Transforming Your Eating habits without crazy restrictions?

Transforming Your Eating habits without crazy restrictions?

Ladies, why do we do this to ourselves? Eat super clean, cut out all carbs, sugar, alcohol and treats for two weeks. Then, find ourselves swapping it for all the tastiness that our body has been craving!

Then, it's juice diets, apple cider vinegar diet, then shortly after that move onto Keto. Are you sensing a pattern?

As a former competitive Bodybuilder, I had to deal with crazy restrictions on my food intake which led to heavy binging after every competition. It felt as though there was a hole in my stomach and I could not stop eating. It was terrible and I had no sense of control over my nutrition, I gained weight very quickly. Unfortunately, it took me years to finally sort out my eating habits, but I am finally there mentally and I now have a healthy, happy relationship with food.

So based off my own experience, I want to share with you a few points that have helped me to transform my eating habits, without having to cut out every treat and snacks which my body occasionally desires.

    Stop overthinking it

    You’re trying too hard to be ‘good’ that you’re almost indirectly waiting to eat something ‘Bad.’ However, this should be a lifestyle and that means wanting to reach for a piece of fruit over a packet of sweets or wanting a 4 biscuits, as opposed to the whole packet. Don’t dwell on good vs. bad food. Remind yourself as often as you need to, that this is a lifestyle and everything is okay within moderation.

      It’s okay to keep a food diary

      Especially when you are trying to reverse habits of what feels like a lifetime. You will require discipline therefore, it’s best to visually write down what you are eating. You will naturally want to read back that you are eating more nutritionally dense food which you know is beneficial to your well-being. Seeing it written down helps.

      Plan your Treat Meals and stick to them

      A lot of people are against this but personally, they have worked in reducing my cravings. Why? Because I can focus on 3 days of eating clean food, then on day 4 eat clean with a dessert (usually apple crumble). Or, eat clean for 5 days then relax my diet on the weekends, which means having a take-away or indulging in snacks whilst watching a movie. Then, the next day I jump straight back into my routine without restrictions. There’s no guilt involved.

      Join a Fitness challenge 

      In summer 2020, I created the Me vs. Me Challenge (Get your cropped hoody) in attempts to remind myself of what I can achieve with discipline and dedication. Within the challenge, all members cheered each other on and held one another accountable with daily receipts. Naturally, you don’t want to be the one letting your team down, so we all stuck to our plans and pushed through the tougher days. After the challenge was over, I found that I didn’t feel restricted. Instead, I just wanted to keep making myself proud and remain accountable. I could eat junk food, but I chose not to. Challenges are helpful in reminding you that you’re soooo capable of making the Choice to eat healthily.

      Don’t forget that you are a Goal Chaser

      If your GOAL is to meal prep 3 healthy meals per day, then do so. If your goal is to drink more water to reduce toxins and aid digestion, then do so. If your Goal is to stop eating a bar of chocolate every day, then do so. My take on it is, be kind to yourself because, a bar of chocolate on occasions is not a huge let down. However, don’t moddle coddle yourself to the point where you start making excuses after excuses. Chase your Goals of a healthier lifestyle.

      These are just a few of my tips and I would love to hear yours so that we can help each other out.

      Comment Below and share your thoughts xx

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