Do you have to? No, dieting is a series of choices. This is one choice of many choices you will make during your special holiday or vacation trip.
Let’s talk about it a little more. I am on a trip, with my daughter and family, for the Labor Day weekend. I am staying in a motel room without a refrigerator or a microwave. How do I stay on my eating plan? Most veggies need a refrigerator, especially those for a garden salad. I like warm food; without a microwave or anything to cook on, how do I heat any food?
I have some of my choices decided by the motel room I choose to get. I can choose what to drink in my room. I can choose diet pop (soda for some of you), water, or a crystal lite, or some other ‘non diet’ drink. When I go out to eat, I will choose my foods from the menu. In fact, I will choose where to eat.
Now that we have established that what we eat is a choice and that we don’t HAVE TO diet, let’s remember that to lose or maintain weight we have to change our lifestyle and/or our habits. If I am changing my life style and habits, I will be choosing healthier meals and snacks. If I am changing my habits, I will be more likely to automatically choose the foods I would eat on a diet.
If I eat off my eating plan, what happens? Well, to put it simply, I eat off my diet plan. Lightning is not going to strike me because I did. A huge boulder is not going to come crashing down on my head. I will not have a sign on my shirt or hanging above my head to announce this fact to everyone. It won’t even be on the evening news!
What really happens is that I make a choice which I either offset by what I eat before or after, or by increasing my activity. Or I gain weight, or don’t lose weight. It is not a world changing decision. If I continue on this path, I will not be moving towards my goal of a healthier, slimmer me.
I feel so much better. I can eat what I want. This is the first day of the weekend. I have made my choices by habit to be on my eating plan. Since I will be walking most of the next two days, I can have a special meal of something I would not regularly eat while losing weight – and since I am in the habit of eating fewer calories, I will eat smaller portions.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
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Tags: choices, diet, Diet Plan, Gain Weight, Garden Salad, habits, health, holiday eating, Labor Day, Labor Day Weekend, Life Style, lifestyle, Lightning, Lose Weight, losing weight, Motel Room, Snacks, vacation eating, Vacation Trip, Veggies, Weight Loss
I try to go for portion control on vacation, so I can still enjoy, but not to excess. Also, I tend to forget that my tummy is no longer used to rich food, so be careful! Being sick on vaca is no fun.
I can’t remember where I read it, but it says that diet won’t be effective if the dieter felt involuntary
I wind up eating more than ever on a vacation; not that it really matters, as I eat too little at home.