Gotta Have Chocolate? With My Planned Indulgence Strategy, You Can Stay on Track and Still Eat It
Like it or not, we're all human.
No matter how much self-discipline we have or how strong our willpower is, there will come a time when we want Peanut M&Ms real bad.
Guess what? There's nothing wrong with that - and I encourage you to go ahead and enjoy them mindfully! Does that advice sound counter-intuitive to everything you've heard about losing weight or healthy living? Let me explain.
Let's say you've been great for 12 days.
You've been exercising and eating well and you feel amazing! All of a sudden, the Girl Scout cookies are right in front of your face, and because you've deprived yourself of everything on the "forbidden foods list" (and I hate calling it that because nothing should be "forbidden," but that's a topic for another day!), you dive into that box of cookies.
It felt good in the moment, but not too long afterward, you find yourself trapped in a cycle of food guilt.
You think things like, "I'm a failure, I ate a whole box of cookies, I'm going to be fat forever, and I can't do this.
" Yikes! Now you're on a downward spiral that is difficult to escape.
Plan For It Like I said, we're all human.
Knowing that at some point we will all crave something from the not-so-healthy list, let's plan for it.
There are so many fitness experts on board with this idea.
Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, Dolvett Quince and Tony Horton have all come out in support of some variation of these "cheat" meals.
That's because this strategy works - whether you want to lose 20 lbs.
or 500 lbs.
Choose Your Plan I don't use the word cheat because my healthy diet is my plan, my way.
There's no cheating when I write my own diet rules! I call these treats, drumroll please...
Planned Indulgences.
There are a couple options for your Planned Indulgence Strategy: You can have a daily 100-calorie treat (which might be a small handful of chocolate or a few French fries), or you can schedule two treat meals during the week.
Now, when I'm say treat meal, I don't mean a full-on binge (4 boxes of Thin Mints is not a "meal").
Portion size is key - don't eat a Brontosaurus burger suitable for the entire Flintstone family.
But if you want to go out on a Wednesday night and have a great steak and a glass of wine, please do it! At the beginning of the week, choose your strategy and stick with the plan.
You'll thank yourself afterward.
Avoid Trigger Foods - At First When you're planning your treats, it could be tempting to treat yourself to the one food that you crave the most.
However, if you know that after your get a whiff of Tag-Alongs you will be an unstoppable Cookie Monster, choose something else.
I recommend a food that you know will give you pleasure but isn't a trigger.
After some practice, you may be ready to integrate your trigger food into your Planned Indulgence Strategy, but make sure you're ready first.
Have you tried the Planned Indulgence Strategy? What worked for you?
No matter how much self-discipline we have or how strong our willpower is, there will come a time when we want Peanut M&Ms real bad.
Guess what? There's nothing wrong with that - and I encourage you to go ahead and enjoy them mindfully! Does that advice sound counter-intuitive to everything you've heard about losing weight or healthy living? Let me explain.
Let's say you've been great for 12 days.
You've been exercising and eating well and you feel amazing! All of a sudden, the Girl Scout cookies are right in front of your face, and because you've deprived yourself of everything on the "forbidden foods list" (and I hate calling it that because nothing should be "forbidden," but that's a topic for another day!), you dive into that box of cookies.
It felt good in the moment, but not too long afterward, you find yourself trapped in a cycle of food guilt.
You think things like, "I'm a failure, I ate a whole box of cookies, I'm going to be fat forever, and I can't do this.
" Yikes! Now you're on a downward spiral that is difficult to escape.
Plan For It Like I said, we're all human.
Knowing that at some point we will all crave something from the not-so-healthy list, let's plan for it.
There are so many fitness experts on board with this idea.
Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, Dolvett Quince and Tony Horton have all come out in support of some variation of these "cheat" meals.
That's because this strategy works - whether you want to lose 20 lbs.
or 500 lbs.
Choose Your Plan I don't use the word cheat because my healthy diet is my plan, my way.
There's no cheating when I write my own diet rules! I call these treats, drumroll please...
Planned Indulgences.
There are a couple options for your Planned Indulgence Strategy: You can have a daily 100-calorie treat (which might be a small handful of chocolate or a few French fries), or you can schedule two treat meals during the week.
Now, when I'm say treat meal, I don't mean a full-on binge (4 boxes of Thin Mints is not a "meal").
Portion size is key - don't eat a Brontosaurus burger suitable for the entire Flintstone family.
But if you want to go out on a Wednesday night and have a great steak and a glass of wine, please do it! At the beginning of the week, choose your strategy and stick with the plan.
You'll thank yourself afterward.
Avoid Trigger Foods - At First When you're planning your treats, it could be tempting to treat yourself to the one food that you crave the most.
However, if you know that after your get a whiff of Tag-Alongs you will be an unstoppable Cookie Monster, choose something else.
I recommend a food that you know will give you pleasure but isn't a trigger.
After some practice, you may be ready to integrate your trigger food into your Planned Indulgence Strategy, but make sure you're ready first.
Have you tried the Planned Indulgence Strategy? What worked for you?
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