Now, rather than following a strict diet or following a fad, we suggest that you maintain your weight and health by eating a healthy, balanced diet. Nobody said it was easy. Unfortunately, no one ever told you it would be this hard either.
One of the largest obstacles to weight loss is cheating or the temptation to cheat. Your diet plan tells you to avoid deep-fried food, pizza, and sugary snacks. But, they’re calling you. You can stick to your diet without cheating!
Here’s how.
Plan Your Week
Spend 20 minutes of your weekend planning the week ahead. Include the time you will rise each morning, what you’ll have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between, and schedule your exercise time, too.
By doing this, you know exactly what to do and when to do it to ensure you stick to your diet, stay healthy, and lose weight. It removes the temptation you might face if you have to make a snap decision.
Identify Obstacles
You have to consider the obstacles you may face in advance. This allows you to create at least two methods in which to overcome each of them. For example, you know that you have a meeting-heavy day on Thursday which will turn into a working dinner. You also know that you’ll miss lunch.
You’re going to be tempted to hit the vending machine. How can you beat those obstacles? You can take a healthy snack or two to work with you and try to grab an early (healthy) lunch before or in between those meetings. Where there’s a will… there is a way.
Only Shop Once
The more you find yourself in the supermarket, the more likely you are to give in to temptation. You spent some of your weekend planning the week ahead, from that you should have created the ultimate shopping list. Get it all done in one and avoid supermarkets until your next weekly shop.
Food Prepping
Since we’re already on the subject of planning in advance, let’s talk about food prep. This is something that you can do in order to stay on track. Once you buy your shopping list, you can batch-cook certain products, chop and slice others, and have everything ready for when you need it. Plan the week, script your meals, shop your list, and prep your food.
Social Support
Your social network can provide you with support to ensure you stick to your diet without cheating, whether it’s a close friend or someone else that will serve as your nutrition buddy. This is someone who should hold you accountable when you slip up and encourage you to follow your plans.
This person should be someone who edifies you. Don’t choose someone who will throw obstacles in your path. In fact, you need to create a plan to overcome the well-meaning people who do create obstacles, such as donuts in the break-room.
You have to prepare for these types of temptations and know how to say no. Additionally, if there are people who treat you and your weight loss goals as a joke, then you need to ignore them.
Ideally, this person provides you with gym support, however, you can have different buddies for different parts of your journey.
Brush After Meals
There’s nothing worse than eating something too soon after you brush your teeth, right? That’s why you should brush your teeth after meals. It will help you avoid temptation.
Final Thoughts
Put these ideas into place, and you will soon see how easy it can be to avoid cheating on your diet. It won’t happen overnight, but every day is a small victory, and you can always make tomorrow your best day yet.