Day 59 - Cheat-Proof Your Diet

In an article from the Jan/Feb 2011 edition of Health Magazine, Weight-Loss expert Susan Albers, PsyD, gives some tips and tricks to help keep you from caving in and staying on track with your diet.

Albers tells us that many times, people get too caught up in their diet slip-ups and get thrown off track. Albers says that we shouldn't focus on the big picture of our diets for the whole day. Instead we should take baby steps throughout the day and make each new food choice a completely new option; asking if you should "have the next bite or not?" or "have that dessert or not?". She also recommends building up the willpower to resist certain food temptations by first reducing the portion sizes of the foods and then weaning yourself off of them for good.

Here are some other tips from Susan Albers:

1. Praise Yourself: Albers recommends writing down all of the small victories you have throughout the day. She says that keeping track of the things you do well instead of dwelling on your slip-ups will help to build your confidence and will encourage you to keep going.
2. Get More Sleep: Albers recommends about seven to nine hours of sleep per night. She says that getting some extra hours of sleep will boost your willpower by regulating hormones that control appetite. When we are sleep deprived, these hormones get out of whack and cause us to loose our self restraint and cave into temptations.
3. Don't Dump Snacks: Albers tells us that it is easier to curve hunger and control what you eat if you have some small light and healthy snacks at the ready throughout the day. She recommends keeping your purse and desk stocked with good snacks; such as fruit, nuts, and granola bars. She also says it's a good idea to stock up your fridge with grilled chicken and other lean proteins. That way, when you are hungry and in need of something to eat, you will have good, healthy options ready for you to pick right up.

Exercise: Today is a swim workout focusing on freestyle:

200 warm up freestyle

2x100 freestyle

3x4 50's (swim, pull, kick, swim) freestyle

2x100 freestyle

3x4 50's (swim, pull, kick, swim) freestyle

200 cool down freestyle

Eat: Today's food tip is to Buy Seasonally. Buying foods in season not only is a lot healthier because it is fresher, it is also a lot tastier and much cheaper. So stay in tune with which vegetables are available when in order to have the freshest foods at the cheapest prices.

Relax: Today, after a long day of work, I was able to come home and relax into my book - which I finished tonight as well. After a long day, I love to just sit down to a good story; either in movie or in book form. I would love to recommend the book I just read which was part of a series I've talked about before: The Hunger Games. I finished the series with the last book "Mockingjay" tonight and was very touched by the story.