Have you ever been in the situation where that slice of cake was just too good to resist? What about the family gathering where Aunt Mabel brings out the biscuits?
“Aaaahh, go on, have one. You are wasting away there”
You see, making the right choice is tough because everything is out there to knock you off your balance.
Just remember this
1) It is not your fault and
2) There is something you can do about it
Not doing anything about it separates the winners from the losers and the moaners from the achievers.
Your Auntie’s gathering is not an excuse for you to eat everything in site. Nor is a funeral an excuse to knock back 20 pints ‘cos that’s what he would have done’.
You are in control.
Let’s face it if you are on a nutrition plan to get you leaner, something has to give. There are some sacrifices along the way.
However, it doens’t have to be painful.
Start realising that for every ‘polite decline’, ‘no’, or ‘thanks but ‘no-thanks’ is a resounding YES to the new you.
The easiest part of a health and fitness programme is the time you dedicate and focus to exercise. You turn up to the gym – you do, you leave. You meet your friend for a walk – you do, you leave. You pop to the pool for a swim – you do, you leave.
The real work comes in the other 23 hours of the day.
How are you sleeping? That is 8-10 of those hours.
Did you know that poor sleep patterns can be directly linked to weight gain? Growth hormone, a hormone that helps you remain lean and encourage muscle gain, will be floored with poor sleep.
Obvious ways of improving this are sleeping in pitch black, removing all electro-magnetic fields in the room (turn off the little red dot of the TV – better still unplug it!) and take your mobile out of the room. Your best mate isn’t going to text you in the middle of the night!
If you need to wake up with an alarm clock, a sign of poor quality sleep, then use a battery operated one.
Eating patterns can also make or break results. Some folks respond well to small meals spread through the day.
Eat small meals, ideally 5-6 , throughout the day spread about 3 hours apart. A small serving of lean protein such as meat, poultry and fish with veggies and some healthy fat such as nuts and oils will result a leaner and trimmer you.
Based off my experience I would believe this more to do with the stance that when folks are hungry they overeat and overeat on sugars.
If you can though there is a school of thought that encourages the three staples of breakfast, lunch and dinner and to avoid snacking. I can see why. Allowing fasting sugar levels to drop a little allows us to tap into our fat stores.
The issue arises though if you undereat at these meal times. You are setting yourself up for a bout of the ‘where’s the scone and biccies’ blues.
With someone who has the self restraint levels of a toddler in Smyths – I would be careful with this.
As is always the case YOU need to become the diet detective and find out what works for you. Not let Aunt Mable decide with her plate of biccies thrust under your nose.
Set some rules, measure them, assess how you feel and record your feedback. Everyone is biochemically different meaning my make up is a little different to yours! When I looked at an individual’s food intolerance there the other week I noticed that Almonds were off the richter scale in terms of imflamming his body.
Almonds are healthy? Not in this person’s case.
Take them away and the fatigue and weakness has disappeared.
So look under your ‘bonnet’ and take control of the wheel. Only you can do this.
John Lark is owner of Sphere Fitness. Visit his website over at http://spherefitness.ie
