diet cheatingHey there,

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s articlewith your first 4 tips to stop cheating on your diet. Now here’s the final 5.

1) Social Support

Once again, another very important aspect of your weight loss so here it is again, from the office point of view.

There can be many surprises when it comes to the office – work lunches, birthdays, Christmas parties… the list goes on really. Most of the time you just feel ‘pressured’ into eating more than you should or something you don’t want because it’s not part of your plan – so you plan around it.

Remember your planning sessions? Well you would have a plan in place for these events, so find your accountability partner, make sure you have your ‘rules’ in place and you’ll be fine.

If you have kids at home and your buying them treats – lollies, chips, biscuits etc this can certainly work against you if you’re not able to control yourself at certain times. You want your family to be supporting you so you can hopefully not buy those treats for the kids and get them on the healthy food too.J Win win.

Insider tip: spend your meal times with your accountability partner so your not pressured into going for seconds.

2) Work out your reason why

Ok your on a personalized meal plan for yourself because you want to lose weight, yet you find yourself cheating on that plan over and over again then not seeing the results. Why is that? The usual excuses – it was a birthday party/function, whatever it was doesn’t apply because you can control yourself in these situations as shown above so chances are it’s just force of habit.

To rid yourself of this habit try one little trick. Every time you find yourself walking towards the fridge, change direction and grab a glass of water. Simple yet effective, you’re re-wiring your brain to tell you every time your hungry/bored/whatever it is that’s going on at that moment for you; you need a glass of water instead of food.

3) Portion control domination

We all know about overeating, but how can we stop it?

–   Once dinner is cooked serve it out then put it away, you’re less likely to go for seconds if it’s packed away already.

–   If you’re ever at a fast food restaurant just say no to the upsize! We often find it hard to say no, so start practicing – your waist will thank you for it.

–  Only pack the food you need for the day, not what you want for the day.

–  Get rid of the big dinner plates – the small the plate the smaller the portion

4) Stop kicking yourself

If you’re telling yourself over and over that you can’t stick to the diet well of course you can’t stick to it. There needs to be positive self talk going on inside.

–          I can do this

–          I am doing this

–          Nothing is going to stop me

Etc. Write out some positive lines such as above to help you during those times of uncertainty which will stop you in your tracks when you would usually kick yourself and instead keep you moving forward towards your goal.

5) Have fun

Going on a ‘diet’ isn’t a very fun way to look at it. What you’re doing is having planned structured meals. This can be a very educational time for both yourself and family/friends so make it fun.

–          Include friends and family where possible so you can spend time together while looking after your health

–          Look for some great recipes so you have variety in your meals so your not bored – keep them new and exciting

–          If the exercise is getting boring try something new like a weekend hike or a bike ride.

Anything outside of your daily routine to spice it up is a good thing so see if you can come up with 4-5 ways to change your daily habits to make it more interesting.

There you have it, 9 ways to keep yourself on track with your diet.

Of course, this will not just happen overnight, these tips are things you need to work on every day.

 

Persist and you will achieve.

Andrew Zagami