Are you struggling with the thought of sticking to a diet program? I’ve been there before too. Back in 1995 I started making changes and used 3 techniques to make it to where I am today. Apply these to your life and put an end to Diet Deprivation.
I’ve had 3 people in the last week tell me that when they struggle following a diet because they feel deprived. For instance, if they know they shouldn’t eat candy bars, a strict diet will tell them they can never have a candy bar again. That one sensation alone is enough to drive people to eventually overeating that one food and completely messing up their diet. If you are struggling with this, I’d like to give you a little insight in to why it happens and how I overcame my struggle with it years ago. Yes, I struggled with the same thing years ago too. I used 2 techniques.
#1. So I’ve mentioned in the past how bad my diet was at one time. I still haven’t run across anyone with a worse diet than I had. So I want to explain to you how I overcame it. The first thing I did was quit my Dr. Pepper addiction. I went from 2 liters of Dr. Pepper a day to zero Dr. Pepper a day. That was in February of 1995. I absolutely hated water, but I forced myself to drink it because I knew I needed to. (There are a lot more flavored waters out now than there was in ’95.) Admittedly, it was pretty miserable, but I did one thing that made it tolerable. I continued eating the way I was eating. By still having everything else to rely on, it made it easier to do. So the fried food, pizza, honey buns, etc… I kept eating them. Still sounds horrible, right? But by dropping the Dr. Pepper, I took out about 900 calories a day. 3,500 calories = a pound of fat. So even though I still had a horrible diet, I was still able to drop 2 pounds of body fat a week. I didn’t feel deprived because I still had everything else in my diet, and I still lost weight. Win-Win Solution Every month I continued to make an improvement in my diet. My second month I dropped fried food, and each month after I continued to improve on my nutrition. Could you view it as a slow process? Sure, but I made it!
#2. As I got more serious, it got to be more difficult. So I changed my approach. I did feel the deprivation from not being able to enjoy things that I really wanted to eat, but I knew there had to be a way to make it work. I adopted the once a week program. Every Saturday night I ate anything I wanted. I had to make it to Saturday night, and I was strict on my diet the rest of the week. If Thursday night came around and I saw something I really wanted to eat, I had two choices. I either eat it then (and wait for a week and 2 days before I had another cheat meal) or I would just practice some discipline and avoid the food I shouldn’t have. Most of the times I could fight it and hold off until Saturday. Other times I gave in, and admittedly, it was so worth it! But I taught myself how to be disciplined, and never felt deprived. All I had to do was wait a couple of days, and I could have whatever I wanted. But I saw something interesting begin to happen. I found that on Saturday night, I got to a point where I didn’t want to cheat. It wasn’t a temptation and I didn’t want to ruin everything I worked so hard for. Again, it was a slow process, but it worked.#3. The problem was, I was still a high school and then a college student. How many college students do you know that eats healthy all the time? My friends always invited me out to eat. As I started getting serious about my nutrition, I had to tell them I couldn’t go to certain restaurants with them. Was that hard to do? Of course it was. Friends are very important at that age, and I got made of pretty profusely for a while. But after 3 months, my friends started supporting me. I had to stand my ground every time though. If you don’t stand your ground every time, you can’t expect your friends or family to respect your decision to be serious about your nutrition. If I had given in every 3rd time, I would be asked to give in again in the future. If I had eaten the birthday cake for one employee at work, I would have had no choice but to eat it for the next employee. Stand your ground, and after a few months, your friends and family will begin to hold you up when you are weak. My friends would call me and say, “I know you won’t go to Pizza Hut with us, so why don’t we go to Jason’s Deli instead.” And because they said I was going to eat healthy, I did it even when I didn’t want to. Worked out pretty good for me. Again, it was a long, slow process, but it worked.
So that is my story of my struggle with food. It was a slow process, but I didn’t struggle for years. I would say the process took me about a year to get through, and I haven’t gone back to my old way of eating. It is a long process, but I know many of you have struggled with your weight for years. I have had to go through the process myself. I KNOW IT’S NOT EASY. Use my experience and apply it to your life. If you need support, that’s what I’m here for. We can walk through the process with you, and help you make it once and for all. You don’t have to do this alone.
One final note: I no longer feel deprived when I eat bad food. In fact, I feel deprived when I can’t have my healthy food. I have more energy and love living life to it’s fullest now. I love eating healthy food and achieving various activities. It’s possible. I’ve been there before and made it. You can make it too. Contact us. We are ready to help you.
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