When trying to help my clients get results with eating better or exercising, I commonly hear them say, “I can’t” or “I don’t have the time”. An example may be that I tell a client to eat 5 meals a day and they say that it’s too hard with their schedule.
That’s when I give them a follow up question:
“If I gave you 1 million dollars for eating 5 meals per day for the next 14 days, then would it be too hard of a task?”
They now obviously view it as the simplest task in the world for a million dollars. So how can something seem so difficult and then within seconds seem so easy? What changed?
Your perspective. Your MINDSET!
Then I tell my clients to treat themselves like 1 MILLION DOLLARS. Why wouldn’t you? Aren’t you worth it?
It’s not about being motivated by money, but about the degree to which you value yourself. We all have stress and we all have busy lives. Yes, some more than others, but when you value yourself, you will find ways to get things done. You’ll be solution oriented rather than a victim.
On that theme of 1 million dollars, there is a statistic that says that 70% of all lottery winners will squander all their money in a few years. Well, if you don’t feel you deserve it, you will find a way to give it away.
Think about how that relates to getting in shape for some people. If you don’t feel worthy, no matter how many diets you’re on or how much exercise you do, you will always subconsciously find a way to sabotage your goals and gain the weight back.
When you love something, you take care of it.
When you LOVE a car, you give it regular oil changes, you give it regular maintenance, you wash it, you vacuum it…
When you LOVE a pet, you feed it daily, you spend time with it, you pet it (hence the name)…
When you LOVE yourself, you……………………………
Think about how your life would change and what you could accomplish if you valued yourself like 1 MILLION DOLLARS.
There was a recent study done that suggests that people who kept a daily food diary lost twice as much weight than those who didn’t. The people in the study did have a specified diet to follow, went to weekly group meetings and did moderate exercise 30 minutes a day, but the ones that wrote down their food on a daily basis lost twice as much weight.
So, if you are not happy with your weight, this is an action step that you can take that may help you in your efforts.
We all have cravings and sometimes we give in to them, including myself. The key is to make sure that it happens infrequently. If your nutrition is very good most of the time, it’s not much of an issue. But if it’s not good, you need some tools.
A tool that I use is that I picture how I will feel when I’m done. As an example, I’m at a friend’s house and they have freshly baked chocolate chip cookies out and the aroma hits me. My immediate reaction is to grab one (or more:). But before I do, I think to myself, how will I feel when I’m done? Will I be happier? I know I will be experiencing a lot of pleasure while I’m eating the cookie, but what happens when the experience is over? If I’m trying to reach a physical goal and I just downed 5 cookies, odds are that I will probably feel guilty and beat myself up for a while for giving in to the craving. I would have sacrificed what I wanted most, for what I wanted in the moment; short term pleasure over a long term goal.
Food can only provide short term pleasure and then it’s gone. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy food while you’re eating, it just means that you shouldn’t frequently disregard your health for moments of pleasure. Sometimes we keep eating just to keep the pleasure going, but it will eventually end. So the next time you’re confronted with a craving challenge, remember the short term pleasure concept. When you’re done eating, regardless of how pleasurable the cookies were, you will be in the same boat as before you ate them.
What will you gain…except weight?
We all need limits when it comes to eating. Calories are energy and if you put too much energy into your body and don’t use that energy, well, you store it. Portion control is very important for certain meals. I have never had a client come to me for help saying they eat too many vegetables or too much grilled chicken. I have seen people eat too much bread, pasta, sweets, fried foods and alcohol that get them in trouble. If you are going to have those foods, you need to set a limit on them.
You also need to set physical limits. For example, if you weigh yourself regularly and you see that you are starting to gain weight in an unhealthy way, an alarm should go off and you should take the proper corrective action. The weight limit could be 5 pounds. Once you see that, you should be conscious of how you’re eating or not exercising and make some changes. If you don’t weigh yourself, then your clothes can be the trigger. If your clothes are fitting tighter, rather than buy clothes a size bigger, that same alarm should go off to get you to eat better and move your body. Set limits early so things don’t get out of hand.