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There’s a definite pattern when it comes to adults and
Halloween candy. Many adults resist candy on Halloween. Then, the next day if
it’s in the house or at the office they start to pick. “Just a couple” pieces
here, a couple there. The same thing goes for Thanksgiving. Day of, many
clients are on plan. The next day? The leftovers take them down.
Why is this? Many people make a decision, ahead of time, not
to eat candy on Halloween or not to eat the 5,000 calorie meal on Thanksgiving.
It’s clear what the plan is for the holiday itself. The day after? There’s no
plan for that and so deliberation begins. “Should I have it?” and this line of questioning rarely ends well.
I read a thought-provoking Vox article, “the myth of self-control”.
The first portion of the article is a little depressing as the case is made
that it’s super tricky to pass things up. “Human beings are terrible at resisting
temptation.” Then came the interesting part. “The people
who are really good at self-control never have these battles in first place.”
It’s not that some people have more willpower, it’s that some people avoid having
to exert it.
If you want to avoid the exhaustion that comes with fending
food (or other temptations for that matter) off some ideas:
Planning
I talk about this throughout The Little Book of Thin. The fewer food decisions you make on the
spot, the better. When you’re staring face to face with the muffin tray and
negotiating, your odds are slim. A Foodstalking client has a coworker with a
candy bowl or “bowl of bullshit” as she calls it. The bowl was her downfall
every afternoon. “One or two things only” wasn’t cutting it. Instead she called
out of B.O. B. and put it on her “no” list. No piece here or piece there, no
contemplating no bullshit…period.
Reminders and
reinforcement
In research mentioned
in the article, people were texted reminders of their goals to help them make
good choices. A couple of years ago, we started our Foodstalking program. We
were astounded by the success and demand for spots. In this email-based
program, we are in touch with clients daily. This encouragement and
accountability helps establish new behaviors. Having a buddy is another way of
doing this. Enlist a friend or coworker (spouses aren’t best idea for this) and
work together to skip the candy, make it to your workouts etc.
Substitution
“No
candy” for some sounds daunting. In order to avoid the bowl of bullshit, my
client has an RX Bar at 3pm every day. You can replace a food with a food or it
can be a behavior. Taking a walk after dinner or meeting a friend for a workout
instead of a drink are other examples of substitution.
So don’t beat yourself up for a slip. Instead, backtrack and
see where you could’ve avoided that temptation all together. I’ll remind you about this again before Thanksgiving and leftovers come into play.
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