What? How can eating chocolate on a diet possibly work? And french fries? Hold on …stick with me.
And tell me if you’ve been here:
You’ve had a great week: intense, daily workouts that you really enjoyed and 100% healthy eating morning, noon and night. You probably have green juice, instead of blood, running through your veins by now. You feel great and slim and strong.
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Then, gasp! You have a little craving that goes completely sideways. You don’t know what to do or how to handle this. Your kale-fed brain doesn’t know what to do.
Before you know it, you go buck wild and out of control and eat a meal that could sustain a small country – THE GREASIEST CHEESEBURGER IN NORTH AMERICA, A VAST MOUNTAIN OF FRENCH FRIES, A GALLON OF COLE SLAW and a CHOCOLATE SHAKE SO BIG YOU COULD TAKE A BATH IN IT. How did this happen?!
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So now you probably do one of two things:
1. You feel TERRIBLE and GUILTY and DEPRESSED and say FORGET THIS and dive into that old birthday cake you’ve had in your freezer, throwing terrible caution to the wind. Then you proceed to drink a bunch of rum and Cokes, eat a whole frozen pizza and finish the day off with your favorite leading men: Ben & Jerry. You think, “Well, I’ve already ruined the day, so I’ll just start again next Monday.”
OR
2. You feel TERRIBLE and GUILTY and DEPRESSED and say THAT’S IT, THAT IS ENOUGH. You starve yourself for the rest of the week, do double workouts (you’re gonna fix the damage from that terrible slip up)…and then end up binging Friday night on a smorgasbord of fried mozzarella sticks, fish and chips and a banana split – all washed down with 3 XL margaritas.
I’m here to give you a third option: stop sabotaging yourself. Instead of depriving yourself and then going off the rails, give yourself an indulgence allowance and eat a little something decadent and unhealthy once in a while.
Yes, I said it! It’s ok – and I even encourage – eating some indulgent food once in a while.
Eat healthy 95% of the time. Indulge and enjoy the remaining 5%.
Why? The reason is simple. Diets don’t work because they are based on the all-or-nothing theory. They don’t give you the option to indulge, which creates intense pressure to only eat healthy all the time. And it increases the likelihood of binge eating tremendously.
Eating should be enjoyable – even when you’re trying to lose weight. By being so strict and hard on yourself 100% of the time, you are depriving yourself. And deprivation will only make you want that bad stuff even more.
You know that. It’s like that Brad Pitt look-alike with the motorcycle you wanted so badly in college. The more he blew you off, the more you just had to have him.
Like anything else, when you don’t enjoy something you won’t want to stick with it. Mountains of glorious cauliflower and big bowls of healthy brown rice won’t lead to a slim body for life if you HATE eating them. Why? Because you won’t stick with it long-term.
The key to creating a slim, healthy body is to live a life you enjoy – everyday. Some naughty, enjoyable indulgences (some extra wine or a chewy, chocolatey brownie) are fine, as long as the majority of your time is filled with nice habits.
Sara Christensen is a private weight loss coach based in San Diego. She works with women to create bodies and lives that they love.
