You want to lose weight, eat right, and get toned. You have the perfect meal plan, and exercise program planned out, but then “life” gets in the way. You go on vacation. You get invited to a friend’s house for dinner. There’s no healthy food at work. And that’s just scratching the surface.
So what do you do? Do you stick your head in the sand, pretending that these difficult logistics don’t exist? Or do you acknowledge them, and work around them? Well, in this article, I’ll teach you how to work around difficult logistics. So after reading this, there will be no more excuses, princess. Got it? Good.
At a Restaurant
Sometimes, I hear someone say “I just couldn’t eat right, I was eating at a restaurant.” Poppycock (how do you like that 1850s slang? I didn’t even need a thesaurus for that one). Almost every restaurant you go to has a salad, and meat or fish. There is no reason to blow your nutrition program just because you’re in a restaurant.
Original source: here.
The key, however, is planning. Here is what we tell our clients to do: look at the menu of the restaurant online, preferably after you’ve just eaten. That’s when you’re thinking most logically.
And plan ahead of time what you’ll order once you get to the restaurant.
Usually, by the time you’re already in the restaurant, it’s too late. You’re hungry, so you’ll look at the best-tasting thing on the menu. And unfortunately, the best-tasting thing isn’t the healthiest.
So know what you’ll order before you set foot in the restaurant.
Want to learn more about how to get motivated to exercise and eat right? Get a FREE copy of my book, STOP EXERCISING! The Way You Are Doing it Now by clicking here.
On Vacation
Just like with the restaurant, everywhere you go will have salad and fish or meat, so there’s no excuses there either. Of course, you may want to try some foreign, exotic dishes. That’s understandable. But plan that into your trip.
Know exactly which dishes you want to try, and when.
A vacation is no reason to pig out, and return home bloated, and 5 pounds heavier.
That’s a classic example of sticking your head in the sand. Your body doesn’t care if you’re eating chocolate cake on vacation or chocolate cake at home. Chocolate cake is still chocolate cake, no matter how you slice it (you like that pun?)
If you have a peanut allergy, it doesn’t go away when you’re on vacation. Neither does your body’s reaction to any food.
At a Business Meeting
The key in business meetings, as with the previous two circumstances is to plan ahead. Know what you’ll order before you get to the restaurant.
But there’s an additional element. One tactic you can use is to be the first to order. If you order the healthiest thing there, firstly, everyone will be impressed, and secondly, more people are likely to follow suit.
When You’re a Guest at a Friend’s House
Now there’s no menu to check online, so you feel obligated to have what your friend prepared for you. You’d feel it would be rude not to.
But let’s flip the tables. Let’s say that you’re the host, and you have guests coming over. If a guest told you ahead of time that they’re lactose intolerant, that they’re allergic to shellfish, or that they keep kosher, would you think that they’re being rude and imposing on you? No. You’d feel understanding, and you want them to enjoy themselves, because you want to feel like a good host.
Well, the person whose house you’re going to also wants to feel like a good host. So if you say that you’re trying to lose weight, and you ask for their help, they’ll almost go out of their way to make you feel welcome, and well-cared for. They don’t do it because they feel obligated. They do it because they want to feel like a good host. They want to be liked by you.
So don’t be shy about voicing your weight loss goals (or whatever the case may be).
At the Office
There’s nothing but donuts, chocolate bars, and cappuccinos at the office. Nothing you can do. Right? Wrong.
One thing you can do is get your coworkers on your side. The majority of people want to be healthy and eat healthy. Ask around who would like to be healthy and eat healthy. After they tell you that they want to do that, follow it up with a question like “what do you think about us having more healthy options or vegetables in the cafeteria?” Chances are that the majority of your colleagues would be up on that idea.
Take that idea to your human resources department, and say “Igor told me to tell you to get us some veggies.” Or not. But do tell your HR department that a good number of your coworkers would welcome healthier options at work.
If despite your best efforts, nobody co-operates, take matters into your own hands. Buy your vegetable platter yourself, and keep it within arms’ reach at all times.
Chances are the “bad” foods are in the cafeteria, and you’re in your cubicle, or office. So you have to go from your cubicle/office to the cafeteria, and that’s when you eat. But if the vegetables are much more accessible, you can eat them without getting up from your desk.
In Your Home
This is the easiest to manage. Who is responsible for what’s in your fridge or cupboards? You are. Or your spouse is. In either case, take it out of the house. No matter how strong your willpower, and how much you know about nutrition, there is a fundamental law of nutrition: if it’s in the house, it will get eaten.
“But Igor, I keep it there for my kids. They like those foods.” Quit your whining. Your kids are your responsibility. You control what they eat. Do you want healthy kids? Keep the bad foods out of the house. “But they don’t eat anything else”, I can hear you saying. There’s a very simple solution around that. If they’re truly hungry, they’ll eat whatever is available. And if nothing bad is available, they have no choice but to eat the good stuff. Even if they don’t like it. Their taste buds will change with enough time, and they will grow to like it.
It’s the Holidays
Nonsense. Again, that’s sticking your head in the sand. The holidays are not an excuse to gorge. The “holidays” just include 3 bad meals: Christmas Eve, Christmas day and New Year’s (yeah, my Jewish brothers and sisters, we’re out of luck… 8 days of Hannukah means 8 days of jelly donuts and latkes… just kidding. There’s no excuse there either). That’s it. Plan to have something “bad” on those THREE meals, and get back on track. The holidays are not everything between Halloween and New Year’s.
Again, your body doesn’t care what time of year it is. A bad food eaten during the holidays will have the exact same impact on your body as a bad meal eaten any other time of year. Don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend that “it doesn’t count because it’s the holidays.”
So now, are you all out of excuses? Great 🙂
Want to learn more about how to get motivated to exercise and eat right? Get a FREE copy of my book, STOP EXERCISING! The Way You Are Doing it Now by clicking here.