Well Helllooooooo!
Feebee here, popping in to see how your week has been.
Isn't it amazing, now that school is back in session and the 9-5'ers are back at their desks, how much easier it is to stick to your best laid plans! Being out of your comfort zone can really knock you for six. Although I really worked my booty off over Christmas, the moment I got back to work, I really felt like I was in control again. Having a schedule for eating suits me down to the ground.
I think thats why the Max Plan has works for me. You have a limit for how many times a day you eat. 3 + 2.
My schedule is always a little doo-lally, as my evenings are usually filled with rehearsals, I arrive home late at night starving from hours of dancing. Pre-Unislim, I would have plonked onto the couch at 11pm and either call for take out, or savagely raid my kitchen. It turns out I wasn't really starving at all, more so dehydrated and just in need of a good pint of water and a little snack. Now, I save one of my snacks until I get home at night. It could be just something simple like a yogurt, or a Bovril and some Cracker-breads, but it means I am sticking to my plan. Actually sitting back and thinking about what your habits are - when you are most vulnerable (ie, when that packet of Mikado starts winking at you), and working around them, or using a healthy alternative, will make all the difference to your weight loss.
I am a horrendous chocoholic. It has been part of my personality since I was a fetus. Honest to god, during one of those crazy diets I lived by for a while, I didn't eat chocolate for an entire week (as the diet had me restricted to white things only - hahah - just the thought of it alone is gas!). And during that week, I was an emotional wreck. One square of chocolate later and I was myself again. Its my thing. I don't think anyone should have to give up their "thing" in the steps to lose weight. But you do have to make better decisions about it.
I stopped buying bars of chocolate. The little bags of funsize bars they leave at the tills in Lidl, yep, you know the ones, well, they stopped making their way into my trolley (in fairness, I don't remember putting them in their in the first place...they seemed to jump in by themselves..) At 4pm, when the choccie bickies were passed around the office with the cuppa, I just said no, and went and got my yogurt and berries. Don't get me wrong, these steps weren't easy. I really worked hard to say that little word "NO". But after a while, two things happened. 1: people stopped offering me the goodies 2: I didn't miss them.
My hit for my "thing" is Highlights hot chocolate made with skimmed milk. I have one most nights. I don't feel bad saying no, and missing out on the goodies during the day, because I know my little reward will come later that evening. This way, I don't feel deprived. I don't feel like I'm missing out on something. And I am rewarding my hard work during the day with my favorite thing. I would now find it very hard to eat an entire bar of chocolate. I can actually eat a square of dairy milk now and leave the rest in the fridge for another day....who'd have thought! We form all of these habits ourselves, by god we can break them too.
I think one thing you have to remember when you start off your journey to lose weight, is to take things in baby steps. Take a long look at your habits - be honest about them with yourself. Figure out what you downfall is and work on it. Be it cheese, crisps, real butter, sweets...or of course the drinkies on the weekend. Audit your weaknesses and replace them with healthier alternatives. You don't need to think "oh I'm on a diet I can't eat this anymore"....that's the fantastic thing about this plan - you can work everything in, all in healthy moderation.
As one of my leaders once told me....little smidges make big bridges. Take little steps that you can live by and you will see big results!
Keep kicking fats ass!
Mwah,
Fee
x
