How to break the shackles of dieting

Well, I am firmly shackled down to my food obsession to ever truly lift off.

It would appear that over the years all the accumulated knowledge about food and habits has had a negative effect on me. So instead of using my knowledge to eat a healthy balanced diet I have moved to the extreme obsession when it comes to food.

It’s become difficult to navigate my life through the food maze. Simple things in life have become unbearable to the point of paralysis. Activities such as meal planning, calorie counting, shopping and cooking now cause such anxiety that it triggers me to stress eat, and thus further sabotages any chance of diet and weight loss success.

But the good news is I REFUSE to give up!!!

I will break the shackles of dieting and will fly away…..

I know I’m not the only one that feels defeated but I am taking steps towards breaking free from my obsession. If you too want to chip away at the weight that is holding you back then read on.

1. Weigh in

As much as I hate it (I actually despise it), it's a good idea to weigh in and take measurements at your starting point. Pick the least stressful day of the week and weigh in.

Don't weigh your self first thing on Monday morning if you have a cheat day on Sunday. Make your weigh in day a happy stress free activity. I have picked a Wednesday morning for measurements. What is your least stressful day?

2. Assess your weakness

Have a D&M with your self, what are your eating patterns and trigger?

Do you crave food ALL day long? May be you are a feaster, once you start to eat you just can’t stop?

Or are you an emotional eater? eating when you are stressed, bored, sad or happy? If you need some help determining what your eating habits are then check out What’s the right diet for you?

If you haven’t seen this show I recommend you watch it. It was an eye opener!

3. Excuses be gone

Take a pen and paper ,now write down all the reasons why loosing weight is hard for you. And I mean everything!!

Here are some of mine:

• counting calories is too hard

• I forget to eat

• I come home late from work and don’t have the will to cook

• I know what the portion size is but I always eat more

• I feel bad throwing food away

• I find it difficult to plan meals

• I succumb to late night cravings,

• I’m easily swayed to eat more bad food…. I could go on, but you get the idea

4. Create a Feast

OK so now that you know what type of diet you should have and what your excuses are you need to equip your self with weapons to help you break the chain of current behaviour.

This is not a one fits all type of thing. My weapon may be different to yours.

My plan is to start the Lite n’Easy. This will ensure that all my meals are planned and potion controlled. I have chosen to do Lite n’Easy 6 days a week. I will take Saturday or Sunday as a cheat day depending on my social calendar.

The reason I am taking one day off is so that I get to eat all the things I feel like eating. This will reduce my ‘obsessive’ thinking. I will not obsess over the chocolate I can't eat!

If Lite n’Easy is too expensive for you then what can you do to over come your excuse?

There are many options:

• Meal prep on the weekend ensures you have prepared meals for those days you don’t want to cook

• Prepare a weekly/monthly meal plan with the number of calories you need

• Weight Watchers is another fantastic program where you count points and not calories,

• stock your fridge up with some WW freezer meals for those occasions when you come home and are too tired to cook.

5. Stop the “supportive saboteurs”

You’d be surprised how easy it is to find the 'wrong' support. I find that when I’m succeeding people are more then happy to help me break my momentum.

Does this sound familiar : “Oh you have lost so much one cake slice isn’t going to change a thing” or even worse “Are you going to eat that? Is that really part of your diet?”.

Honestly those are not supportive things. If you wish me to succeed then don’t encourage me to fail, NO means NO.

Just to clarify, one slice of cake won’t kill me but, if I haven't accounted for it I don't need it. Something I consider too caloric will only help me glide into ‘obsession’ mode. Following that piece I will have another and then I'll most likely be eating pizza for dinner. After all, “I have stuffed up my plan so why not go all out today!?”….

Finally to the reverse physiology statement above, this does NOT work on me. If I have found my self indulging in something and you ask me “should you be eating that” I most certainly will eat it and more just to prove a point.

So when you have identified the “supportive saboteurs” tell them that their support is not required and that if they want to help that the best thing they can do is trust you.

Your current weight is not a result of your diet or your fitness level but a direct result of the mind games we play with our self.

Tell your self that you CAN & WILL lose the weigh. Focus on how to out-manoeuvre the self saboteur in you, the more wins you have the closer you are to your ideal wight.

If you are interested in following my chess game with my self saboteur then please subscribe to this blog and follow me on Instagram. I will be posting what I eat, when I exercise and my score sheet.