It’s January, and I know what you said for your New Year’s Resolutions. You promised that you’d lose weight, didn’t you? Summer is just around the corner and you told yourself that THIS was the year that you’d be able to wear a swimsuit and you’d look fabulous. But it’s January 3rd, you’ve had the New Year celebration, Christmas is over with and right now you’re already wondering if this whole “dieting” thing is really worth it. It’s only a few days before you’ll stand on the scales (there’s advice about when and how often to do that in previous blogs) and you’ll see the difference and… well, that may be the point that you give up already, since you didn’t lose a stone in the first week and you still have that pizza in the freezer you want to eat. Well, today’s advice is simple: DON’T QUIT!
A lot of people I know look at dieting as something they have to do constantly, and the moment they fail they think that their diet is “blown” and they just give up. I know many people who’ve done this as a New Year’s Resolution and when they “blew their diet” they just quit trying. Well, if you’re one of those types of people I have some good news for you, and I’m going to put this in block capitals again so you’ll see it and hopefully take it in. If it helps, imagine me yelling this at you. ONE MISTAKE DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD GIVE UP!
One mistake is not a reason to quit. Hell, ninety mistakes still aren’t reasons to quit. If you’re one of these types of people (and believe me, I was one for a long time) then let me tell you that you’re doing it all wrong. You’re looking at dieting in the wrong way. You should NOT punish yourself for the failures. It’s dumb, and it’ll only make you feel bad. If you want to do anything you should congratulate yourself on all your successes, since here’s the thing: even if you “blew it” today, you succeeded yesterday and you CAN succeed again tomorrow, and if you do that then whatever “damage” you did today won’t even be felt in the bigger picture, because you’ll have had two healthy days versus just one unhealthy one, so over the course of things you’re still up on the whole thing, aren’t you?
Losing Weight Just Means More Victories Than Defeats
That’s the biggest piece of advice that I could give anyone. It was given to me in a different form. I was told not to punish myself for the failures but to celebrate my successes, and when I started doing that – getting to the end of a day without cheating and feeling good about it, then doing two days without cheating, doing three days without cheating, going a week without cheating (which then meant I had a full on cheat day, an absolute must for dieting people, and you can read about that in other blogs too) – then I started to find the whole thing a lot easier than going crazy and hating myself every time I slipped up and took a bite of something I shouldn’t have. After a while I wouldn’t even feel that bad when I had those negative days because here’s a great secret: one bad day really doesn’t change much.
The war to lose weight is just about having more victories than defeats, like any war tends to be. You’re never going to lose all your weight in one day, and while putting on weight is easier than losing it, no matter WHAT you cheated and ate today you’re also not going to gain a ton of weight in one day either. So, if you do mess up, just rule that day out as a potential victory and wake up tomorrow and start over, because I guarantee you even if you have an occasional bad day, by the time summer comes and if you’ve racked up the victory days far in excess of the days you were defeated than you’ll be far more ready to put on that new swimsuit than you were before, and best of all when you have people telling you how good you look by the time summer comes around you may well WANT to put on that swimsuit as well because you’ll actually have more confidence in yourself, and that’s a great feeling to have.
I know it can be difficult, and there’s temptation all around you, but just remember that no matter what type of diet you’re doing you cannot end it with one mistake. You may have more calories today than you intended, you might have more carbs than you were supposed to, or you might have exceeded your daily points allowance today – what? I don’t know what kind of diet you’re doing, I’m trying to cover all the possibilities here – but that’s just one day. The only time that you’ve REALLY blown your diet is when you don’t get up tomorrow and try anymore. The only time you’ve REALLY ruined your resolution is when you give up, and so my advice is really simple. Don’t quit.
When it gets hard you’ll have people in your life to talk to. Talk to them. Tell them you’re struggling. Tell them you’re tempted. You never know, they might come up with some fantastic ideas to help you. And if they’re anything like me they’ll help you in any way they can, even if that way is sitting down with you and having a bowl of fruit with you rather than a chocolate bar, because not only is fruit delicious but you might also enjoy the company and the chance to complain about how hard it all is. Because it IS hard. It’s going to be hard. I can’t take that away from you. But I can promise you that when you fit into clothes that don’t fit anymore it’s a feeling unlike any other you’ll have. I want that feeling for you. I want you to experience what it’s like to stand in front of a mirror and LAUGH at how huge your clothes are compared to what you’re wearing now. I want you to show your family and have them laugh as well. It’s an amazing feeling, it really is.
I did that just recently. I stood in front of my mum with a pair of trousers and a jumper I USED to wear a lot and I laughed, and she laughed back and told me “you could actually fit two of you in there now… you bitch”. And we both laughed, because it was true. And I loved it. I loved that feeling more than I can tell you. It’s the feeling of victory. It’s the feeling of all your hard work paying off. So trust me when I tell you that it’s possible to do it, and the ONLY time that you’ve “blow it” is when you quit.
So, don’t quit.
You can do it. Trust me, I know.