Look, most of us women know the general idea of how to lose weight. Eat the veggies, move your booty. But so often we are overloaded with a TON of additional overwhelming and often contradictory messages. Ones that we jump on, because well it was promoted on Facebook, or a girlfriend has had great results, or my fave that one TV Dr said how to start dieting.

We’ve all done it, we’ve all done the big commitment, of I am going to workout 7 days a week, eat chicken and asparagus everyday and lose 20lbs this month. Oh if only it was that easy! Now don’t get me wrong, there are a few people that this actually works for. But for most of us, it doesn’t. I did it, I tried it, repeatedly. And it was awful, I always felt worse off than when I started! So what is the best program out there? Keto? Paleo? Whole 30?

It’s actually the one you will stick too! With a lot of these mainstream “diets” however, I personally found a huge piece of the pie, so to speak was missing. The habits that needed to be addressed before I could make any of these diets a true lifestyle. The habits regarding my daily life and even the skills of tuning into hunger cues and satiety. The mindless snacking, the daily trips to Starbucks, or even just going out to dinner with friends, eating and drinking and completely absorbed in the company leading me to not pay attention to the 500 calorie drinks on top of the 1800 calorie “meal” in front of me. Sound familiar?

Here is the best way to start DIETING aka a Lifestyle Movement!

Start small, literally even, switch to smaller plates. Drink some water between each bite of food to slow yourself down and give you the chance to really tune into your body. Take note of where you are and who you are with when the mindless eating happens. Netflix and Chill often equates to Ice Cream and Overeating. If your Starbucks habit isn’t one to give up yet, slowly start weaning down off the sugary million calorie drinks.

The trick is to start small, really, really small. One habit at a time.

But before any “diet” will work you need to check your behaviors, your habits, and your triggers! You can only willpower through bad habits that have been ingrained for years for a short time. And that’s why most “diets” leave you high and dry on a unrelenting roller coaster.