This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Notre Dame chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
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Dieting sucks. But with finals on us and Miami soon approaching (bathing suits? Oh my God) HCND’s got your back to make sure you keep looking  like your fabulous selves.
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Dieting is overwhelming. There are so many different ways to diet circulating around the world, so how do
you determine what diet is best for you? Well as someone who has “been there and
done that” when it comes to the dieting struggle, I have come up with some of the
best tips that I took in order to finally get some of those long awaited results. Try
these tips, and you’ll be on your way to achieving whatever dieting goals you may
have!
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1) Don’t skip out on meals. A common myth is that if you hold out on big meals
all day and eat at night, that you’re saving yourself calories. This is most
likely false. Holding back your hunger will only lead to binge eating later
on in the day. Most large discrepancies in food intake generally lead to
inconsistencies in your diet. The best thing to do is to make sure you get
three full meals a day, followed by smaller portion-controlled snacks every
couple of hours in between. You’ll find that eating a smaller amount more
regularly will be more maintainable and less stressful.
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2) It takes about a month for your stomach to shrink. Now, your stomach isn’t
actually “shrinking,” but your body simply grows accustomed to you eating
less. Keep this in mind when you’re thinking that dieting is getting too hard.
It may seem hard to cut back a bit at first, but eventually it will get easier. If it
doesn’t, then you’re depriving yourself too much at one time, and you need to
work in a more gradual manner.
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3) Learn to determine the difference between being hungry and craving a
particular food. This is one of the best pieces of dieting advice that I have
ever been given. If you are sitting in your room doing homework, and all of a
sudden, you realize that you really want a pack of skittles – stop, grab some
water and get back to work. You’re not depriving yourself of any necessary
nutrients if all you can think about is a pack of skittles, you’re just craving a
pack of skittles. If you’re actually hungry, then you will most likely be looking
for any food that you can find. The next time you want something to eat – ask
yourself if you want that one thing in particular or if you would eat anything,
and work from there.
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4) When your craving starts to take over – find something else to do! My
favorite is always to go to bed if I’m craving a post-dinner snack. Crawling
into bed is a failsafe solution, and usually has other benefits, such as…
MORE SLEEP! Additionally, going for a walk and running errands are good
alternative options. You’d be surprised what things you could be doing that
would be so much more productive than succumbing to the pack of Oreos.
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5) Dieting is all about experimenting with different methods until you find
something that’s right for you. It’s all about what is maintainable by your
own standards. Don’t tell yourself that you’re going to run 10 miles a day and
eat 10 calories when you’ve never run a day in your life and you normally eat
2000 calories a day. Start with something manageable, and when that starts
to work you can move forward.
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6) Lets face it – you have to exercise! Try walking, jogging, biking or whatever
works for you. The key is to get moving. Building your metabolism will
help you burn calories during the day, and exercise is truly necessary to be
optimally healthy in general. Thirty minutes of somewhat arduous exercising
a day or one hour every other day will be a great boost for these two areas.
If you are already training a fair amount everyday, then leave the exercising
as is, and work more on improving your diet. For quick-tips, try consulting
with a friendly student-athlete near you to get a sense of the higher end of
the workout scale so you don’t go over board.
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7) Work on portion control! Most people think that by changing what they eat
and becoming healthier that they will see results. Well to some degree this is
true. If you eat better then you will probably look and feel better. However,
in terms of losing weight – eating healthier will not help if you switch over
to better choices and consume until you’re full. Keep an eye out for how
much you eat. Measuring cups are a diet-master’s best friend. Try your best
to figure out how much you are going to eat before you eat it. If you’re going
to eat some cereal, pour however much you’re going to eat and then put
the rest away. Portion control is one of the hardest aspects of dieting – but
it IS doable. Don’t have measuring cup accessibility? Try using other smart
methods of measurement. For instance, as opposed to grabbing a dining hall
tray and piling on the plates and bowls, try grabbing only one plate of food
and using that as your measuring guide for much is too much. If you truly are
still hungry, then go back for more. Maybe you need to eat a plate and a half
in order to stay on track. Figure out what you need, but at the end of the day,
going back for seconds is better than having too much in front of you to begin
with. Chances are if the latter is the case, that you’ll eat more than you need.
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8) Don’t eat too quickly. Your body takes about ten minutes to start digesting
the food you’ve consumed. This means that if you consume one chipotle
burrito in less than ten minutes, that your body may not register that you’re
full – even if you really are. This is in fact, the best way to gain weight. Slow
down and pay attention to how you eat. You’ll be surprised where your true
point of satisfaction lies.
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9) Pay attention. I’d go as far as to guess that about fifty percent of dieting
success lies within simply being aware of what you are doing. Don’t let your
stresses get the best of you and don’t get lazy. Stay on track and remember
some of these rules and you’ll have won half of the battle.
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10)Don’t beat yourself up for making mistakes. Dieting is really hard to do.
Applaud yourself for working towards a challenging goal and trying to be
a better person. Eating a truckload on thanksgiving or having a late night
Snickers bar every now and then is not going to kill you. Even if you eat a
pint of ice cream on a random afternoon for no reason, simply accept it, get
yourself back on track and make the next meal a smart one.