Sticking to a diet is really tough. Here’s a few things you should be aware of to help keep you on track.
How to Stay Motivated While On A Diet
Use Visual Stimulation
Surround yourself with images of healthy people. I’ve started to follow a few fitness fanatics on Instagram and truth be told, I kind of hate them but when I’m lolling around in bed at 6am trying to get my arse to the treadmill, the sight of a toned tummy and giant box gap is a really good motivator. Also their unbridled enthusiasm, whilst slightly nauseating, is actually really inspirational. ‘Just slammed an 8km run and feeling fantastic! Yay endorphins! #fitspo #fitstagram #healthy #hotbod‘ and then after I vomit in a bucket I’m all ‘Actually… exercise DOES make me feel good…‘ and then I go for a run.
Remember Mind Over Matter
You need to be constantly aware that you’re on a diet. A lot of people don’t like the word ‘diet’ but I think that if you’re actively trying to lose weight there’s no other word for it. You need to wake up in the morning and spend a few moments thinking about eating good food, working out and doing everything you can do that day to stay on track. I read a magazine where a trainer said that dieting shouldn’t affect your everyday life and I was all ‘Bitch please!‘. If you aren’t scouring menus at restaurants for healthy options or spending extra time in the kitchen every night preparing your food for the next day, then you might not be trying hard enough. ‘Forgetting’ that I’m on a diet and scoffing half a packet of Tim Tams simply means that I’m not concentrating hard enough and I need to get my eye back on the prize.
Always Be Prepared
If I’m lazy and forget to pack my lunch for work I end up eating staffroom biscuits for morning tea and some kind of unhealthy lunch order from the school canteen. I just have to make sure that I tear myself away from my laptop in the evening and spend some time preparing my food for the next day. If I don’t do this it makes it too easy to grab something from the local takeaway. Preparation is always the key.
Expect Obstacles
If you have a week where you haven’t lost weight you have two choices. You can say ‘Fuck it!‘ and order Chinese takeaway and buy a family sized box of Magnums or you can calmly and rationally look back on the week, see what changes you can make and continue with your progress. I once did the Cabbage Soup Diet (yes. I actually did. It was very effective but kind of horrible.) with a mate and she freaked out one day when she gained 200gms. I told her to calm the eff down because she’s a living organism with varying liquid levels and a 200gm fluctuation in weight is very minimal and normal. If you eat 200gms of anything you’ll gain 200gms. It’s pure mathematics so just calm your farm and deal with these little obstacles one at a time.
Become a ‘No thanks!’ Person
Just say ‘no thanks!’. Make ‘no thanks!’ your default. Would like a chocolate? ‘No thanks!‘. Want anything from the takeaway? ‘No thanks!’. Cocktail? ‘No thanks!’. The more you say it the stronger you get. Also how weird is the word ‘thanks’ when you read it six times in one paragraph?