Eat healty for more than two days!

Sick of promising to give up chips/Diet Coke/burgers, only to crash and burn within 48 hours?

Put your hands in the air and back away from the fridge.

And are they cake crumbs around the edge of your mouth? Tsk Tsk.

Wasn’t it only three days ago you declared yet again that, by the time you were celebrating NYE, you’d be parading around that bikini bod you’ve spent the whole year trying to get.

Day one you are totally inspired and faultless. You have the right amount of food and there’s even some salad in there too. You do the biggest workout of your life and can totally visualize that hot body you’re going to flaunt on the beach this summer.

You even feel thinner that night as you lie in bed and run your hands over the body you know is finally going to be the way you want it. Your goal is clear and you believe in it 100 percent. You are on fire!

Day two. You wake up feeling thinner and skip out of the bedroom lighter. Breakfast is a breeze but it hits lunch time and all the girls from the office are having champagne and chocolate cake. You are on soda water and salad but manage to follow it with some self-righteous (silent) high fives on your incredible strength and willpower, telling yourself that they will end up at Weight Watchers while you will be inundated with men offering to rub sun cream on your brand new J Lo back even when you are not at the beach. You are a legend. Again.

By dinner – and having said no to your boyfriend’s invitation to take part in beer and buffalo back ribs with the lads – you get hungry and bored and all you can think of is the food you WISH you were having. You get grumpy and slightly miserable and can’t stop thinking about all the food you’re “not allowed” to eat. 

You still really want to get to goal (hey, it’s only day two) so talk yourself out of ordering home delivered double crust cheesy pizza and just get on with eating your grilled fish, salad and water and manage to convince yourself you actually enjoyed it. You go to bed feeling pretty damn clever and imagine the love handles your man will be wearing while you spend up big at Tigerlilly.

Day three you are bored stupid, cranky, depressed and suddenly realize just how much distraction, entertainment and “fulfillment” comes in eating. Except that it isn’t real fulfillment. How can it be when it leaves you so unhappy and your healthy body goals completely unfulfilled? Do you really think true happiness only belongs to those who can eat whatever they want, whenever they want?

You also finally understand the commitment you have made and it seems quite daunting. The instant “goal” of whatever comfort food you desire seems so much closer and easier to get than your real long-term goal of a healthier body. Problem is, the longer you fool yourself that the food will make you happy, the longer it will take to get what you really want.

Do you constantly battle the brain with those internal dialogues (do it/don’t do it!) about why you should break free? Yes, on the bad days it does feel hard and boring and endless. But the good days come and, if you persevere, then those habits will be broken and your life will be fulfilling on so many other levels – not just through food and eating. But something will only break under pressure. You have to go through this or you won’t win the battle. You think kings conquered nations without ever slaying a few dragons? Yes, it’s tough, but only because it’s a new way of thinking, not because it is impossible.

Just accept the battle, do not give up, watch as you win and work towards your goals. But one thing that can help? Maybe not going so hard. Pull back a little. Be more realistic. Have a wine, enjoy lunch out or even the odd dinner (where you don’t have to go without, but you can make better choices). Don’t be a food nazi and try to live off lettuce leaves – even rabbits get bored of that and chew their way out of their cages looking for something better. Find a balance but also find what truly makes you happy. Seek it out and chase that with all your energy. Then the goal of a healthier body will be easier to achieve because happiness is found in other areas of your life. If you seek fulfillment in food, you are lying to yourself. Now there’s some food for thought.

by Cleo