The Challenge Trap!

If you follow my posts you'll know I set myself challenges including the month I went without refined sugars. I need to do this to keep myself achieving my goals. I'm an emotional eater and I personally believe everything in moderation but quite often I find the whole moderation thing difficult to do. So instead it works for me to set myself cold turkey challenges. This works much better for me as there is no room for 'well I can just have one more as long as I'm good the rest of the week', which then slowly slips out of control. Generally the more I have the more I want and to be quite frank when it comes to food I get quite addicted to the wrong stuff. I never get bored of eating bad food and that's where my problem lies. I eat rubbish for pleasure, boredom, comfort, celebrating as well as when I'm feeling sorry for myself or stressed. I also eat junk when I don't see the results I want quick enough and think what the heck it's not working so I might as well eat what I want anyway.......as if that's gonna help!!

So as you can see this is why a challenge for me is just much more beneficial. Challenges are bloody hard work or it wouldn't be a challenge, but I'd definitely recommend it if you know your not good at the whole moderation thing as there is no room for I'll just have a little as the plan doesn't aloud for this until you finish it. However be warned it's going to take a lot of grit to get through it.

Now for the most important thing before you start....THE TRAP! Are you aware of this when starting any diet or challenge? 

When I finished my last challenge I was so proud of myself that I'd actually achieved it  I felt I deserved a reward. So what did I reward myself with.....the obvious CAKE, CHOCOLATE, PIZZA, POPCORN AND CHEESE! Wait it doesn't stop there this wasn't just one evening but I kept doing it. On and off for about 2 weeks until I finally decided enough was enough and I'd just sabotaged a whole month of bloody hard work. 

You see a diet or challenge is great if your realistic and don't try to convince yourself you can have something naughty because you've just done so well. It's totally pointless and defeats what you'll done so well at. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a treat but it should just be a treat. Not a treat evening or weekend or even a week of booze, takeaways and sweets. In just one evening you can undo all your hard work. Sometimes you can get away with it for quite a while but the truth is eventually it will catch up on you because junk food is addictive. The more you eat the more you want. Basically in the long run you are just making things harder for yourself. Even if your a healthy size you still need to think about what your putting into your body. Bad food will cause you health problems maybe not now but one day. 

Be kind to your body and don't fall into the trap of I know I'm going to a party next week so I'll start my healthy eating after that. Well it's perfectly fine to have the night of but why wait till after? Instead be good up till that occasion then enjoy the special occasion and then get straight back on it. 

Enjoy those times and don't feel guilty, but earn that special occasion if you want to succeed. Have a treat but make sure it's just the one. Thats' what will get you results and keeping them. 

I used to do a treat night and I don't now. I just have a treat when I need one and try to minimise this (it's a working progress to be honest) ,but I'm getting there and it's not about looking at what your still not getting right it's about comparing yourself to how you were. I'm not there completely with the healthy eating but if I compare myself to my food habits a year ago then my palette of food has been amazingly cleaned up. Much more variety, nutritional value and definitely less junk and yes my weight has stayed off even with the slip ups because I always get back onto it. I don't give up on myself. I have a family to think of so my health is important so fighting bad lifestyle demons is a priority. The whole you only live once is true, but I'd rather live a long happy disease free life if I'm fortunate enough to do so and so I'll do what I can to maximise my chances. 

Healthy living is not about perfection but consistency. It's not about feeling deprived but learning to control you addictions first and foremost, because without the addictions and cravings there is no feeling deprived. I gave up fizzy drinks and sugar in my tea a few years ago and it no longer bothers me. It did for a long time but now I couldn't care less, I don't feel I'm missing out in fact I cringe thinking about having either now.  

Watch for your trap and be good to yourself

xxx

Facing reality....

Some people all their life have struggled with their weight and others like myself got away with eating junk, never touching a vegetable, drinking excess amounts of alcohol and never having to exercise and staying skinny. The silly thing is for me I never actually appreciated at the time that I was pretty perfect and was still unhappy with the way I looked. I now believe that this is a very important lesson to learn before going on any health kick......will you know if you actually look good? If not then really what is the point if your still unhappy. People lose weight all the time and don't see it so I think it's important to learn to be contented, but also I always recommend taking some photographic evidence so you can visually see your results.

Me on holiday in Tenerife when I was 21 and stupidly thought I needed to lose weight!!

I use to blame the fact I'm now a mum on why I find it harder to maintain my size, but actually this is just an excuse that can go on for far too long as to why your not back into shape. For me it was never because I became a mum but it took me a while to be honest about this. Yes stretch marks came when I was pregnant but extra weight gain definitely not. I tried to convince myself it was, but actually I was quite poorly in pregnancy and lost a stone and eventually at the end put back on another 3 stone so ended up just 2 stone heavier than what I was originally. The 1^st stone came off more a less as soon as Peta was born and the extra stone gradually over the first 6 months. However when Peta was 15 months I was my biggest yet and the blame for my weight was still having a baby, well since I'd already lost that weight once and the 1^st stone was nearly all baby and considering her age well it quite simply was just an excuse to make myself feel better for not taking proper care of myself.  It was only when I looked back on photos of myself at 6 months that I realised this and owned up to the fact I was making excuses for myself. The reality is you can get away with a lot more when your younger without it visually showing, but it will catch up with you evenually.

Luckily I was still just classed as having a healthy BMI (a lb more and I was classed as overweight) but this is about the time I realised I needed to start appreciating I'm not 19 anymore and actually I can't live on sh*t without exercise and still be healthy size. If I continued I would in fact keep putting on weight and feeling rough from lack of nutrition. This was at this time I starting improving my fitness and looking at my diet. The first step in succeeding is owning up to any excuses. Do you ever blame time, money or having a baby for not being in shape? Don't get me wrong I don't believe in pressuring yourself within a certain time frame to be back in shape but if like me after a year your still not back where you want to be it's time to face reality. Yes there are plenty of factors that make it difficult, nothing in life you really want comes easy but work hard and evenually you earn your results.