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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