3 Steps to Getting Your Diet Back On Track

One of the most frustrating things for my clients (and me too) is that they will eat clean all morning through lunch and then somewhere between 3-7 pm there is a trigger and poof!  There goes the meal plan.

Triggers can be anything but here are some common ones:

• Your boss/kids/husband/friend/family says something that really touches a nerve.  The statement makes you angry or sad or frustrated and so you eat something.

  

• A deadline is looming, which means you have to park it at your desk.  Rather than waste time eating your healthy balanced meal in the fridge, it’s way more “efficient” to just eat a bag of Hershey Kisses while you work.
• You’re really tired, so you just eat whatever is in the fridge.
• Everyone goes out to a restaurant and your mom wants to split dessert and so you feel obligated to do so.
• You’re bored.
• Eating healthy is annoying.
• It’s Tuesday.

I can assure you that I personally have been set off by all of the above and fell off the clean eating wagon for weeks at a time.  But I always get back on the wagon and you can too.  Here’s how.

3 Steps to Getting Your Diet Back On Track

1. Get super passionate about why you want to eat clean.  Don’t use a wussy reason like, “I should.”  Choose a goal that gets fire in your belly.  “I will lose enough weight by December to get off my diabetes medication!”  “I will stop eating sugar so I can sleep better at night!”  “I will follow my meal plan so I can win a bikini competition!”  Or whatever rocks your socks.  Make your goal specific, attainable, and with a relatively close (3 months or less) deadline.  This will keep you motivated when it’s a Tuesday.
2. Start with what you like.  While I would love to be able to turn a switch in my brain that has me go from my post-Christmas junk food junkie to whole food rock star, the truth is there is usually a two week transition period for me.  During this phase I start reintroducing healthy foods that I honest-to-God like to eat.  Things like sweet potato pancakes, Greek yogurt and bison burgers.  I still eat not-so-great things too in this phase, but as the days progress I slowly add in my favorite healthy proteins to replace things like store-bought fried chicken and then I finally the vegetables back in my meal plan.  It’s a process, but it’s easier to handle sometimes than going all-in.
3. Set your kitchen up for success.

   

   Get rid of all the junk food in your pantry; if it’s not there you can’t eat it.  Invest in Tupperware from the Dollar Store so you can prep your food ahead of time.  Buy healthy snacks to store near your desk (like whole roasted almonds) and consider keeping a jar of protein powder and a shaker bottle in your desk drawer for emergencies.

Once you have a clean-eating goal you are passionate about, phase in healthier foods on your own terms so it feels like a choice and not a drag, and set up your kitchen for success you will be back on track.

The general rule of thumb is that it takes about 14 days for something to become a habit, so don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t a green bean fan overnight.  It’s a process.  It takes time and consistent choices and when you really want to be healthy you will be.

Lisa 🙂

If you’re serious about getting healthy, but need help getting started, try my S.L.I. Method on my website ShesLosingIt.com.  Only YOU can do the work, but I can give you the tools that I’ve learned over the past five years about nutrition, exercise and overcoming excuses.

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two….and Original Cast Member of AMERICAN GRIT, starring John Cena, on FOX!!!

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