Starting a new diet is hard enough without sabotaging it for the beginning! Here a few mistakes people make that will almost always lead to failure.

Whether it’s a new year’s resolution, or just in time for beach season, dieting is a part of adulthood. We all go through phases or situations that cause us to stop watching what we eat quite as closely… then we finally wake up and realize the fat has got to go!

Regardless of the why or how of your diet there are a few things to avoid in order to make this diet a success!

How to Avoid Failing Your New Diet

Obviously there are a lot of factors that go into a successful diet plan, but in my experience these 5 factors are the easiest way to set a diet up for success!

1. Not Planning a Menu

When you’re just starting a diet it’s hard enough to stay on the straight and narrow without having to think up meals on the fly!

Make sure you are ready to do as soon as you start by having every single meal planned out.

Take it a step further and have all your meals actually prepped before you start. If you can’t do that, make sure you at least have all the ingredients so you have no excuses for going off the plan!

I use this free meal planning tool that only takes 2 minutes and uses your recipes!

2. Not Planning Financially

Depending on what you are eating right now making the shift to a more clean diet might be a shock to your pocket book.

Make your meal plan and price out each meal ahead of time. That way you know exactly what you’re getting into so that not having enough money doesn’t become an excuse to quit!

Check out these tips for clean eating on a budget.

3. Not Preparing Emotionally

Don’t laugh, this is a real thing.

Sugar, wheat, corn, and processed foods in general cause your body to release chemicals that give you emotional support. It’s why we turn to chocolate when we’re sad, or fried chicken when we need comfort.

By not setting up a plan for non-food related emotional support you aren’t giving yourself the best chance of success.

Here are some of my favorite self-care options to help with this step!

4. Not Have a Contingency Plan for Traveling, Visitors, and so on…

One of my biggest downfalls is not having a plan for days and events that are outside my normal routine.

When we have visitors we tend to dine out a lot, so I have to mentally prepare for not getting my normal order wherever we go.

If you know that you will be traveling, make some homemade snacks, cut up some fresh fruit, and bring lots of water! That will help you stay on the straight and narrow!

5. Binging for Days in Advance of Your Start Date

And lastly, the WORST thing that you can do before starting a new diet is the binge for days before hand.

For example, if you know you are going to start your diet on Monday, don’t spend the whole weekend overeating in an attempt to eat all your favorite foods “one last time”. The reason you should avoid that being that when you overload your system with sugar and other processed ingredients you are going to crash hard when you take all that away.

Also, why add 3-5 more pounds to the amount of weight you need to lose? Have a nice meal if you want to, but just one. Don’t over indulge and realize that this diet isn’t forever!

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