I did it!
I made it through 12 weeks of
hater comments, will-power, a few tears, and
several stages of "D.I.E.T. acronyms".
{I totally made these up so don't quote me!}
My first stage was this:
Do I Eat This?
It was hard to know what I should and should NOT eat.
right combination of type + amount can be tricky.
My next stage was this:
Doing It Even Though (it's hard)
I decided to not let my hard-earned money go to waste.
No matter the comments I got or
the temptations that came my way,
I figured I could handle for 1 summer.
Stage 3 for me was
Discipline In Eating Things
Out of sheer will-power (which is actually empowering!),
I did not cheat on my diet.
Not even a bite.
Not even a taste.
Not once.
I've now entered stage four:
Determined In Every Thing
I can do hard things.
If I want to run a 5K, I know I can do it.
If I want to go back to school, I know I can do it.
If I want to learn to play the piano, I know I can do it.
I can do hard things.
So here are my tips for those of you
who may be improving your habits of health.
1- Eat 6 small meals a day.
This helps your metabolism stay up and running.
2- Never skip a meal.
Your body needs food. Skipping meals will stop your metabolism in it's tracks and put your body in starvation/hoarding mode.
3- Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.
Jump start your metabolism EVERY day. Don't start your day in starvation mode.
You'll set yourself up for binging later on.
4- Drink 80-100 ounces of water a day
Water is vital to your system.
Often we're unknowingly dehydrated and our bodies think
we're hungry when we're actually thirsty.
5- Have healthy snacks with you, just in case.
We can't always control when and where accidents, emergencies, or just life will happen. Have a protein bar in your purse so you're not stressed about what to eat (or tempted to just grab some fast food).
6- Don't cheat.
It takes your body some time to start burning your fat reserves. If you start feeding it more fat, it will only burn that and crave more. You're too strong for that.
7- Think about what you CAN eat instead of what you can't.
Focusing on what's negative about your diet ("I hate that I can't have cheesecake!") will make you resent the diet itself. Think "I'm so glad I can still have steak!" instead.
8- Find non-food ways to deal with stress.
walk your dog, or hug your children when you're feeling stressed.
9- Eat at regular times.
You should be eating every 2-3 hours; no sooner and no later. Your metabolism will be trained to burn off fat until your next high-protein meal.
10- Break down your Final Goal into mini-goals.
If you weigh yourself, do it once a week, first thing in the morning.
Tell yourself how much you want to lose in 1 week, in 2 weeks, in 1 month. Thinking, "I will lose 30 pounds 3 times" is easier to grasp than thinking "I have to lose 100 pounds!"
Here's to your health!
You CAN do it.
{linking up here}
