here is how it can work to help you achieve your fat-loss goals. So, let's say you are consuming 2000 calories a day and you eat from the time you get up at 6:00 a.m. until you go to sleep at 10:00 p.m. You are attempting to spread 2000 calories throughout a 16-hour period. This is very difficult to accomplish, and makes it much harder to stick to your diet. But let's say you fast from the time you get up until noon. Then it will be much easier to go throughout the rest of the day with your limited calories. Give it a try—I'm sure you will find that it is much less taxing on the mind when you eat this way.

• Caffeine. For all of you coffee drinkers out there, this one is definitely for you! Caffeine is a good appetite suppressant. This will make it so that you aren't as hungry, resulting in a lower caloric intake for each day. We've all heard of diet pills, well, all these pills are primarily just caffeine! I recommend having a cup of black coffee every morning—you will grow to enjoy black coffee (trust me).

• Water. It doesn't get anymore simple than this. Water can be very beneficial for those of us that are dieting, not only because it is healthy for your body, but because it will help to keep you full. Try drinking half-a-gallon of water every morning, and watch how much easier it is to keep your cravings under control.

• Stay Busy. I am always the hungriest when I am just sitting around watching T.V. or just being lazy. So in order to make it easier on yourself, just stay active! When you are busy, time will fly right by you, and, before you know it, you'll have a hard time getting in all the calories, not the other way around.

• Cheat Meals. One of the best ways to give your mind a break while dieting, is to have a cheat meal! I recommend having 1 cheat meal on a specified day every week. Not only will this give your mind some much needed rest, it can also be beneficial to losing fat directly. So, begin with 1 cheat meal each week and, if you feel as if you're body responds better to more cheat meals( I am like this), then add in more.

Hopefully this is the year in which more people reach their New Year's resolutions than in the past. Just remember to train hard, eat correctly, and follow these tips!

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