Emotional intelligence – just because you feel it doesn’t mean you have to act on it!
Eating/drinking something when influenced by our emotions is a way we can get ourselves into a bit of a pickle! i.e. I’ve had a stressful day at work. A typical response – I’m going to drink alcohol or eat something uber high calorie to make me feel better. If you can recognise the emotion then you can work on controlling the response. Or chose a more positive response; exercise to relieve the stress instead.
Write it down
Whether it be your menu for the week or your gym sessions in the diary. You are much more likely to adhere to it if you write it down! At the start of the week chose a menu of the meals you are going to have. That way you remove the need for last minute convenience food, which are going to derail your efforts.
Planning your gym sessions in your diary is beneficial to you achieving them. This allows you to factor them into your week from a time management perspective. It also puts them in line, importance wise with other things in your calendar i.e work, family time.
Trigger foods
These are the foods that you can’t have one of! The foods/snacks that once you open, the whole pack is gone. You know the stuff; the diary milk bar you keep in the cupboard. The big pack of crisps you open to sit down and watch tv with. Remove them or replace them with a low calorie alternative.
Exercise
Motivation and confidence are going to be the initial factors to contend with. Start off with going to classes, finding a gym buddy or hiring a coach to keep you motivated and accountable. These things will keep you motivated until a habit forms. Once that is in place you won’t need motivation anymore.
Environment
Engineer the environment you need to help you succeed. This could be getting involved with people or a group that is into fitness either online or in person. Assimilating with that group/individual will see you making better, healthier lifestyle choices. After all, your environment is the invisible hand that guides you!
