I’ve always had trouble starting a diet and exercise regime without cheating on the first day! I know everyone is different, but for me, almost 100% of my diet failures happened on the first day; and other people I’ve talked to have said something similar, the first day, the first week, it’s always the toughest.
Here’s the simple rule of getting through that rough period when you are just starting out: Be kind to yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Slowly reduce your calorie intake over the period of a week if that will help you. I have failed more times than not setting myself up with a militant diet plan and then feeling sick all day, just to end up cheating bigtime. This time though, I let myself have a little wiggle room that first week. Now, a little wiggle room does not mean that you can down a half gallon of ice cream if you feel like it, what it means is that if your plan has sent you over the edge wanting to cheat, try something a few steps up.
For example. My first week was a planned shake diet. One thing I’ve done this time around is that I switch-a-roo my diet plans, I don’t stick to the same one all the time, although I do stick to the calorie limit as closely as possible. My first day on this diet was a living hell. 800 calories of living hell. So what did I do? Instead of ordering a pizza, I went into the fridge, took out a small piece of whole grain bread, slapped some fat-free pizza sauce on it and some grated parmesan cheese. For about 150 calories, I chased the pizza monster away. So instead of my first diet day being 800 calories, it ended up being 950. Whoopdedoo. You are NOT a fail whale if you do this! You have succeeded much more than if you broke down and ordered that pizza!
I went the entire day without cheating and by bedtime I was ready to order 10 pizzas. lol. That one little snack for 150 calories filled my belly and I fell blissfully asleep. And guess what? The next day I woke up feeling much less bloated, not as hungry, and not as tired as the first day on my diet.
A Step Back in Time to the First Day…
I’ve always had trouble starting a diet and exercise regime without cheating on the first day! I know everyone is different, but for me, almost 100% of my diet failures happened on the first day; and other people I’ve talked to have said something similar, the first day, the first week, it’s always the toughest.
Here’s the simple rule of getting through that rough period when you are just starting out: Be kind to yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Slowly reduce your calorie intake over the period of a week if that will help you. I have failed more times than not setting myself up with a militant diet plan and then feeling sick all day, just to end up cheating bigtime. This time though, I let myself have a little wiggle room that first week. Now, a little wiggle room does not mean that you can down a half gallon of ice cream if you feel like it, what it means is that if your plan has sent you over the edge wanting to cheat, try something a few steps up.
For example. My first week was a planned shake diet. One thing I’ve done this time around is that I switch-a-roo my diet plans, I don’t stick to the same one all the time, although I do stick to the calorie limit as closely as possible. My first day on this diet was a living hell. 800 calories of living hell. So what did I do? Instead of ordering a pizza, I went into the fridge, took out a small piece of whole grain bread, slapped some fat-free pizza sauce on it and some grated parmesan cheese. For about 150 calories, I chased the pizza monster away. So instead of my first diet day being 800 calories, it ended up being 950. Whoopdedoo. You are NOT a fail whale if you do this! You have succeeded much more than if you broke down and ordered that pizza!
I went the entire day without cheating and by bedtime I was ready to order 10 pizzas. lol. That one little snack for 150 calories filled my belly and I fell blissfully asleep. And guess what? The next day I woke up feeling much less bloated, not as hungry, and not as tired as the first day on my diet.
Remember to be kind to yourself.