When ordering your coffee in your local coffee shop…
You get rudely distracted by the choc volcano brownie
Yet…
You seem to give yourself a telling off for even thinking about it
Let alone tucking into one (or just nibbling at your other half’s as you said didn’t want one 😮)
Just think about this way
If some lions came across the some food
^^^ let’s call them Mufasa and Simba
Do you really think that Mufasa would turn to Simba and say:
‘You know what Simba, I’m not really feeling like tucking in to all this food. I’m watching my waistline.”
“But why Mufasa? You can always do 40000000 burpees to help you burn the calories you’ll take in”
^^ can you tell my kids have been watching Lion King on repeat?
It just wouldn’t happen, right?
Because you and I are wired to eat.
And the food environment you live in today thrives off of this
The fresh, heavenly smell of bread in the supermarkets
The £1 chocolate at the petrol station…
It’s not your fault, it’s actually the result of years and years of evolution.
You are wired to go for fat and sugary, high calorie foods, so if they’re vending machines biscuits in the staff room, or on your kitchen side?
It’s going to make it difficult whether you’re counting calories or not.
So if you’re beating yourself up for having ‘thoughts’ about going through a loaf of bread left out on the side
Finishing the packet of biscuits
And all the foods out this time do the year?
Actually give yourself a break.
And let’s assess what you CAN do.
We know your environment plays a key role here
In fact, a recent study showed that:
* When Europeans (that’s us despite Brexit) move to North America we gain 7% of our body weight
* When North Americans move overseas to Europe they lose around 2% of their body weight
* When North Americans move to Asia…they lose over 4% of their body weight
Which just highlights how what you do isn’t always based on rationale, conscious decisions, right?
and I know what you’re thinking…
“Well, I’m not moving to North America or Asia any time soon”
So here’s what you can do right now to lose up to 10lbs:
* Only eat from crockery
* Use smaller crockery
* Only eat when your sat down
* Don’t eat in front of the TV
* Tidy your kitchen so the only thing out is a fruit bowl
* Make sure the first thing you see when you open your fridge are veggies / salads / meats (you’re 3 times more likely to choose the first thing you see)
*Get protein in at every meal
*Drink a glass of water before every meal
But you know this stuff already, right?
You’ve tried eating healthy before.
But just couldn’t stick to it. Piled the weight back on.
And if you have done all of this before?
My questions to you:
→ Have you done it for long enough?
→ What if the £1 chocolate wasn’t bad but your thoughts about it were (which meant you thought ‘F it’, I will start again Monday)
^^ And this is where counting calories for a few days might help?
I say this as someone who used to have an eating disorder.
Counting calories actually helped me. It helped me understand that so called bad foods weren’t so “bad”…
Not saying that works for everyone
And actually I wouldn’t advise people to count calories forever.
But they’re a tool in the toolbox for when you need it
And can give you the skills to eat mindfully and ditch the all or nothing approach without calorie counting.
Like one of the ladies mentioned in the image
Matt