IF you have clearly defined goals it becomes so much easier to stop yourself from eating those sweets that are in the cupboard. However, just saying it would be kinda cool to lose a bit of weight is never going to cut it.
That would simply get put on the back-burner when the easier option is to deviate from your diet and dive for that shelf full of goodies. You need to make sure that your goal will outweigh any short-term gratification. Write it down and remind yourself of this. If you haven’t got round to writing it down because you’re putting it off, that’s your brain working against you again! Stop reading this and write what you want to do … now, then it’s done. Keeping track on what you eat is also useful because you are instantly made accountable for your actions. Whilst you won’t quite bear witness to your body putting on a pound of fat, you just see your daily totals skyrocket in a bad way. I often do this myself when I see a food I feel that I am tempted by. I enter it into my diary and what usually happens is my fat and calories totals are sent through the roof. This makes me realise that it’s just not worth it and the next time I go for something different. A key part to tracking your food that is often missed is that it’s not a test – I know at school when they said ‘you’re only cheating yourself’. I still thought it was worth it to win, but if you eat food that you do not track then you are really missing the point of tracking in the first place. You can allow yourself your favourite foods in moderation by scheduling them in. Many people do this with a schedule ‘cheat day’, but I find that this encourages bingeing, and particularly, if you’re like me, you may easily find yourself messing up your whole week of eating in a single day. I find it easier to treat yourself more regularly in moderation, this is why I enter my favourite FroYo, or snack, or little treat into my diary at the beginning of the day – if I keep to a good nutritious diet for the day I can usually fit something like this into my goals most days. It may be hard to put off eating some of your favourite treats until you see your abs coming through, but it will be easier if you know that you’re going to get a little treat later anyway. Decide right now: How much you really want to be lean? If you really do then you will have to sacrifice some of the selected beverages and rubbish that you enjoy eating, that’s the long and short of it – there’s a reason that you’re not in the shape you want to be in, in the first place. Notice that I didn’t say give up all of the things you enjoy. Allow some in moderation. Start steps 1-3 right now, otherwise you never will.
