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Well folks, its now officially 6-7 days til Christmas, and most of us are noticing that everywhere we look, its chocolate and sugar disgustingness. Its tough to stay in control.
Every year we see hundreds of people who come through these ADBB doors 1 week after New Years Eve, or even the day after. Many who were on Atkins previously come in saying "oh nuts I failed" , and the newcomers are trying to make good on their new years resolutions to lose weight.
Terry and I were thinking that many of us would likely stay on plan and keep the Christmas day indulgences to a bare minimum (if at all), if we had some strategies in place. We have all heard our wonderful ADBB mentors on here saying "planning a cheat is planning to fail" and its true. Oh yes we can all kid ourselves and tell ourselves that we have been SO good, we DESERVE this little cheat day (week...whatever) but really...without harping on anyone here, that is just setting yourself up for disaster. And is undoing at least a months worth of work in one day/week. How lame is that?
Lets talk about strategies to stay strong and committed. If we ALL stick together, we will be skinnier in January rather than blubbering and blowing our noses into our Tostitos.
Strategy 1) MENTOR PROGRAM
This is a second time around board, most here tried, failed somewhat, and are trying again right? There is a LOT of pressure for this STAC crew to stay committed, cause we are already admitting a mini defeat by coming here for help correct? Think MENTORING!!! There are newbies coming to STAC who slipped and fell like we once did, all of us here have a responsibility to teach these newbies good positive habits so that they will succeed this time. When you yourself become a positive role model for another, you can't help but WANT to stay on track yourself. Pick a newbie buddy to guide and mentor this holiday season.
Strategy 2) FILLING UP
I don't know about YOU guys, but I crave the nastiest crap when I am hungry. Thing is....I don't realize I'm hungry, no no, I'm too dense for that to come so easily, I will sit and whine to myself that I WANT that carb laden monstrocity soooo much, and I can taste each morsel as I try to reason with myself that REALLY, 1 box of chocolates won't hurt...hahahahaha ok ok I'm kidding it was 6 BOXES! (in my mind)
I don't feel hungry, (I think) I am just craving sweets, HOGWASH! If I am so inclined as to move my lazy butt to the fridge, and if I make myself a nice salad with lots of protein and yummy bits in it...and if I am so inclined to actually eat that tasty bowl, whaddya know? The cravings go away.
I never grocery shop unless I've just eaten a nice meal and am feeling satisfied, and I have definatly learned that cravings for bad things go away when you feed your body well.
Strategy 3) ALLOWED SNACKS
Most of you round here know by now that I'm a DJ, radio and mobile, and I travel quite a bit. My biggest mistake is setting up a show, getting busy with it, doing sound checks, forgetting about dinner as I play tunes for other peoples dinners, and then the smell of that big hotel buffet wafts in the door. I have found myself in this situation so many times over the past 15 years, all of a sudden my stomach realizes its hungry, I look at my watch and theres no time in between festivities, toasts, awards etc for me to zing out to get a decent meal. The clients more often than not come up and invite myself and my crew to join them for dinner. The crew loves it naturally but there I am, having to politely decline for myself. I spent many gigs starving to death til 3 a.m. when I could finally eat. This just set me up for failure cause when my stomachs hungry, it hurts! I will end up searching some gift shop for beef jerky (try to find one without garlic and sugar) and peanuts or suffer til the end. Not planning very well is it?
Nowadays I pack an emergency gig kit. Pepperoni or Beef sticks and cheese cooled by little freezer packs in a little cooler bag, a handful of nuts (thats all I can handle before cravings hit) even a small salad. I don't pack Atkins bars and shakes, they only make me crave. The back of my fridge is full of shakes, been there for a year at least..ick!
Trust me, that pepperoni and cheese is a meal and it will save you. Make a list of all your favorite nutritious low carb snacks, now decide which ones are the most portable. Then ALWAYS pack that bag if you even THINK you will be away over the next meal. It never fails, always when you think you won't be hungry, you will, and that is enough to cause a great many to become weak...and tempted. Not worth it!
Ok Terry...you recovered from your graveyard shift shopping at Wally World yet? Thats gonna be me tonight, midnite shopping, picked over merchandise, (sigh), ok buddy...you're up!
Every year we see hundreds of people who come through these ADBB doors 1 week after New Years Eve, or even the day after. Many who were on Atkins previously come in saying "oh nuts I failed" , and the newcomers are trying to make good on their new years resolutions to lose weight.
Terry and I were thinking that many of us would likely stay on plan and keep the Christmas day indulgences to a bare minimum (if at all), if we had some strategies in place. We have all heard our wonderful ADBB mentors on here saying "planning a cheat is planning to fail" and its true. Oh yes we can all kid ourselves and tell ourselves that we have been SO good, we DESERVE this little cheat day (week...whatever) but really...without harping on anyone here, that is just setting yourself up for disaster. And is undoing at least a months worth of work in one day/week. How lame is that?
Lets talk about strategies to stay strong and committed. If we ALL stick together, we will be skinnier in January rather than blubbering and blowing our noses into our Tostitos.
Strategy 1) MENTOR PROGRAM
This is a second time around board, most here tried, failed somewhat, and are trying again right? There is a LOT of pressure for this STAC crew to stay committed, cause we are already admitting a mini defeat by coming here for help correct? Think MENTORING!!! There are newbies coming to STAC who slipped and fell like we once did, all of us here have a responsibility to teach these newbies good positive habits so that they will succeed this time. When you yourself become a positive role model for another, you can't help but WANT to stay on track yourself. Pick a newbie buddy to guide and mentor this holiday season.
Strategy 2) FILLING UP
I don't know about YOU guys, but I crave the nastiest crap when I am hungry. Thing is....I don't realize I'm hungry, no no, I'm too dense for that to come so easily, I will sit and whine to myself that I WANT that carb laden monstrocity soooo much, and I can taste each morsel as I try to reason with myself that REALLY, 1 box of chocolates won't hurt...hahahahaha ok ok I'm kidding it was 6 BOXES! (in my mind)
I don't feel hungry, (I think) I am just craving sweets, HOGWASH! If I am so inclined as to move my lazy butt to the fridge, and if I make myself a nice salad with lots of protein and yummy bits in it...and if I am so inclined to actually eat that tasty bowl, whaddya know? The cravings go away.
I never grocery shop unless I've just eaten a nice meal and am feeling satisfied, and I have definatly learned that cravings for bad things go away when you feed your body well.
Strategy 3) ALLOWED SNACKS
Most of you round here know by now that I'm a DJ, radio and mobile, and I travel quite a bit. My biggest mistake is setting up a show, getting busy with it, doing sound checks, forgetting about dinner as I play tunes for other peoples dinners, and then the smell of that big hotel buffet wafts in the door. I have found myself in this situation so many times over the past 15 years, all of a sudden my stomach realizes its hungry, I look at my watch and theres no time in between festivities, toasts, awards etc for me to zing out to get a decent meal. The clients more often than not come up and invite myself and my crew to join them for dinner. The crew loves it naturally but there I am, having to politely decline for myself. I spent many gigs starving to death til 3 a.m. when I could finally eat. This just set me up for failure cause when my stomachs hungry, it hurts! I will end up searching some gift shop for beef jerky (try to find one without garlic and sugar) and peanuts or suffer til the end. Not planning very well is it?
Nowadays I pack an emergency gig kit. Pepperoni or Beef sticks and cheese cooled by little freezer packs in a little cooler bag, a handful of nuts (thats all I can handle before cravings hit) even a small salad. I don't pack Atkins bars and shakes, they only make me crave. The back of my fridge is full of shakes, been there for a year at least..ick!
Trust me, that pepperoni and cheese is a meal and it will save you. Make a list of all your favorite nutritious low carb snacks, now decide which ones are the most portable. Then ALWAYS pack that bag if you even THINK you will be away over the next meal. It never fails, always when you think you won't be hungry, you will, and that is enough to cause a great many to become weak...and tempted. Not worth it!
Ok Terry...you recovered from your graveyard shift shopping at Wally World yet? Thats gonna be me tonight, midnite shopping, picked over merchandise, (sigh), ok buddy...you're up!
ADBB!!!!!
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