June 14, 2023

How to Stay Motivated to Eat Healthy

Chris Manderino

Nutrition & Wellness

Did you know? Losing weight and exercising are two of the most common new year resolutions!

Key Takeaway: Staying motivated to eat healthy long-term requires shifting from restriction to addition. Instead of eliminating foods you enjoy, add more nutrient-dense options first. Meal prep on weekends to remove daily decision fatigue, track how healthy eating makes you feel rather than counting calories, and build a social environment that supports your nutrition goals.

At the core of many New Year's resolutions is a desire to eat healthier and feel better about yourself. But while the intent may be there, staying motivated to stick with eating healthy is often a challenge.

Research shows that while 95% of New Year's Resolutions are related to fitness, 43% of people are likely to give up on their resolutions by February. Bad habits don't take long to creep back in and derail progress.

If you find yourself struggling to stay motivated to eat healthy, don't despair! Here are ten tips to help you overcome the slump and stay on track with your health goals.

Set Specific, Measurable Goals

Setting specific, measurable goals is a great way to stay motivated to eat healthy foods. When you define a target that you can measure your progress towards, it's easier to stay on track and maintain your motivation for eating healthier over the long term.

When setting your goals, it's important to be realistic and set achievable targets. You don't want to set yourself up for failure by setting unreachable objectives! Make sure your goals are also time-bound; this gives you something tangible to work towards and adds structure to your plan.

For example, your goal could be to replace two unhealthy snacks per week with a healthier diet. Then, you can measure your progress over the course of a month or two and make adjustments as necessary.

When creating these goals, think about all aspects of eating healthy, such as food choices, portion sizes, and frequency of meals. Don't forget about hydration either: aim for two liters of water per day (eight glasses).

Keep a Food Journal

Keeping a food journal is a great way to stay motivated to eat healthy.

With a food journal, you can document every bite that you take: including what you choose to eat, the portion size of each meal, and how often you eat throughout the day. This allows you to track your progress, identify areas where improvement could be made, and provides accountability for your actions.

The benefits of using a food journal include increased awareness of your eating habits, improved understanding of how different foods affect your body and overall health, and an increased sense of control over your diet.

Don't just take our word for it: a study consisting of about 1700 participants found that those who kept a food journal lost twice as much weight as those who didn't. By understanding your eating patterns and taking ownership of them, you can stay motivated to make positive changes that will benefit your health.

Invest in Yourself

The best way to stay motivated to eat healthy is to invest in yourself. This could be anything from a personal trainer or nutritionist to cooking classes, gym memberships, or health retreats.

When you invest in yourself and your own well-being, it is much harder to backslide into old habits. This is because you put money and effort into what you're doing: and it would be a waste if you don't take advantage of the resources that are available to you.

Also, investing in yourself is often a great way to get support from experts or professionals who can help guide you along your health journey. This can provide valuable insight and information on how to make sustainable changes to your diet, as well as accountability and encouragement when you need it the most.

Instead of spending $10 on a large pizza every weekend, why not put that money towards a gym membership or health retreat? Even small investments in yourself can make a big difference when it comes to staying motivated to eat healthy.

Get Rid of Junk Food

Getting rid of junk food is one of the best ways to stay motivated to eat healthy. Not only does it help you resist temptation and make better food choices, but it also helps you create a healthier lifestyle overall.

Cleaning out your pantry and cupboards of any unhealthy snacks and replacing them with healthier options is a great first step. This can help to prevent mindless snacking and make it easier to stick with your goals. You could also try shopping at stores that don't carry junk food or opt for healthier restaurants when you eat out.

Furthermore, many nutrition experts recommend implementing a "90/10" rule: enjoy healthy meals 90% of the time, and allow yourself to indulge in a treat 10% of the time. This can help you stay on track with your diet while still giving yourself some much-needed freedom when it comes to food choices.

By getting rid of junk food, you will be more likely to stick with healthy eating habits and continue feeling motivated along your journey.

Regularly Weigh Yourself

Regularly weighing yourself can be a great way to keep yourself motivated to eat healthy.

By tracking your weight over time, you can see how your diet is impacting your body and make adjustments as needed. This can help you stay on track with the progress that you are making toward reaching your goals.

In addition, studies have shown that people who regularly weigh themselves are more likely to lose weight than those who weigh themselves less often. A 2015 study found that participants who weighed themselves every day for six months lost an average of 13 pounds more than those who did not weigh themselves daily.

However, it is important to remember that weight loss should not be the only goal when it comes to healthy eating habits. You should also focus on making sustainable changes to your diet for long-term health benefits.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Planning ahead is key to staying motivated and eating healthy. By having a plan in place, you can make sure that you always have healthy options available. This can help you stay on track and avoid the temptation to reach for an unhealthy snack.

Meal prep is one of the best ways to plan ahead when it comes to eating healthy. Spend some time each week prepping ingredients so that you are ready to cook a nutritious meal at any moment. You could also try planning out your meals for the week and creating a shopping list to make sure you have all of the necessary ingredients.

You can also plan other aspects of healthy eating, such as incorporating more physical activity into your daily routine or scheduling regular check-ins with a nutritionist. By making these plans in advance, you will be more likely to stay motivated and maintain healthy eating habits.

Find an Accountability Partner

Having an accountability partner is a great way to stay motivated to eat healthy. This person can be someone you know personally, such as a family member, friend, or even an online support group or coach. Having someone to keep you accountable can help you stay on track and make healthy eating a habit.

Your accountability partner should be someone who is supportive and understanding of your goals. They can help you stay motivated by providing encouragement, feedback, and advice when needed. Additionally, they can also be there to celebrate your wins as you progress toward achieving your health goals.

Why Motivation Is the Wrong Thing to Rely On

Motivation is a mood. It shows up on Sunday evening when you are planning the week and it is gone by Wednesday at 7pm when you are tired and there is nothing prepped. Every durable eating change works by reducing the number of decisions you have to make while motivated, not by increasing motivation itself.

That reframe changes what you work on. Instead of asking how to want it more, ask what would have to be true for the healthy choice to be the easy one at the moment you are actually deciding.

Add Before You Subtract

Restriction-first plans fail predictably because they create a sense of loss on day one and pay you back weeks later. Addition-first plans work in the opposite order.

Add protein to breakfast before removing anything. It changes hunger for the rest of the day, which makes every later decision easier.
Add a vegetable to two meals a day. Not a salad-only diet. One extra vegetable, twice.
Add water before coffee and before each meal.
Then subtract one thing. Pick the single item with the worst ratio of enjoyment to impact. For most people it is a daily sweetened drink.

Three additions and one subtraction is a month of work. Attempting all of it in week one is why January plans die in February.

Design the Environment, Not the Willpower

What is visible and reachable gets eaten. This is one of the more reliable findings in eating behavior research, and it is the cheapest lever you have.

Front of the fridge: pre-cut vegetables, fruit, yogurt, leftovers in clear containers.
Out of sight: anything you tend to eat mindlessly. Not banned, just not on the counter.
Default plate size down. Smaller plates reduce portions without any felt restriction.
One prepped protein in the fridge at all times. This single habit removes most weeknight failures.
Keep a shelf-stable backup meal for the nights when nothing is prepped and takeaway is calling.

The 80/20 Rule, Applied Honestly

Most people who eat well long term are not eating perfectly. They are eating well most of the time and have made peace with the rest. The trap is that "80/20" often becomes a way to avoid ever defining the 20.

Make it concrete instead. Decide in advance which meals are the flexible ones, for example Friday dinner and one weekend meal. Everything else runs on the default. A pre-decided exception protects the plan. An improvised one erodes it, because each improvisation makes the next one easier to justify.

What to Do When You Fall Off

What happened	What most people do	What actually works
One bad meal	Write off the day	Next meal is normal. Nothing else changes.
A bad week	Wait for Monday	Restart at the next meal, not the next week.
Travel or holidays	Abandon the plan	Switch to the minimum version: protein at each meal, water, one vegetable.
Repeated evening snacking	Try harder	Treat it as a signal you under-ate protein earlier in the day.

The pattern worth internalizing is that a single lapse has no meaningful effect on outcomes. The damage comes from the story you tell yourself afterward, and the multi-week gap that story justifies.

Track the Behavior, Not the Scale

Daily weight fluctuates by several pounds for reasons that have nothing to do with what you ate, including hydration, sodium, and where you are in your cycle. Judging a week of good decisions by a single number is a fast route to quitting.

Track the behavior instead: days you hit your protein target, days you ate a vegetable at two meals, days you prepped. Those are inputs you control, and they move first. If you want to watch weight, use a weekly average rather than a daily reading. Our guide on holding yourself accountable covers structuring this, and habit tracking apps covers the tooling.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I stay motivated to eat healthy long term?

Stop depending on motivation and build defaults instead. Prepped protein in the fridge, a repeatable shortlist of five meals you actually like, and pre-decided flexible meals will carry you through the weeks when motivation is absent.

Why do I always quit after two weeks?

Usually because the plan was built for your most motivated self. If it requires an hour of cooking on a bad day, it will not survive a bad day. Design for your worst week, not your best one.

Should I count calories?

It works well for some people and triggers an unhelpful relationship with food for others. If you have tried it and it made you anxious, track protein and vegetables instead and let portions follow.

How do I handle a household that does not eat the way I want to?

Change the shared base of the meal rather than cooking twice. Same protein and vegetables for everyone, and let the sides differ. Cooking separate meals is the most common reason people give up.

Does meal prep really matter?

It is the single highest-leverage habit in this whole list, because it moves the decision from a tired weekday evening to a calm weekend hour. Even prepping one component counts.

Wrapping Up

Staying motivated to eat healthy is essential for achieving long-term health benefits. By implementing the tips outlined above, you can keep track of your progress and stay motivated along your journey.

With a bit of planning and the help of an accountability partner, you can enjoy a healthy diet that works for you. Best of luck!

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