It's critical to prepare and plan when you get on a low carb diet. In this article I will give you my personal tips to do so in the most effective and easy way.
As with many things in life, proper planning can be worth gold and more often than not it is responsible for being successful at something or not. That's of course no different with a low carb diet plan. In the following article I will show you some ways to properly prepare for your new diet, to make sure you keep at it till the end.
On the first day, before you start anything, you should consult a doctor to check you up. Especially by embarking on certain low carbohydrate diets, it's critical to be careful, because there are many different ones. Your doctor knows which diet suits your metabolism and bodytype the most.
Knowing exactly which low carb diet you should follow is also of critical importance for the upcoming days, to make sure you are prepared for all possible hick-ups.
Now that you know which diet you will follow, you should get your kitchen in order. As long as you have a base of carbohydrate foods in there, it could be hard for you at later stages of your diet to keep your discipline. Because of that you should get rid of all food containing starches, sugar and wheat. After all, your diets name is low carb, isn't it?
Now you should plan which meals you want to eat in the upcoming 1 to 2 weeks. This type of planning might feel a bit too much at this point, but it isn't at all! If you know exactly what you want to eat, and when, than it is much much easier to exactly do that and not find excuses to eat something else (carbs), because you're not really prepared. Never underestimate your ability to rationalize eating carbs while on a low carb diet, just because there is no properly prepared food around.
After you have made your plan you should immediately go shopping. And on the way there, don't forget to take the carbs out of the kitchen when you leave.
Today is the first day that you'll actually start eating in the way that your diet suggests. Of course you can start that from day one, but in my experience it's very helpful to start with a clear mind in the morning and not some time in the middle of a random day.
Furthermore today is the day that you should prepare most of your meals for the coming 1 to 2 weeks, according to the plans you made the day before. Based on the type of low carb diet that you will follow it can mean that you have to cook and freeze some foods to have them available quickly in the coming days. Believe me, frozen prepared foods can really rescue your entire new diet plan when you get a hunger or sugar attack!
On the upcoming days you will typically experience some of the common symptoms that many low carb newbies experience: dizziness, tiredness, hunger attacks and doubts that your diet will not really work out. At this exact point your straight planning of the past days will pay off, because you are prepared for all of that.
The symptoms I mentioned are rather normal when you embark on a low carb diet, because your body needs to adjust and get used to burn fat instead of glucose. (If those symptoms don't go away however, definitely consult a doctor.)
So that's it: When the first two weeks are over, usually the symptoms will go away as well and you will notice that you will have more steady energy, a better mood and your clothes will seem like they are getting too big.
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, nor do I claim to be one. In that sense, the tips and information provided in this article are for entertainment purposes only. Whenever you start a certain diet or change your lifestyle, you should always consult a doctor to get professional advice.
