I was on line at the super market with a dead cell phone and nothing left to do but eaves drop on the conversation the woman in front of me was having with her friend. “No, no, I can’t go out to dinner tonight I’m dieting.” I peered into her cart and noticed what was inside. Diet this, low sugar that, everything boxed, with skinny girls on the packaging who looked as happy eating her reduced fat frozen lunch concoction as I would be eating a Ruths Chris steak. I wanted to interrupt her conversation and say, “Girl, you are failing before you start.” But I minded my social cues and subtly dropped my card into her shopping cart. She was trapped in what I like to call the diet bubble. If this situation sounds familiar, follow these unconventional steps for breaking out
- Eat - When trying to lose weight, the less-is-more mentality doesn’t work. Calories are a way of measuring energy. If you are expending energy, you need to take in energy. If you don’t, your body will hold onto every pound of fat for dear life and slow your metabolism down. Calories aren’t bad; they are exactly what gas is to your car.
- Be a kid in a candy store - The second you tell yourself you can’t have something it is human nature to want it. Try not to tell yourself you can’t eat “cheat” foods. Think about a teenager who doesn’t have a curfew for the first time. Of course, the first time he or she might stay out until 4 in the morning, but after that, the novelty wears off. The more you tell yourself you will never have cookies again, the more power you give them.
- Hungry is a no-no. Think about when you go out to eat and you’re STARVING. The waiter brings over the bread basket, and you demolish it, then your appetizer comes and you eat that too. By the time your entrée comes, you are going to eat it because it is in front of you, but you don’t have that same sense of urgency. When you are ravenous, your body is going craves food now and quick. Don’t let yourself get to that point. Include snacks as a preventative measure; it will save you tons of calories later on.
- Don’t eat diet foods. Stand by the diet items in the super market for 15 minutes and take note of the people who are buying them. Are they fit, healthy looking people? Usually not. Opt for high quality foods. They will nourish you more and your body will process them more efficiently then if you choose foods pumped full of chemicals to make them lower in calories.
- Be social. Don’t avoid social occasions because you are trying to lose weight. Try to eat sensibly, and if there are foods there that aren’t the most nutritious, make them a little better. For example, if you normally have 3 slices of pizza with your friends, have two. If you normally have two, try one and a side salad. There is always something you can do to improve!