Tips and tricks for when everyday life gets in the way of your diet!
Everyday Life On A Diet?
If your mind is stuck on losing fat, you can often feel very unsociable and restricted in everyday life, whether it be your friends calling you up to go down the pub, that snack jar looking rather tempting, or your out all day for work and just need to grab something on the go to eat.
In this article, I’ll be revealing my top tips and tricks when everyday life gets in the way of your diet restrictions.
Tip #1 – Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Probably the biggest tip I can give out to you reading this article! got a long day of work midweek? going out to a restaurant for your friend’s birthday? or maybe feeling hungry at your desk whilst at work? pay attention to the following.
One of the main topics that arise during meeting my clients on a weekly basis.
A little while ago I had a conversation with one about the weekend they had coming up:”Pretty busy I got to go up north for the day for my Aunts birthday meal then on Sunday my friend has invited me over to their BBQ”. My response: “So how are you going to keep on top of your fat loss diet?” to the reply of “I don’t know”. Fail to prepare then prepare to fail your diet!
Drinking
Whenever someone is going out to a restaurant and the threat of a bad meal and alcohol is on the horizon look ahead to what’s going to be on the menu beforehand and set yourself a limit to the number of alcoholic drinks your going to consume and which ones.
Typically a clear spirit and diet mixer is the number 1 way to go in terms of alcohol consumption and also once you reach your 3-5 drink limit you set yourself for an example you can continue “Drinking” just without the spirit and no one will know the difference apart from you!
Food
Reading the menu ahead of time gives you a selective and level-headed foresight of what food to expect at the restaurant, now choosing an option before going will tend to give you a more sensible selection than when you are there.
This is an example of preparing beforehand for any upcoming events or motives that may be put upon you and challenge your dietary requirements. Think ahead to what you can do to prepare yourself for anything that may pop up in the near future!
Tip #2 – Self Sabotage
More of a trick than a tip. See that biscuit jar that you keep delving into or those snacky chocolates in the fridge that may just help you to fill the gap after a meal? once you eat that snack how do you feel afterward honestly? guilty? rubbish? tell yourself “I wish I didn’t eat that chocolate bar”? Well, here’s a little trick I tell my clients.
If you give into temptation and have that whole packet of biscuits before eating anything you are not supposed to say out loud to yourself how it makes you feel after eating it all.
Trick The Mind
If your goal is to lose fat you may say out loud “I’m going to eat these biscuits and they are going to make me feel guilty, rubbish and take me further away from my fat loss goal” . Chances are after once or twice you do this your brain will not want to go through these emotions and you’re more likely to put it down and leave it rather than consuming the extra empty calories.
Tip #3 – Exercise Accordingly
Sedentary job? Having a week away on a course? Very similarly to preparing for the future tasks life throws at you, we want to look into your exercise in conjunction with your schedule.
If you’re usually doing a lot of manual handling and are on your feet a lot this may apply to you when you have any holidays off. Or week courses where you are in a class or in general you are behind a desk. These things pop up now and then and you usually know in advance. Let’s look into creating a habit to prepare for these things with either exercise in general or extra cardio on top of your usual gym sessions.
How To Combat This Everyday Life Scenario?
I like to suggest 20-30 minutes of Low-Intensity Steady State cardio with is targeted towards fat loss for every event that is going to cause you to be less active than you usually are. By doing so helps you to tick over until that event has passed. So if you have a 3-day course in which you sat down learning about how to install a new piece of equipment your company is now introducing to the market next week, you can add some sort of extra exercise to accommodate for the loss. In my example, another 60-90 minutes of LISS cardio split into 3 or 4 days during the week before you stuck sat down for 3 days.
Try to implement this into anything that may occur in your everyday life, if you’re going on holiday and like relaxing, why not go around sightseeing for 2 or 3 days out of the week you are away? The possibilities to add little things to your day is endless.
Tip #4 – Limit Setting/Adjusting
Say all else above fails and you still have some sort of commitment on the weekend you’re going to have to attend that will challenge your diet. If your calorie counting which I recommend you do highly for fat loss then bear in mind you can adjust this according to suit the excess you may be eating at the weekend. By calorie counting, you should be in a deficit of around 20% of your BMR, so let’s make an example of this.
Example
Andrews’s BMR is 2400 and is calorie counting to lose weight he therefore has a calorie count of 1900kcal to stick to on a daily basis. He has a wedding to go to on Sunday with a set menu he cannot change. How can he prepare in advance for the wedding? Note: he has already set himself a 5-limit drink maximum of Vodka and diet lemonades which is his drink of choice.
Tackling The Problem
Right so 5 shots of vodka is around 80-90kcal so we have an excess of 450kcal we need to accommodate for and a possible 1000-1500kcal for the set meal he’s going to eat for a menu he cannot change. We need to find room for another possible 2000kcals he’s going to consume extra. His usual dinner is 600kcal which he won’t be consuming due to the set menu so we can straight away take that off the 2000kcal total giving us 1400kcals.
On the 6 days leading up to the Sunday, we can adjust Andrews’s calorie count to prepare for this wedding. Andrew is now going to limit his calories from Monday to Saturday from 1900kcal (20% deficit of his BMR) to 1650kcals. Now Andrew can go to the wedding knowing he can consume the meal and alcohol and in advance will not affect his weight loss target as he has already prepared for the week beforehand.
How Can This Help Me?
Adjusting your calorie limits beforehand by even 200 kcal a day can give you another 1000 kcal to play with on the weekend when your potentially going to be invited to a pub, restaurant, or BBQ. Try to play around with your limits if all else fails and is out of your control, adjusting your limits will bring the control back to you.
Tip #5 – Meal prepping
Very classic but very effective. Meal prepping in advance for the week ahead will overall help you control yourself throughout the week from snacking, grabbing things on the go when at work, or even giving you peace of mind when sticking to a calorie count. You’re working all week? Prepare your lunch in advance in conjunction with your calorie count. 1 hour to 2 hours of prepping meals one day in the week can go a long way to stopping you from overindulging and overstepping your calorie count.
Hopefully, by reading this, you have a little bit of a better understanding of how to prepare yourself for any social events that could occur in the future. Whether it be reading a menu beforehand, setting limits, adjusting your calorie count, exercising according, or meal prepping in advance.
