Dieting Dilemma When Life Gets in the Way

Life has a way of fouling up our the best laid plans. First you decide to keep your car cleaner, Ill wash it every Saturday morning. Great, you have a plan. Saturday comes along and someone calls inviting you to go golfing. You think, I was going to wash the car, but Ill do it when I get back, and off you go. Maybe you do wash the car later that day, but maybe you tell yourself, Ill wash it next Saturday. It really wasnt that dirty.

Next week Saturday comes along and someone invited you camping so youre in the woods thinking, Oh, well, I cant wash the car from here, can I?

Another Saturday rolls around and  youve forgotten all about your car washing plan, so even though youre not doing anything else youre thinking, I dont really FEEL like washing the car right now. Ill do it later, and so it goes.

Life is what happens while youre busy making other plans.   John Lennon

It happens to all of us. You join the gym and immediately get the flu. Sign up for a adult education class and youre car breaks down on the first night. When you need to water the grass theres no rain in sight, but wash the car and what happens? These examples arent meant to give you a pessimistic outlook but instead point out why persistence in the face of obstacles is what separates the haves from the have nots.

Its not what happens but what you DO with what happens that matters.

The best approach is one-day-at-a-time, or even lesser intervals depending on what you are attempting to do. If youre trying to quit ****, you might want to take things half-an-hour at a time. With food or eating it can be one meal at a time, one hunger pang or craving at a time, or whatever interval works for you.

Choose your Time Interval then Make it Happen

If you say youll never do something again (smoke, overeat, over drink) it never lasts (you must build in the possibility of occasional lapse), but if you wake up in the morning and decide for that day, and only that day, that you will follow through with your plan, for just that one day, then it can and will happen. Theres a real rush of accomplishment when you wake up and realize that yesterday you did it; you accomplished what you set out to do. Each accomplishment make it just that much easier to decide again to follow-through and it gets easier and easier.  

Let the successes build, and let the lapses pass. It takes practice to get proficient no matter what you are learning, so plan to persist. Small lapses arent failures, they are only lapses, and you then decided for the next time period. Doing this allows you to pre-plan when you know youll not stick to your eating plan, thereby making it okay on occasion to over indulge. Holidays, special occasions. People who maintain a healthy weight do this all the time without thinking. When you give yourself permission to indulge, its amazing how much less youll feel like indulging. Take away the forbidden fruit and its just an apple.