12 Ways to Better Eating - A Mental Approach

It seems like everywhere we turn people are trying to eat better. Trying to lose some extra pounds they gained on their holiday, trying to slim down before they jet off somewhere sunny. 

But eating better can be hard and many people get frustrated, feel like they're failing and give up.

Here are some key ways to help you stick to your better eating plans.

1. SET GOALS

It starts by having clear and realistic goals. 

Write a list of things you want to change about your diet. Also think about goals that you may have regarding your body and use those to plan your diet around them. I recommend setting present goals, short term, and long term goals (so say in a week, in a month, in 3 months). 

If you try and do everything all at once you can be overwhelmed and want to quit. Take it one goal at a time if need be, and one day at a time. This isn’t a race. 

I also recommend writing reasons WHY you want to make a change in your eating habits. You might feel able to share your goals with others who will help you meet them. You can put your goals where others can see them like on the fridge, or somewhere at work to motivate you to work harder. 

This will also get others behind you and involved in your new routine.

As you achieve your goals, tick them off! This will give you a sense of accomplishment and add excitement leading to your next goal.

2. HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Any diet plan needs to work with you and not against you. 

You need to be realistic when setting up the parameters of your new diet. Your plan needs to work for you and your situation. It needs to fit your schedule and your budget. If you don’t follow your budget, your cooking costs will get too high and you will have to pull out from the diet you set up. If you don’t cook for your schedule and your eating times you will find yourself without food and scrambling around to find a healthy choice. 

So be realistic with time, and give yourself extra time to prepare food, or have food pre-packed. Also know that obstacles can and will come into your path from time to time to derail you and your progress, so don’t think that everything will be easy and will just happen. This takes work.

3. BE PROACTIVE

Make a list of healthy foods you enjoy, and what foods you can take with you to work, in the car, school, etc. You can create entire menus revolving around where you will be at what time of the day. Never give yourself an excuse to not have something available for you to eat, no matter where you are when you are supposed to have a meal. Always keep healthy foods on hand. If you don’t you will probably eat whatever is available at the time whether it be fast food, office treats, etc. This can throw off a diet plan and get you in the habit of making bad food choices and eat whatever is fast and convenient. Know where you will be at what time of the day, when you are open to cook, to eat, to shop for groceries, and plan accordingly. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

4. CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Most people respond well to consistency. Make a plan and stick to it. Try to eat at around the same times every day and keep to the same portion size and caloric intake. Your body will recognize this pattern and in turn keep your metabolism burning and your energy levels will stay high. You will feel better, and get in a healthy routine. It is easy to sabotage yourself by grabbing crappy snacks to meet uncontrolled cravings. The time you spend on planning and consistency is a true investment that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

5. BE FLEXIBLE

Of course, even the best plans fall short at times. Life can sometimes get the best of all of us. Sometimes your eating routines need to change. Where you can, try to plan ahead for these events and have items on hand you can take with you when you’re in a rush or are eating out. Examples are bag of raw unsalted almonds, whole food bars, shakes, fresh fruit. 

Also educate yourself on nutrition through the internet, books, and magazines. You can use this knowledge to help you improvise and find foods that are compatible with your diet. For example, if you are out with friends or stuck with no time to cook. Find items that are less time consuming that you can take with you in a pinch.

6. DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF

Nobody is perfect all the time. If you mess up, miss a few meals, or even have a bad couple of days, just pick yourself up and get back on track!

You’re doing this for you, and the added stress of not living up to your own expectations can lead to a total diet derailment. Being healthy and eating healthily does not mean you can’t enjoy foods that aren't on your meal plan. So don’t be so hard on yourself. YOU CAN DO IT!


7. STICK WITH YOUR PLAN

It takes time to develop healthy behaviours. After about a month of eating better consistently, you will have developed a habit. You will find that everything you initially may have had a hard time doing becomes more effortless and be a normal part of your day to day life.

8. HAVE FUN!

Eating right takes dedication, commitment and sacrifice. Don’t stress yourself out over small bumps in the road. You have the power to change any negative into a positive, and you have the choice to have a positive outlook regarding any situation you find yourself in. Find fun ways to keep yourself motivated. Get friends and family involved. Set challenges at home, with friends, or at work to start eating healthier. Take the time to cook and try new and interesting recipes. You are making a change for the better, so why not make it enjoyable?!

9. GIVE YOURSELF PRAISE

You are not a dog so don’t reward yourself with treats. RealiSe that changing your eating habits can be a daunting task for anyone. Just think how long you have had your current habits and know that changing those habits will not happen overnight, but with time. 

Congratulate yourself on any healthy changes you make, because you deserve the praise! Praise builds confidence and makes you feel good about the healthy choices you are making, and in turn will help keep you on your path to betterment.

10. DON'T RUSH INTO THIS

People always start with the best of intentions and will try and do everything at once. They get overwhelmed and quit before they really even started. Small changes add up and can make a huge difference. Work on one thing at a time and keep adding to it. Before you know it you will have many healthy habits that incorporate together to make a healthy lifestyle and a healthier and happier you.

11. FOCUS ON THE JOURNEY AND NOT THE DESTINATION

To live a healthy lifestyle is never easy. In order to enjoy this lifestyle with all it's ups and downs, we must enjoy the process and the journey on the way to our destination. Once we hit our destination we immediately look to the next mountain top and we either want more, or worst case scenario we think that we have accomplished all we need to and we relax on all of the things that got us there in the first place. Take pride in small victories along the way. They add up.


12. MEASURE SUCCESS AND SET NEW GOALS

Making successful changes means measuring your progress towards your goals and recognising your accomplishments. As you meet short-term goals, you can plan the next steps with more confidence. Constantly re-strategising your goals takes long-term visualisation. That long-term vision needs to be broken down into do-able steps.

Now go out and make a difference in your life today!! 

 Did you enjoy this article? Would you like to receive more support from me on a daily basis?! Ask me about my next challenge group! Together we can set goals and achieve them!!

Progress report! General ramblings on how my first 5 weeks has gone.

Hey all you lovely people!

It's now been 5 weeks since I began my concerted push to improve my health and fitness by starting my workout programme and by committing to clean eating.
Today sees the end of the particular phase of the HIIT programme that I've been following. and I felt it was as good a time as any to tell you how it's gone for me.

I can honestly say that I've been fully committed and dedicated to both the working out and the clean eating. Have I been 100% perfect? Well... not entirely, but it was never about being 100% perfect. It was about the 80/20 balance so things didn't feel overwhelming and out of my reach. So where did that 20% rear its head during these last 5 weeks?
I've stuck to eating clean meals and honestly that part has been easy as I'm already used to it. I've been trying out new recipes and I've found some great new snack recipes to keep my sweet tooth at bay. But, I have allowed myself some treats . This has solely been in the form of Halloween sweets that have lingered in the house longer then they've been welcome. I didn't have the heart to throw them away though. So they've just been sitting there calling my name until I was able to devour them all so they couldn't haunt me anymore. It's fair to say that I have limited the extent of my sweet-eating in any given day, so I've managed to keep my troughing within reason. To balance this out I've made sure that I haven't had any cheat meals. This was intentional, but actually I just didn't feel I wanted or needed to. I'm quite happy with my clean meals and I know I feel better for eating them. I've been drinking lots of water and haven't felt the need for a glass of summer fruits squash since 'water week'. I call that a result :)
The workout schedule I've been following is prescribed and it tells you exactly what workout to push play on each day. This is perfect for me as it tells me what to do and I just do it. No procrastinating umming or ahhing about what workout to do, it's all laid out for me - no excuses! I've missed 1 out of the full quota of 25 workouts. That was yesterday! I had fully intended on doing the workout. I was even in my workout clothes and trainers already, but then my Mum and Dad decided to pop round for an hour, and 3½ hours later they were only just leaving! I love them very much and it was great to see them, but I hadn't factored that time in. I could have just done my workout in the evening but I'd already set aside that time to be with Rog (it was Saturday evening after all) and I didn't want to compromise on that. So I made the decision to miss my workout yesterday.
All in all though, it hasn't been a bad 5 weeks!

The workout programme I've been following is based on HIIT (High Intensity Interval training for those that don't know). It takes on one muscle group at a time, works it to exhaustion and then moves on to the next muscle group. It's only 25-minutes a day, but it's full-on, without any rest. It's been challenging at times but I know that it's worth it. So I've been making that small decision to push play each day for the greater goal. It's worked!!

The benefits I've seen in just 5 short weeks are:

• I'm noticeably stronger. I've progressed to my heavier set of weights in all but one of the moves in the whole programme,
• I'm fitter. I can go longer in each move without having to take a break or modify,
• My clothes are fitting better. Less of the waistbands digging in and jelly belly hanging over the top. I generally feel less wobbly and I can't feel the rolls so much when I'm sitting down,
• I can see visible changes to my body. I can manage to look at it in the mirror now without pulling a disgusted face! This has made me so much more confident about myself,
• I feel like a badass lifting weights!!!!!!
• I'm feeling in control, 
• I've lost 7 lbs. 

You might have noticed that I put my weight loss at the end of the list. This is completely intentional. My weight is not something I'm obsessed with, it never has been. It's not something I measure my progress or success by because it's just a number. Weight is affected by lots of factors that can change on a daily basis. I would much rather go by how I look and feel. I did weigh myself before I started the workout programme purely as a baseline because I know that people tend to be interested in that. It's the first thing anyone ever asks you - 'how much have you lost?' So I'm using that information for those of you out there that want to know. I have no interest myself in whatever that number is. I will be using the mirror as my monitor.
I also took body measurements and I have before and after photos. I'm choosing not to post the photos here (mainly because I'm not brave enough to), but they're good for me to use going forwards as reference.

 

So what's next I hear you cry!

Well, my personal health and fitness goals for the end of the year (my year end resolution if you like) is to remain accountable going into the festive season. I am committing to:

• Follow the next phase of my workout programme and not miss any workouts. It'll be a step up and it's focused on getting lean, strong muscle whilst burning fat. It relies even more on using weights,
• Stick with clean eating but allow myself one laid back meal or an evening where I have a few drinks or sweets,
• Stay accountable by checking in regularly with you all on my Facebook page and Twitter (feel free to follow me!),
• Meal plan every weekend and keep clean eats in the house to reduce temptations  (this week is already planned out and set in stone),
• Rock it!

I'm gonna make 2015 better than I started!!!!